Although we have two back porches, they aren’t all that big so we plan to do a lot of front porch sitting at the new house. So we were pretty pumped when work got started on our front porch last week. We have tongue and groove floor planks now, and we want to keep everything looking original. We plan to reuse what we can (side note: we haven’t had to buy any wood inside the house because we’ve been able to recycle so much!) and where we need new boards, we will go back with matching tongue and groove.
We have some major rot issues, but that’s nothing new. The carpenters have started removing boards at the ends of the porch and are working their way in.
The foundation masonry will also be repointed and repainted to give the front a new fresh look.
So far, so good! I have very southern dreams of a porch swing, rocking chairs, and sweet tea on this porch. Here’s my inspiration…
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Here’s my question for you: What color do we paint the porch floor? I would prefer to stain them a dark wood color, but after 100 years of paint, that’s not really a feasible option. White will get too dirty, black will show pollen really bad. Gray? Blue? Brown? Green? I need some opinions…ready, set, GO!
I think you can do whatever color you want, although more muted colors would be in line with the traditional look you’re going for. I’ve seen some people pull off bright colors, but they were going for an offbeat look. They’re usually painted a medium grey, but I think going a little darker would be nicer. I’ve seen at least one painted barn red, too, and that looked good. My parents have a very suburban Pennsylvania style screen porch on the side of their house (though it’s a corner house so it’s kinda a front porch) and they had dark green stone looking tile installed over the concrete. There’s a bad picture of it at the top of my blog right now, coincidentally, but I could try to find you a nicer photo of the porch taken during the daytime when it’s set up for use if you’d like.
Thanks for all the info, Chad! We know we definitely want to stick with wood, but as you mentioned, there’s a ton of possibilities. I had actually been leaning towards a dark gray, but I always love to put it out there because I might hear things I never would have thought of…like barn red!! :)
Yeah I was only mentioning the tile because it sounds like it might be a color you’re considering. And their porch floor was concrete, so tiling it made more sense for them than it would for you.
How about a complimentary darker green in the same family as the house color? 1304 National Avenue was painted white when we were there but the front porch was as dark green. Don’t let pollen determine your color. That’s only 4 – 6 weeks a year and with an open front porch, the pollen is gone in 5 minutes with a water hose. Happy choosing!
Just found your blog and I kind of love it. I think the traditional colors are gray or dark green. My porch floor is dark green and I hate it! I really want to paint it dark gray. There’s a photo of it on my house tour page on my blog if you’d like to see how it looks.
So glad you’re here, Charlotte! I think gray is the winner too!
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