I can’t say that it’s totally finished, but here are some pics of our new(er) front porch. It was so fantastic to have this space during the holiday season. It made for a very welcoming entrance and storage space for our guests and their coats and boots! You might remember that this space was originally an exterior porch that we enclosed by adding windows and door with sidelights. We also added new stairs.

Here’s a reminder of  we started with…

Here’s what we have now.

Here’s the view from the living room looking out towards the porch. We decided to leave the floor a natural finish, like the ceiling. The indoor/outdoor rug is from Crate and Barrel.

We added a bench and baskets for a convenient place to take off and store shoes. The little galvanized can holds sidewalk salt.

I love the ceiling fixture. The lights reflects of the wood ceiling and is so warm and inviting.

Painting all the gorgeous beadboard took a while – and several coats, but I love it way it looks. The color is Behr Ivory Mist, the same as our living room, but in semi-gloss instead of flat.

The window looks into the office/playroom. It’s actually nice to get a little extra light in that room and to see who’s at the door so we elected to leave it in place (even though covering it would’ve meant room for more hooks.)

I added a bunch of double coat hooks from Home Depot. I screwed them right into the beadboard so they can hold  a ton of heavy winter coats. Two boot trays from Target hold the shoes we wear the most often, and the two baskets under the bench hold pairs we wear less often. True confessions, I’m not crazy about the bench – it’s a little more rustic than I like. I suppose I could paint it to match the door, but I wouldn’t be opposed to finding something else to fit the space (maybe a vintage church pew?)

I took a chance and painted the door a dark charcoal grey. I originally wanted to paint it a true black, but the guys at the paint counter accidentally mixed the color one up on the paint chip I handed them. I think it’s a happy accident because I’ve grown to love the color – Behr Beluga in high gloss. This door was a great salvage find and I’m just waiting for Sean to install the brass door hardware, and a threshold.

In addition to being a welcoming space, adding much needed coat storage, and improving our curb appeal – the newly enclosed porch means our house is much much warmer since it acts as a windscreen for the living room. The porch isn’t heated, but on the coldest winter days we have a little fan heater out there to give it a boost and help dry out coats and boots.

I love this space, and I love that there is a space to put on coats and shoes thats not right in the living room. It really makes our first floor feel so much more spacious and organized.

What do you guys think?

xx-H