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Today I’m revealing our finally-finished front porch! Join me for the tour plus some great front porch ideas that you can use to add charm to your own home.
Welcome to my front porch! It’s an exciting day at the TIDBITS homestead. After four years, we have finally finished our front porch and we are loving it! (Ignore the dirt and weeds . . . landscaping is next!)
In case you aren’t familiar with our home, I’ll give a quick run down.
Four years ago we built a pole barn home, or sometimes called a bardominium, from the ground up. It was a huge undertaking for our family! We have shared a lot about this home including why chose to build a pole barn home and how much it cost to build our pole barn home.
It was just a few months ago that we finished our butler’s pantry, which was the last interior space in our home to be completed. Now, after all those years of work on the inside of our home, we were finally able to turn our attention to the exterior and finish on our porch.
I’m so happy to finally be able to share the finished front porch with you! Click on the button below if you’d like to watch the video I made about this project.
Ideas to Add Charm to Your Front Porch
Maybe you are getting ready to build a home or remodel your existing front porch design. Maybe you just want to redecorate and would like some front porch ideas and inspiration. Either way, I’ve got you covered with front porch ideas that are both big and small.
So, join me! I’ll walk you the different design elements that we used for our own front porch. Hopefully you’ll see something that inspires you to add a little charm to your outdoor spaces.
Low Maintenance Siding
Let’s start with the siding. Now, I realize that adding or changing your home’s siding isn’t going to be reasonable for most people. But if you happen to be in the market for siding, I strongly recommend looking for something that will be long lasting and low maintenance.
Our board and batten style tin siding from Teton Steel should last us for many, many years. No repainting for us! Let’s save that time and money for something more fun!
Beams
Exposed beams are another great front porch idea. You’ll often seem them used in farmhouse style homes. Wood beams can be painted or stained to whatever color you like. Whether used on the inside or outside of a home, exposed beams add a ton of character and charm.
I love the exposed beams on our front porch ceiling. Mr. TIDBITS wrapped them with wood and painted them white to help tie them into the rest of the house and trim. It adds a charming touch to our porch space.
Decorative Ceilings
One of my favorite front porch ideas is a decorative ceiling. I’m sure you’ve seen pictures of lovely front porches with painted ceilings. I adore them! The pop of color and extra detail can really make a front porch feel special. Bead board, planks or wood trim can have the same effect.
For our porch ceiling, we chose to add ship lap for some gorgeous detail. We also painted the ship lap a gray/green color that we had matched to the roof. Because we color matched, I don’t have a name for our paint color, but the roof color was Old Town Gray from Bridger Steel.
Decorative Posts/Pillars
Decorative posts or pillars can be gorgeous on a front porch. They are a great way to boost your home’s curb appeal and you don’t need a huge porch either. Small front porches can also look great with some decoratively trimmed posts.
If you’ve got some plain porch posts, trimming them out can make a big difference in your outdoor living space.
Trimming out our front porch posts was one of the ideas I was most excited about when we started this project. Mr. TIDBITS and I played around with different scraps of trim and wood moulding to come up with a look that we loved for our porch posts. We painted our posts white to give them a finished look. The end result is cohesive and beautiful.
Corbels, Knee Braces or Gable Brackets
Along with decorative posts, using knee braces, corbels or gable brackets is another great way to add charm to your front porch.
Traditionally, these are all diagonal support pieces that you’ll see tucked up into a homes’ eaves to add strength and support structure. Today, many corbels, brackets and knee braces are purely decorative and you can often add them to existing homes.
Mr. TIDBITS and I were able to find a some knee braces that we loved. We added these to our porch posts. They fit the scale or our structure and add a lot of visual interest. They’re also just so darn cute!
Upgraded Front Door
The door is often the focal point of a porch and it can set tone for the rest of the space. Upgrading your front door can completely change the feel of your front porch.
A front door upgrade could mean getting a new door altogether or simply painting or decorating the door that you already have. Think about simple upgrades like swapping out old hardware or refreshing faded paint.
When we built our pole barn home, we decided to save elsewhere so that we could splurge on a door that we really loved. We chose to go with Double Dutch French Doors. We took our design ideas to a local door company that sketched it out and sent it off to a larger manufacturer for production. After four years, I still love this door!
