Ladies,

For those of us who love decorating, we get giddy to change up our front porch style with the seasons. Let me take a moment to invite new homemakers into the fun of decorating her front porch. As with all things style, it is far from frivolous. The front porch is a focal point of the house, it welcomes guests, and it imparts cheeriness to the world around it by looking inviting and beautiful. Your front porch says something about the woman who tends the home.

The front porch is meant to make your home look like a well-kept and welcoming place.

Make it a part of your homemaking rounds to dazzle your front porch with plants, wreaths, lanterns, candles, statues, furniture, and more as the seasons change. But consider the importance of the front porch beyond a visual signal of good tidings. The porch is a gathering place, a little pocket to get fresh air, to talk, to sit, to enjoy. Decades ago, it was perhaps more prevalent that people used their front porches as a place to sit and rock in a chair in the evenings after dinner. It was a place to look out at the sunrise or sunset, a place from which to look up and enjoy the stars at night. It was a place that beckoned another to join them in the adjacent rocker. A place where conversation and time was spent together. Why do we have places like living rooms and porches? So that people can enjoy each other’s company.

A Clean & Decorated Porch is an Invitation to Enjoy it

It is not just fun to make areas like this pretty, but regular upkeep is vital to sweep away ever encroaching spiders, webs, leaves and debris. By doing this regularly, you are inviting people to this place by ensuring it looks tended. After all, no matter how well decorated a place is, if it looks dusty and dirty, people will not think to be there. Such is our work at home: what we do or don’t do directly influences the dynamic of the home.

Front Porch Housekeeping

When did we ever learn to go out to our porches with a broom once a week and spiff things up? When did we go to “porch keeping class”? These are the homemaking lessons that were either imparted to us by seeing our own mothers do it, or by maturing in our homemaking to realize that our porches get utterly disgusting without regular maintenance.

So here is the Front Porch Homemaking Lesson you never got: your front entrance is an extension of your living quarters. It may seem silly that women do things like decorate their porches by spending good money on outdoor furniture, plants, etc. But nothing in the home is so unimportant that we would not allot some resources to make it nice. Whether we have beautified something or not, it still needs our time and effort to keep it clean. You may want things simple to keep pests from gathering. You may want to stuff your porch with things. Have fun with it and whatever you do, do something.

Design your front porch with people in mind

1. Welcome mat
2. Comfortable seating
3. A side table to set drinks on
4. Change out porch light fixtures to the prettiest ones
5. Candles
6. Plants
7. Wreaths
8. Seasonal decor

There you have the basics of a beautiful and welcoming front porch and some solid reasons to keep it all up. Enjoy your homemaking today!