| A Screened-In Porch for Summer |
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By Chris Casson Madden
Scripps Howard News Service
July, 2000 I was recently photographing beautiful cottages at Twin Farms in Barnard, Vermont, an exquisite retreat in the Green Mountains and a popular destination for people to luxuriate in the quiet of nature, truly relaxing, away from the loud and fast fury of city life. Twin Farms features a collection of architecturally distinguished cottages -- each oozing its own particular brand of charm. One lovely cottage we photographed has a large screened porch adjoining its dog-themed bedroom and seating area. Sitting in cozy rocking chairs high in the trees, who couldn't relax in such an atmosphere? And it reminded me of how special a screened-in porch is and how it enhances those lazy but occasionally humid days in the mountains. Sitting in those rocking chairs gazing at the trees, my photography crew decided that there's nothing like a screened-in porch and I agree! With summer just officially beginning, I want to be outside planting flowers, stretched out on a chaise with a book breathing fresh air, watching my boys enjoying their summer vacations in the backyard, inviting friends over for cocktails and food under the stars and moonlight. With all the glorious things that fresh air and warm weather bring, it also delivers the less-than-desirable aspects, such as insects and the threat of bad weather, ruining all plans for outdoor relaxation and outdoor entertaining. So, along with a backyard, what better than a screened-in porch! With both, I think a backyard is complete. One of the greatest things about a screened-in porch is simply the protection. With screens, I can enjoy the outdoor air without having to worry about bug repellant or filling my backyard with overly fragrant citronella candles before a dinner party. Along with good screens, it's also important that a screened-in porch has a durable floor, one that is easy to clean and stands up to all the elements. Recently, I've renovated my new getaway in the beautiful mountains of Vermont. Since most of our entire house had to be renovated (and most of the work took place in the cold winter months), the porch in the back of our house became a catch-all for contractors' tools and furniture and accessories that didn't yet have a home. Now, with most of the work done and the hot days of summer hitting Vermont, I have rediscovered this room and can't wait to finish filling it with furniture so my family and I can really use this space. The more time I spend here, I can imagine how to use it, especially since a screened-in porch can be the most versatile room in your home. This coming weekend, friends and family will gather at our Vermont home. Kevin, my husband, will fire up the barbecue and I have thoughts of a roasted leg of lamb. With a romantic ceiling fan, dozens of votive candles for ambience and an old wooden table large enough to sit eight friends, our porch will be the perfect bug-free backdrop. It also has a small, bamboo bar that I designed for my furniture collection, with plenty of storage space for all the paraphernalia of entertaining -- wine, glasses, a bar setup, napkins, ice bucket -- you get the idea. It's also great portable storage for our croquet set, badminton and other outdoor games. I decided to outfit the porch with roll-up shades to completely block sun and rain, especially if any of our visiting nieces and nephews are adventurous enough to spend a night on the porch. Yes, I've always been nostalgic about the old sleeping porches for summertime evenings and day-to-night versatility. With a small camper's bed, some great mosquito netting, lamps for versatile lighting and baskets filled with books and board games, my porch will become the perfect guest bedroom when our home is overflowing with guests. A fairly easy setup, I plan to store the bed in the garage and pull it out only when needed. But I think I'll also sneak away to this special room (without guests) to enjoy as my outdoor personal space. If you want more options for outdoor entertaining and prefer not to screen in a porch, consider adding canvas awning along a portion of the back of your home. That's what I did on an old unused side porch, using hunter green canvas awning with a scalloped edge. To make the area rain-worthy, I added two flaps on the exposed sides that can be rolled up or let down for bad weather. If you don't already have the simple luxury of an outdoor screened area in your home and you enjoy entertaining outside, consider adding a screened-in porch, or at least an awning to an existing exposed porch or deck. You'll be glad you did. ( Chris Casson Madden, host of the Home & Garden Television show ''Interiors by Design,'' is also author of 12 books, including the newly released Room of Her Own,'' Clarkson Potter Publishers.) (Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.shns.com.)
RESOURCES :
A Room of Her Own: Women's Personal Spaces
Model: 0517599392
Author: Chris Casson Madden
(November, 1997)
To order this title from Amazon, click here.
Clarkson Potter/The Crown Publishing Group/Random House
Website: www.randomhouse.com
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