Front Porch Remodel design

What the room has to do

A front porch remodel is proportion and detail. Column thickness, rail height, ceiling material and the depth of the roof overhang decide whether a porch looks like it belongs to the house or like it was applied to the front of it.

Layout rules

• A porch needs 6ft of depth to hold two chairs and still let people pass.
• Size columns to the roof they carry — a 4in post under a substantial roof always looks wrong.
• Keep the porch floor 1in below the interior threshold.
• Hang porch lights with their centre at 66in, one each side of the door if the surround allows.
• Guard rails above 30in of drop, balusters under 4in apart.

Lighting plan

Two jobs, both modest: enough light on the door to find a keyhole, and enough on the steps to see them. A pair of flanking sconces at 66in does both. A single bright fixture overhead does neither well and lights the top of everyone's head.

What usually goes wrong

• A porch too shallow to sit on, so it stays purely decorative.
• Undersized columns under an oversized roof.
• A ceiling left as bare framing when it is the surface most visible from the street.
• One glaring fixture above the door.

In a small one

If the porch is under 5ft deep, stop trying to furnish it. Spend the budget on the ceiling, the door surround and the lighting — a shallow porch done properly reads better than a shallow porch with a squeezed-in chair.