Decorative Lighting
Adding some beautiful outdoor lighting is one of the best ideas for upgrading your front porch. Light fixtures have come a long way in the last few decades. There are also so many types to choose from. You might want to consider something like outdoor sconces for mood lighting or ceiling fans to help you cool off in the summer.
Here at the TIDBITS homestead, we went with some simple lantern style lights that hang from the porch ceiling. They look great lined up in a row without overwhelming the space. I’m so happy with them!
Shutters
If you want to add some charm to your home, definitely consider adding some shutters to frame your windows. Shutters can really jazz up a plain space and allow you to play with color and texture. Best of all, they are a relatively easy and inexpensive way to change the look of your home or porch.
Unfortunately, we don’t have any shutters on our windows, but it’s on my mind for a future project. I’d love to paint those future shutters to match the color of our roof and garage doors. Am I the only one who dreams about shutters?
Porch Swing
Who doesn’t love a porch swing? In my opinion, there’s nothing better than relaxing on a porch swing to read a good book or chat with a loved one. If you’ve got the space for one, you should give a porch swing a try. You’ll probably find that it quickly becomes everybody’s favorite seat.
Mr. TIDBITS DIY-ed us a porch swing using some walnut wood from another project. It was a fairly quick project for him, but it’s had a big impact on how we enjoy our porch. We love gathering on the swing to talk and take in the incredible views around us. It’s now one of my favorite things about our front porch.
Seating/Furnishings
Seating areas bring people together. If room allows, you might want to think about how you can add seating to your porch.
Simple things like a bench with side tables can allow you to sit and gather with guests and family in comfort. Consider adding decorative elements like throw pillows to cozy up your space and make it inviting.
At our home, we had enough room for a couple of seating areas. We have our porch swing, some rocking chairs and a glider, and a small table that the kids love to sit at to do school work and art projects.
Front Porch Decor
I love good front porch decorating ideas! Vintage furniture and accessories, pumpkins, wreaths – you name it! Tastefully done decor is a really simple way to beautify and add interest to your front porch.
This doesn’t need to be expensive. Think about what you already have or could make. Thrift stores are a good resource for decorating spaces without spending lots of money
I had a cute little shelf unit that I placed on our front porch. It’s a nice way for me to stage seasonal decorations and items we often use out there. I also love to cut flowers from around our property to place on the porch. It’s an easy was to make our front porch feel inviting.
Outdoor Rugs
Adding rugs to your front porch is another great way to add charm to your home. A simple welcome mat by the front door can do a lot to enhance the entrance to your home. Rugs placed in seating areas are also a nice touch that make lounging around more enjoyable.
I recently picked up a striped jute rug to spruce up our front porch. The texture and color of jute are beautiful. Jute rugs are some of my favorite because they really grab the dirt from off of our shoes.
Vinyl rugs can be a great option for porches too. I’ve got a gray vinyl rug that sits under our porch swing. It’s nice to have something soft underfoot when we’re relaxing outside. Luckily, vinyl rugs are also super easy to clean. We just hose ours down when we feel like it’s getting dirty.
Plants/Greenery
What would a front porch be without some plants? Plants and greenery can add a lot of charm to your home.
When we’re talking front porches, think of things like planters, pots and hanging baskets. You could use potted plants or bring in cut flower arrangements. Simple things like cut branches, corn husks and wildflowers make great additions to outdoor spaces.
On our front porch, I have two large terracotta pots that I like to plant up with some small evergreens. In fall, I like to place pumpkins around the base of these small evergreens. When winter rolls around, I can toss in some pine cones in their place. Once spring rolls around, these evergreens can be planted in the ground on our property.
Other Front Porch Ideas
I love decorating outdoor spaces! Whether it’s a patio, deck or a front porch, decorating the spaces where my family gathers brings me joy. If you feel the same way, then I’ve got a few more front porch ideas from my past projects that you might like to see. Talk to you soon!
- Fall Home Tour | On the Porch
- Fall Front Porch | Decorating with Sage Green
- Our Old Fashioned Christmas Porch Decorations
- 5 Tips for Fall Front Porch Decorating
- Fall Front Porch – Take 2
