Porch Decorating Ideas, Front & Back Porches

Porch Decorating Ideas, Front & Back Porches

More and more are Americans coming to realize the charm and the advantages of life al fresco. This is partly due to experiences of delightful summers abroad and partly to the waning popularity of the wasp-waist damsel in lieu of whom we find broad-chested, tennis-playing girls. And it is the women who set the style, even in modes of living.

When the days grow long and the evenings are soft, we all want to get away from four walls. Romance lurks in the corner of the garden, and we have a little of the same sense of adventure that we had as children under a propped-up sheet in the backyard.

The variety of outdoor living rooms suits every purse and pocket. There are gardens of French and Italian formal planting, beautiful things to look at and wander through, and there are old-fashioned gardens of a joyous, riotous color. It is from the vantage point of the outdoor living room that these gardens are the most enjoyable. For the outdoor living room is the go-between of the house and the garden, and consequently should harmonize broadly in style with both.

Those that are constructed as part of the house, the porch, piazza, the sun porch, the outside living and dining room, may be furnished in almost the same style as the inside living room itself. The walls may be covered with lattice work over which vines can be trained, or else they can be rough plastered. An attractive way to treat plastered walls is with a decoration of garlands frescoed on, reminiscent of old Italian gardens. The colors should be those of luscious fruits and warm tinted flowers. Such a decoration is particularly appropriate where the room is used for tea, luncheon or dinner. For the table center piece use a majolica pottery basket of fruit. This may be replaced at meal times by a low brass bowl of real fruit. It is not desirable to keep fruit on the table between meals, as insects beseige it and also it is unpalatable when warm. Hence artificial fruit is a good substitute.

Lattice walls bring within much of the outdoors. The lattice itself should be kept very plain, letting the vines do the decorating. The box in which the vines are planted should be the same color as the lattice and should not be featured, but made part of the background itself. The design of the lattice should be simple: when laid at all angles and in all forms, it gives an undesirable gingerbread effect. i

The remarkable keying up of color in decoration within the past ten years is due to two influences: response to the expert handling of strong color by such masters as Bakst, Hoffman and Poiret, and the increased vogue for outdoor living. Drab tans, buffs and grays are not suitable for outdoor furnishings, and to such an extent has public taste changed that it is difficult to find a modern porch which has not, in more or less quantity, full, normal, strong, vivid colors.

The development was slow in coming around. At first, against the red brick walls we set green willow; suitable, to be sure, but repeated on every neighbor's porch. Consequently new color combinations came into vogue: white porches with black trim and black and white painted furniture; chairs cushioned with varied color combinations; black and white tiled or painted floors. Such a porch looked cool, comfortable and interesting.

An unusual color combination, especially suitable for the back or front porch with the southern exposure, is blue and orange. The orange may be strong and the blue light and clear, with enough greenish caste to tone in with the foliage. The wall or porch lattice can be painted blue, and to the furnishings can be added a table and bench painted in a darker shade. Hang on the wall a small majolica Italian wall fountain of blue, green, orange and yellow, or set on the floor a pair of Italian pottery jars. Paint the floor gray and for curtains, blinds, or awnings, as the case may be, use an orange fabric. For this purpose comes a delightful pure, clear orange sun fast.

Visualize this porch. It breathes of Italy. In fact, if the walls are stucco, one might have them frescoed in soft Italian yellow with large swags of leaves and fruits in greens, blues and yellows. This could easily be done by an Italian workman, as the design does not require skilled execution. An orange table or chair covers of a deeper color would add that variance of tone which vivid colors always necessitate.

Another, more subtle scheme, which has recently been worked out to charming completion, is the use of lavender in combination with soft green. The lavender is not of the blue, mournful shade but of a pinkish cast, and the green has much blue in it.

Against the wall background was applied a lattice made of laths painted lavender. (Lattice, by the way, is easily and cheaply made by laying lathes close together on the floor, shellacking, then painting them on all sides, and then tacking them in place, only one coat of paint being necessary to finish them.) Up it trailed purple morning glories. A round iron table, such as is used in front of French cafes, and a folding iron chair, both painted green, made a striking group for the corner. On the table was a little casserole painted a deep tone and edged with yellow. Against the lattice were placed high, papier-mache jars such as are used in florists' shops, painted a deep -lavender with bands of yellow. In them were kept forsythia and golden rod and Michaelmas daisies. For tea or refreshments was used a low table with a wide top painted soft yellow and decorated with a delicate design. There is something cozy and intimate about a low table, which is conducive to hospitality. Trays decorated in quaint designs of bright colors, and attractive French and Italian crockery, such little details made the porch unusual. As a final touch there was used an awning of plain green to lend seclusion.

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