No, no, no!
One of these says, I’ll retire and visit.
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Here it is with all of the pillars, and the exterior sconces. Which are antique, but refinished and re-wired, so good as new.
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Oh, I love a good porch! Imma settle for a sun room out back. We have a long porch, too narrow for sitting on.
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We have a sunroom, more or less, they added it in the 60s and it was rehabbed a decade ago by the prior owners. It’s where I usually watch TV. The house originally had a covered porch, but in the same 1960s remodel they removed it and put on just a deck, so it’ll be nice to get something architecturally appropriate back on the façade.
If you look closely near the ground, the brick/stucco bits that are crumbling a bit, that’s original masonry. A mason came out and told me they are fine, don’t rebuild them. The exposed bricks are 1960s, we’ll wrap the whole thing in stucco to match the house.
The porch is 10x30, if I were starting from scratch I’d have probably made it 12’ deep but removing those pillars and replacing them… that would be an expensive two feet.
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STBX and I had a long porch on the old house. I set up a bistro table and two chairs on either side of it and we’d occasionally sit out there for a cocktail or even a whole meal. Although when Mini Me was old enough for a regular chair at the table it didn’t really work. I did pull the high chair out on a few occasions when it was just really beautiful. But once she outgrew that…
For whatever reason the front porch was just more appealing than the back. My new place has a really nice back porch so hopefully it’ll get a lot of use this coming summer.
Our front door is offset, it sits a little left of center, which was pretty common at the time despite symmetry still being a big thing in architecture. Anywho, what that means is we’ll need to keep a clear path from the stairs (which are centered) to the door. Meaning to the left side we’ll have a smaller space, and on the right we’ll have a pretty big space.
On the smaller side, my wife’s porch swing is going there for sure, it’s 5 1/2 feet wide - and it’s quarter sawn oak, a real work of art. I think I can fit that plus one or two chairs and a little table, maybe 18" or so in diameter. Just a place for drinks or reading over there.
On the larger side, I’m worried about fitting a table and chairs, 10’ is not that wide. Maybe I’ll either have to find a skinnier table or make one. But it’s long enough that I know we can get six chairs in there, that’s probably sufficient and I don’t want to crowd the space. And I’d like to find a little shelf type of thing where we could maybe set down a cooler, or a wireless speaker. I don’t really have it figured out yet.
And then there will be landscaping, I hate it currently, but that’s a problem for 2025 me.
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PORCH’TACULAR!!! 
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All I’m saying is there is a brewery in walking distance. Come to my porch-warming and we can make a day of things.
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Weekly-ish update. The upper railings are in, and the mass of this new porch is becoming more and more evident. Ceiling is going in today, and then ornamentation for the pillars, we are getting somewhat close here.
Bad news: it’s getting cold, the mason says we will wait and see, maybe we get a warm week and he can start, but it could be spring before that gets done. It’s fine, it’ll just be a little ugly for a few months.
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Looks great!
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Is that some sort of plaque, and if so, what does it say?
It’s the sign for the company doing the work, and the script is very hard to read. Which, yes, kind of defeats the purpose of how signs work. It says 19th Century Restorations, LLC, and then lists the phone number and website.
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Will the gaps in the top rails be filled somehow? That part looks off in an otherwise amazing restoration but I realize it’s a work in progress. Or is there going to be a roof over the second story deck?
Trying to envision the finished product.
They are connected. They actually did that instead of the ceiling today. Connected by 6”x6” pillars, and then a little sort of button on the end. When painted it’ll have a sort of mortise and tenon look to it. I stole the idea from another old home.
The second story… I mean you could climb out a window. There is no door, and those railings are short, I don’t anticipate people being up there much unless the northern lights come back or whatever. So no roof, just decoration up there. Expensive decoration!
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Oh that’s a neat look.
I can see it not getting much use if you have to climb out a window to get out there. But think of how much the Friends gang used the fire escape landing!
I love seeing all the progress!
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We added railings to our top story to restore it to the original. It’s technically “decorative” but we have furniture up there. We climb in and out of the windows right now, but eventually we will put in French doors.
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We don’t plan on using it. It never had doors up there. We also used a roofing product that is identical to our shingles, but it came in rolls. At any rate, our roofer told me I shouldn’t walk on it unless there is a blanket down.
It’s fine, we will have a nice porch, plus a sizable patio on the back of the house. Plus about 3,200 finished square feet. No shortage of space inside or out!
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That’d be awesome for a 2nd story porch/seating if it could be done.
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Last update for a while. The ceiling is in, and the ornamental bits are on the columns. Metal edging was installed on the sidewalk. Oh, and the skirts are in there near the ground. Ceiling fans go in Thursday, and the only other thing in flight is stair rails. But you get the idea. Now I just need warm weather for masonry and paint - although if you zoom in you’ll see the mason was able to get the first scratch coat around the door so it’s sealed up for winter.
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supposed to get siding on the garage project today. that will allow the team to focus on the interior.
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