The Back Porch and Transformation Thursday

Our back porch is just a couple of years old.  We demolished an old deck and built a wrap around porch that connected our back door to an old side door on the conservatory.   For the past couple of years we've been working with various peices of furniture, trying to find the best way to use the space on the porch.  This past spring we moved our hammock and hammock stand to the corner of the porch. Although the hammock stand is way to big for the porch, we like having it here because the porch roof protects the hammock fabric from the rain and wind, making the hammock usable virtually all of the time. 

Yes, these are my size 9 feet stretched out on the canvas hammock.  I love laying here during the afternoon.  Right now I can only slow down for about 20 minutes, but I'm working on making it up to an hour on that hammock!

Here are the furnishings and set-up before my re-arranging on Monday afternoon.  I liked how the bench looked in front of the window, but the sitting area didn't seem to work when friends were over.  There was no place to put a drink or appetizer plate.  We were just too spread out over the porch for any type of coziness.  You can see a small round table with a checkered green tablecloth to the left - this table was placed against the porch railing, overlooking the pond. Two people could sit comfortably with this arrangement.  I wanted to create a space for four people to sit comfortably.

Here is the same window, with the small round table moved away from the porch railing and nearer to the window, allowing for four chairs to fit comfortably around it. 

Here's a view of the 'before' arrangement from the other side.  You can see more clearly where the table was set up. 

Here's the seating area now, set away from the table area, but still cozy enough for conversation and places to put down a glass or small plate of food, but separate from the small table area. 

Here are a few other additions I made to the porch:

A sign that FHFB painted for our fresh picked raspberries.

Phlox from the front garden.

Sunflowers and Zinnias from FHFB's gardens.

It's not a major transformation, but significant enough for me to feel happy and settled now whenever I walk outside onto the porch.  For me, the porch is more functional and also more clearly delineated, without being too structured. 

FHFB hasn't embraced this change - I'm hoping it will grow on him, like many of my furniture re-arrangement projects :). 

Thanks for visiting - I'm linked on to Transformation Thursday.  If you have a minute or two, stop by to see all of the wonderful blogger transformation postings!!

Ciao, bella!