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Our Two Huge Front Porches – Episode 12 of Building a Farmhouse

We are back with another update. Today we are talking about the front and back porches. If there was one thing that was on the “must have” list when picking out a floor plan for our home, it was definitely the front and back porches. I have lived in several homes now and the one thing that they all lacked was a grand covered outdoor space.

It is a great feeling to be able to sit outside while it rains and be protected enough to enjoy the rainfall. I love the sound and the smell and just enjoying the cooling effect it tends to have when it happens. Sadly, I haven’t really been able to enjoy that for as long as I can remember.

If you have missed any of the previous posts about our build, you can catch up on them in our Building a Farmhouse series.

The front porch is 64 feet long and 8 feet deep, with the exception of 3 sections. Both the entrance to the home and the two ends are inset. Those areas are an additional 5 ft and 8 inches deep, so they are just under 14 ft deep.

These areas are perfect for seating areas to lounge in and hang out. I can definitely see some really cute outdoor furniture sets in those areas or some porch swings.

The initial plans for the house had painted bead board ceilings in the front and back porch. This would have required to create a grid pattern on the ceiling to hide the seams and would have made things a little more complicated. Plus, these ceilings are usually painted instead of stained and Nelson and I really liked the idea of having a stained porch ceiling.

So, we decided to go with tongue and groove pine boards on the ceilings instead, since we already have that in the cottage and we really like the way it looks.

The tongue and groove went up pretty quickly and once it was up, we knew we made the right decision. The ceilings give off a really cozy feel.

The posts were wrapped as well. If I remember correctly they were wrapped with spruce. We decided not to go with cedar, because the tones of the two woods would look too different and I didn’t want different tones everywhere, especially since we planned on staining them.

Related: CLICK 👉🏼All about our hardie plank siding

The structural beams for both the front and back porches were wrapped in primed fascia board. I wanted a nice “stop” from where the boards ended and the beams began.

The back porch will be a space we hang out in a ton. It is 11’6″ deep and 38′ long. I plan on moving the outdoor table we currently have underneath our gazebo for outdoor eating here. And I will also include a lounge area to enjoy while the kids play or swim outside.

The sun does set in our backyard and it can get a little hot over the summer, so we eventually have plans to screen in the back porch to give us a little protection from the sun, heat and bugs. That, however, will most likely happen in about another year or so.

As for now, we are super excited to have these outdoor spaces that we never had before. And we look forward to spending many evenings and mornings out there to come.

See even more details and watch the tongue and groove go up below.