Botanic Bleu: Create An Inviting Summer Porch

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Summer is a time for living a little slower pace with family, friends, and neighbors. What better place to enjoy easy-living summer days and nights than on an inviting porch.

Thanks to Amber at Follow the Yellow Brick Home, you can see a collection of ideas from 20 bloggers at Spring into Summer! | Porches, Patios, and Outdoor Spaces Blog Hop for how each of us created outdoor spaces to enjoy this summer.

If you are coming from Carol at Art and Sand, aren't her house and garden inspiring for summer ideas? I always feel happy when looking at Carol's blog anytime of the year.

At the end of the post you can find links to see all of the ways 20 outdoor spaces from coast to coast are ready for summer. Wherever you live or whatever your style, you are sure to find some ideas for your summer outdoor spaces.

Welcome to my summer porch.

Summer Porch ... brings to mind a place to relax, to share a meal, and to solve the world's problems with good friends or with your children out of school for summer vacation. See nine (9) ways I created an inviting summer porch for those long, lazy summer days to come.

C R E A T E A N I N V I T I N G

S U M M E R P O R C H

COMFORTABLE SEATING

Two large chairs side-by-side make conversations easy. Big chairs are more inviting for lounging than small chairs. Men appreciate a large, comfy chair that invites stretching out with plenty of room. Adirondack chairs are super comfortable with their slanted backs and curved seats.

Chaise lounges with their adjustable backs go from an upright seat for joining in conversations with others to lying flat for a summer afternoon nap. Lounges made of lightweight aluminum are easy to move around to take advantage of sunshine, a cool breeze, or a shady spot.

CUSHIONS

Cushions added to outdoor wooden chairs raise the comfort level. Don't overlook cushions you may already own. These blue and white cushions are from a bed in a guest room, and do double duty. During the day they can sit on the porch chairs, and at night, they can go back to the guest room.

GREEN PLANTS

Think of green plants as the foundation for porch gardens just like shrubs and trees are the foundation for in-ground gardens. A large ivy topiary is a focal point on the porch year round.

Smaller pots of colorful annual and perennial blooming flowers fill in between the green plants. When the flowers are not in bloom, green plants still offer a pretty garden.

TIP: Place a smaller pot next to a large ivy plant in order to root a long ivy tendril and propagate another ivy plant. Place an ivy tendril under soil in the small pot. When the tendril has rooted and is established, cut the vine from the parent plant.

Dwarf yaupon hollies grow in two large blue pots on each end of the sunny balcony part of the covered porch. Notice the porch roof does not extend to the porch railing which allows the plants to get both rainfall and sunshine. White blooming columbine is between the ivy topiary and the potted yaupon holly.

BLOOMING FLOWERS

Nantucket Blue® hydrangea is a new variety of hydrangea to me. The plant is hardy to -20° to -30°, needs partial shade, and blooms repeatedly over summer. One placed between the two chairs is close enough to smell the faint fragrance.

Two more Nantucket Blue® hydrangeas sitting at the edge of the porch receive some rainfall and plenty of shade. With a faucet nearby on the open deck, it is easy to keep a watchful eye on the plants and water them often.

A shade tolerant hosta in bloom sits on the edge of the potting bench where it gets morning sun, afternoon shade, and rainfall. More small pots of ivy on the potting bench will provide greenery all summer.

FLAT SURFACES FOR FOOD & DRINKS

A rustic blue painted box sits between the two Adirondack chairs and makes a great place to set a tray of snacks. I try to keep the box top uncluttered at all times for setting a plate of food brought outside on the spur-of-the-moment. Having a spot to set food encourages sitting on the porch and enjoying an unplanned few minutes outside watching birds, bees, and butterflies as they flit among the trees.

The wide wooden arms of the chairs offer stable spots to set drinks. One of the reasons I like Adirondack chairs is their wide wooden arms. Wicker chairs catch my attention and tempt me to buy them, but so far I haven't found any with wide arms to hold drinks.

PAPER GOODS & TOWELS

A favorite French wire basket holds coordinating paper plates, matches, and a cotton towel. Corralled, but handy to use with snacks as needed. The beautiful hydrangea pattern coordinates with the hydrangea plants on the porch.

SERVING TABLE & FLOWER ARRANGING STATION

A large glass top on a vintage sewing machine base provides a spot for serving food on the porch. When not used to serve food, the glass table holds supplies for flower arranging.

Vintage fruit/canning jars on top of a plate rack are handy as vases for holding wildflowers or for holding small votives.

The blue floral plates are not for serving food; they are for setting underneath potted plants to protect furniture. All of these plates have cracks, chips, or crazed glazes making them unsafe for serving food, but they are too pretty to throw away and are useful as plant saucers. Small clear dessert-size plates are also used as plant saucers.

LIGHTING

A variety of lighting supplements the exterior lights on either side of the porch's French doors.

A collection of lanterns sit on the serving table ready to use when the sun goes down. Two of the lanterns are designed to hold candles or votives and can hold citronella candles to deter bugs.

There is also a blue battery-operated lantern that provides more light than candles.

Patio string lights are attached to two sides of the porch ceiling and provide light for sitting on the porch after dark. Their soft glow matches the soft whispers recounting the day's activities or dreaming about tomorrow's plans.

What is it about night time porches and campfires that reduces conversations to hushed utterances, barely audible?

Small votives add to the ambience of a quiet summer evening on the porch. As a child, I sat silently on my grandmother's covered porch in the dark, listening to the sounds of bullfrogs, whippoorwills, doves, and the creak of her rocking chair or the porch swing's chains. Occasionally a whiff of honeysuckles drifted by on a soft breeze.

CEILING FAN

A ceiling fan cools the covered porch and helps sweep away bugs.

Important design features are the number of blades, the wingspan of the blades, safety rated for exterior uses, and cubic feet per minute (cfm) of air movement. Cubic feet per minute of air movement is more important than the size of the fan.

With our Texas heat, the ceiling fan extends the time the porch is cool enough for use. Sometimes we also add a small floor fan.

Please PIN ⇑

summer time & the living is easy

on an inviting summer porch

Head over to see how CoCo at The Crowned Goat has readied her island home in Florida for summer time.

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your time here and found an idea or two to use in your own home. Be sure to visit all 20 sites for more ideas.

S O U R C E S

See how I gave new life to the Adirondack chairs.

See my newest Pinterest Board, SUMMER, for more summer ideas.

Look for patriotic ideas on my Pinterest Board, PATRIOTIC. Independence Day is just over a month away!

Shop for Hydrangea Towels at Botanic Bleu.
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