Wood Porch Ideas

Diamonds in the Rough

• Give an old wood porch an update with vintage wicker furnishings merged with turned wood pillars and a geometric hand-painted floor. If your wood floor needs a coat of paint, consider blocking it off with tape to create alternating diamonds of black and white in a harlequin effect. Add zebra-print cushions on the chairs, and it's high style. Or opt for a mellower look with natural wood diamonds alternating with black or a shade that matches the porch shutters. Leave the wicker natural, and cover the chair cushions with grain sacking or old linen tea towels.

Exotic Sun Porch

• A gabled sun porch that's all high-gloss white wood and large screens gets an exotic personality when you add a dark, canopied wicker daybed, finely woven chair and matching table. The daybed canopy adds the real drama if it mimics the peak of the gable, curving gently to high sides with cut-out arches. More white on the daybed coverlet and loads of sand- and fern-colored and white patterned pillows keep the look crisp but not modern. Set faux-marble columns in the corners, supporting planters with Boston ferns to bring some garden into the porch. Use a plain sisal carpet to define the space. Almost any type of chandelier would work on this porch, but a rustic iron that matches the color of the wicker is perfect.

Shabby and Splendid

• A tiny porch made entirely of salvage is in character for a "green" renovation of an old cottage or shack. Recycled, painted boards supply a sense of history. They are kind to summer bare feet when the rough spots are sanded off and the floor is finished with a couple of coats of polyurethane. Add salvaged wood pillars to mark the boundaries of the porch. Paint the pillars vanilla white or soft sage, and connect them with painted flat wooden boards to create extra seating. Saggy steps leading down to a small patio look worn and authentic, so go ahead and use the slightly warped lumber from the recycle pile. Furnish the porch for summer repasts with a wood table reclaimed from a thrift store or the garage. The shabbier it is, the more it will blend in -- as if the whole porch and its furnishings have been there forever.

Airborne

• Expand a second-story master bedroom by adding a wood porch. A simple porch with plank floors, wood rails, old-fashioned square columns and cedar beams can hold a table for two and deeply cushioned rattan chairs. Watch the sunrise over coffee, or catch the sunset with your own private happy hour, with or without screens. Bursts of colorful leafy foliage in deep terracotta pots link the porch with the surrounding trees. A copper coach lamp and dark olive shutters are all the décor you need.