Screened in Porch Plans: ORC Week 1

Hi there- I hope you all are having a wonderful Spring! I’ve decided to participate as a guest participant in the One Room Challenge with Media Partner Better Homes & Gardens again! (Check out all of the wonderful design plans from the other participants here!)

It was just what I needed this past fall to finally finish the Beach Cabin Sleeper Attic. (You can check out the finished room here.) I was trying to decide between our Master Bedroom at our house (it needs a ton of work!) and the screened in porch at the Beach Cabin. Given that summer is almost here (fingers crossed, fingers crossed), it made more sense to spruce up the Beach Cabin. It is one of the few spaces that we haven’t refreshed, yet it seems to be our guests’ favorite space to eat, lounge, chat, etc. I guess that’s a good thing… Even if it doesn’t turn out “just so,” the chances are still good-to-quite-good that people will continue love it.

The BEFORE photos

Just so that we are on the same page, here are some “before” photos…

The Plan

And here is the plan… We will be keeping the paint colors and adding a fresh coat. The previous owners left the paint for us and we like the calming colors they chose. They also go well with the exterior of the house. It will be a little tricky painting during this time of year in Michigan. One day, it’s 60 degrees, the next 30. Paying attention to accurate forecasting will be key. Local forecasters, I’m looking at you. Last year, my husband cleaned the screens with prepackaged screen wipes and it made a huge difference! This year, the un-glamorous part will be cleaning the eves- yuck!

But on to more exciting things! We will be garage sale-ing the current lounge furniture and bringing in something more comfy. I love the sectionals that can be moved and rearranged to fit the space. Resin wicker will likely be our material of choice. We are debating keeping the porch swing and adding rope pulls or swapping it out for a larger porch swing bed. It will likely come down to budget on that one.

Our neighbors have lovely drapey, blow-in-the-breeze curtains on their screened in porch and I’d love to do the same here. We’re pretty casual as far as mornings go and often walk the puppy in our pjs. But, just in case we want to fein privacy, the curtains will be a nice addition.

An outdoor rug and some shade plants will add the final touches. Oh! And lighting. Lighting too. A ceiling fan would be amazing but it seems like ceiling electrical would be a time consuming and expensive factor. We will definitely be upgrading our wall lighting and likely hanging outdoor string bulbs.

The Visual

Here is the design board. We will see how closely the final project ends up coming to it. There are usually changes once I get into the projects/reality sets in.

Tell Me

I want to hear from you! When you think of screened in porches, what do you love about them? If you have VRBO-ed or Airbnb-ed a summer home with a porch, what stood out to you? We used to rent the most amazing cottage on a hill and it had screened in walls and an A-framed glass ceiling. We have the best memories out on that porch. While a glass ceiling isn’t in the cards for our Beach Cabin, we are definitely looking to that porch for guidance as we refresh our current space.