WELCOME TO THE FRONT PORCH!
THIS was the room that sold me on the house—it reminded me of our back sun porch at Madison, which was always a lovely spot to land on a sunny day.
This past summer we spent a good chunk of our days out here: coffee on the couch in the morning, I'd work at the desk through the day, and cocktails on the couch again in the evening.
It's a great spot to catch a deer sighting in the morning or at dusk, and you can catch a great sunset out the west windows in the evening.
We moved in the middle of December 2020, so this room was pretty darn cold during the first few months. I was pretty tired from the move, and I really didn't have a plan for this space yet, so basically let it sit and store a bunch of random stuff for a few months.
When our new living room sofa finally arrived (oh, you know, seven months after ordering it...HA), we moved our old sofa (this one!) out onto the porch.
This sofa has been with us since our first year of marriage and is by no means high quality, but, it's sooo cozy, and somehow—even with two big dogs and two coffee spillers—it has resisted any major stains. WIN.
Once the sofa was out there, I felt a little more motivated to making the space cozy.
At the time, we still had Gabo, our Rottie pup (he has a new family now and is living his very best life!). We'd had the guest room all set up at first, but Gabo would destroy any and everything he could get his little teeth on, so we took EVERYTHING but his crate out of the guest room, and suddenly I had a whole bunch of pieces to play with!
This gorgeous rug is my most colorful purchase to date and was one I was initially eyeing for a client project...but OOPS! Now it's in my sunroom LOL.
If you remember our sunroom at the Madison house, it had a fun little built-in day bed that we made great use of. At this point, we didn't have a home for the bed that was in our guest room, so I thought it'd be fun to have a similar sort of set up in our new porch.
While I think it looks adorable, the daybed hasn't gotten as much use as I'd imaged, thought it has come in handy as an extra guest room when Larry's family comes to stay, as well as a great spot for my nieces to jump and play when they visit.
Larry had the idea recently to replace the bed with a little "breakfast nook" type seating area, possibly something with a corner banquette and a little cafe table. This, I can see us using allllll the time, eating meals out there, playing games, working, etc.
So that may be my next project?!
This funky bolster pillow above is one I made out of remnants from a vintage rug I used to upholster a bench for our bathroom. I didn't really have a plan when I started, but it turned out soooo cute and it totally makes the space.
In the warmer months, I have a lot of house plants that live out here, and we also have a cute little cafe set that my parents bought us when we got married. It's followed us from home to home and is such a great and sturdy little set.
We don't tend to sit at it a whole lot, probably because the sofa is more comfy, but it's a great plant stand, and when there are more people than just us, it's great extra seating.
What else can I tell you about this space...
OH! The WINDOWS! Gosh, I love the windows in this house. The windows at Madison house were big and beautiful, but by golly, they were OLD. If there is one thing you should upgrade in an old house, it's the windows!
This house has allllll new windows, and it makes all the difference. They are easy to open and close, and they seal up nice and tight for good temperature control. SO thankful for whomever before us made that investment.
There are also some really nifty window treatments in this space:
You don't notice them at all when they are all the way up, which I love, because it lets the view be the main ordeal. But, you can close them all the way for complete privacy (like when this room is used as a guest room), OR, you can close them like so (above), for light control and semi privacy.
Fun fact: back in the day, this was not originally an enclosed porch. The owners before us made that upgrade, and you can see some photos below of how it looked back before the porch was enclosed.
I'm really so thankful from a functionality perspective that they made this expensive upgrade—we have a very anxious dog who loves to run, and having this double-door entry scenario is really helpful for making sure she doesn't escape. AND, of course, it's also great for temperature control in the winter.
So there you have it! This is the room I hands down spend the most time in during the warmer months, it's been an honor to be able to share it with you!!
- XOXO, Lauren
Work with Lauren Figueroa Interior Design
LFID is a full-service interior design firm serving West and Southeast Michigan known especially for our Designed in a Day service.
We work with clients from Detroit to Novi to Clarkston, and Grand Rapids to Holland to Traverse City—and anywhere in between! We pride ourselves on creating bespoke, people-centered spaces—because after all, people are what this life is all about!
If you have a project on the horizon, get started by telling us about your vision here, and you can view past projects here. Thanks for stopping by!
Comments