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The Pleasures of the Porch
Make an Outdoor Room Even More Inviting
by Joetta Moulden
photos by Brad Simmons

Reprinted with permission of Houston House and Home Magazine

Growing up in Houston before central air conditioning was de rigeuer was a terrific experience, filled with adventure. After all, when you are an energetic kid, Houston's heat doesn't really bother you.

As a young girl, I found it was a blast to sit on the floor and play jacks at my friends' various porches, listening to the methodical, hypnotic symphony of crickets and cicadas, the whirring hum of the ceiling fans and, in the evening, to stare out at the moonlit dance of fireflies across the freshly-cut lawn.

Before the droning roar of central air conditioning units became the sound of summer, it was possible to hear dogs barking in the distance, ice cubes tinkling into frosty aluminum glasses and faint gales of laughter erupting from the neighbors' houses down the street.

So when photographer Brad Simmons and I shot this spacious screened porch near Fredericksburg for Country Accents magazine, I felt instantly connected to it. This country porch needed very little, decorating-wise, to transform it into an even more inviting outdoor room to welcome friends and family.

Running the length of the indoor living room, this porch had good furniture "bones" - a huge trestle table flanked by two long, pull-up benches, a console table for buffet entertaining and pigskin equipales chairs and love seats, which provide comfortable seating at the opposite end of the porch.

To increase the feeling of volume, the owners kept the shed ceiling as high as possible against the house, painting the board-and-batten wall a non-glare, putty color. Red gingerbread trim on the columns set the color scheme for the accessories I wanted to find inside to soften and add personality to the room.

Going "shopping" in the main house, I found squishy throw pillows in lovely shades of red and green that the home's Fredericksburg interior designers David Ross and Brent Waldoch fabricated.

That's what I do - rearrange and use accessories that homeowners already have. Many times, I find treasures hidden away inside cupboards and closets... easy pickings!

In a kitchen drawer, I found a coordinating red and taupe striped ticking tablecloth, which I placed sideways on the table, which looks younger and fresher than a lengthwise placement does, plus it allows more of the wood tabletop to show. In the kitchen I discovered blue graniteware plates and navy bandannas, which are fun to use as napkins. I placed silverware in a tall glass for the tabletop buffet, an accessible and friendly entertaining idea.

On the console table, drinks were twisted into a large tub of ice, and I moved the wonderful, over-scaled candlesticks from the dining table to the console to balance and flank the handsome ethnic wood carving hanging on the wall.

The glass lanterns, formerly on the console, were grouped together at one end of the table to provide evening mood and sparkle. On the opposite end of the dining table, I lined up rows of chilled champagne glasses for guests. In the adjoining sitting area, I rearranged the equipales seating to create a friendlier conversational grouping.

A wicker trunk from a nearby bedroom was moved outside to become a textural coffee table, topped with books and a plate of colorful fruit. A weathered horseshoe that I found outside adds Texas charm to the stack of books. Pots of classic red geraniums breathe life and color into this breezy outdoor living room, repeating the established red and green color scheme.

Now all that's missing is a group of giggling girls, playing jacks and sipping lemonade long into a warm summer evening.

Joetta Moulden offers home makeovers using your own home furnishings.
Visit her web site at www.shelterstyle.com or Email her at info@shelterstyle.com.

Trade Secrets

• Do consider painting the walls of your screen porch a pretty color that complements the adjoining living spaces.
  
  
• Accessorize a covered screen porch as you would any other room - with throw pillows, books, flowers and accessories.
  
  
• Do arrange furniture to facilitate easy conversation and to enjoy a lovely backyard view.
  
  
• Rather than hang traditional artwork on the walls, consider architectural fragments like an iron gate, an old divided light window frame, or a primitive wood carving instead.
  
  
• Sometimes the most effective ploy is not to buy more things for your house, but to organize what you have and make those things work more effectively.