Porch Questions: Porch Season Is Almost Here

Welcome to the 369th Metamorphosis Monday!

Right now the porch looks like this, minus the green leafy backdrop.

Build a Screened Porch

 

But sometimes it looks like this, only not this dark. My photography skills weren’t the greatest when that photo was taken.

Screened Porch with Sheer Curtains and White Wicker Furniture

 

Summer of 2014, I took down the sheers when I had the porch freshened up with a new coat of paint. After the painting was done, I decided to leave them off for a bit. I like the porch both ways, with and without sheers. When the sheers are up, they soften all the hard lines and edges of the porch. But when they are down, the porch feels more open.

Build a Screened Porch

 

A few days ago I received an email from a Margaret who wrote:

I love your porch – and your blog!!!!

I’ve searched to see if there are close-ups of your screens and curtain rods.  I wanted to have more information on the attachment of the screens and screen frames as well as more detail on the curtain rods, their attachment and composition.  I wondered if your curtains can be “closed” or are just detail for the porch.  I was hoping you might add more detail about these two details of your porch.  And, if you do add more detail, could you let me know – maybe with a link so I don’t miss the update?

Hugs,

Margaret

Thanks, Margaret!

I get a lot of questions about the sheers, questions about how they hold up in rain and if they ever mold when they get wet. The answer is yes, they do get wet if it’s a fierce, blowing type rain, but once the rain stops, they dry within minutes. Since they are made of some kind of nylon/polyester fabric, they have never once had a speck of mold appear on them. I guess mold doesn’t like, or can’t eat, synthetic fabrics.

It was really an experiment when I hung them. One day, shortly after the porch was added, I was standing on the porch looking around and it felt like something was missing. I kept trying to figure out what it was and suddenly the idea of curtains popped into my head. I’d never seen sheers hung on a porch before but I thought they would give that “curtain” feel without blocking out the breezes.

I purchased the rods and sheers at Wal-Mart and the total cost was around $100 for everything. I immediately loved the look and how they made the porch feel as if it was floating on a cloud. I don’t close the sheers, they were just added to soften the look of the porch and for the ambiance they create. (Tablescape can be viewed here: Vintage Copeland Spode Tower In Springtime Tablescape)

Floral Centerpiece of Roses and Daisies

 

On beautiful days when the breezes are flowing across the porch, the sheers can make photographing a tablescape a challenge. (Tablescape can be viewed here: Easy Centerpiece for a Spring Table Setting)
Add Sheers or Curtains to Porch for Movement

 

I made a Key Lime Pie one winter and brought it out onto the porch where the lighting was better to take pictures. The wind picked up and I thought the sheers were going to end up IN the pie there for a while! lol (Recipe for the Key Lime Pie can be viewed here: Key Lime Pie)

Sheers for a Screened Porch

 

I love the movement and carefree feel they add to the porch as they billow out in the breezes. They soften the porch in a way nothing else can.

Sheer Blowing in Breeze on the Porch

 

But back to Margaret’s question about how the sheers are hung.

Screened Porch with Sheer Curtains and White Wicker Furniture

 

These are all the rods I use when I have the curtains up. Since I don’t currently have the sheers hanging, the rods have been stashed away in a corner of my laundry room.

Curtain Rods for Porch Curtains

 

The rods are painted metal and they were exactly what I had in mind for hanging the sheers. I wanted a white rod that was simple (not ornate) so it would blend right into the porch. If you look closely, you’ll notice the exposed areas have darkened over the years. The ends of the rods where the sheers hang, are still very white.

They haven’t rusted at all, but if I decide to rehang the sheers this summer, I think I’ll give them a new coat of white paint using an outdoor/exterior paint like Rust-Oleum. That way they’ll just disappear again into the white of the porch.

Porch Sheers and Curtains

 

Here’s how the sheers are hung: they came with a simple hanging mechanism and the sheers are so light, I only needed to use a single screw to hold the rods in place.

Another question I get asked often about the porch is if it’s constructed of wood or vinyl or some man-made product. It’s all wood. It’s built with pressured treated pine, so attaching the rods with screws was very easy.

Add Curtains or Sheers to Porch

 

In answer to Margaret’s other question, the screens are attached with screws and the screws go into a narrow molding that’s part of the design/construction of the window openings.

Build a Screened Porch

 

The screens are not arched, just the wood panels in front and behind the windows are arched. That’s the best way to get the arched look, but still be able to easily remove a screen to have it re-screened, if it should ever need to be repaired.

Screened-In-Porch-lit-up-at-night

 

I think I may leave the sheers down again this summer.

Nautical Table Dining on Screened Porch

 

I’m still enjoying the open look of the porch, at least for now.

Build a Screened Porch

 

Thinking about adding a porch to your home? Check out this post first: 9 Great Features For a Screened Porch.

9 Great Features to Include in a Screened Porch

 

Looking forward to all the wonderful Before and Afters for this Metamorphosis Monday!

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Comments

  1. I have mosquito net curtains on my porch, but I love the look of your sheers. Very pretty and light!

  2. I cannot wait for porch weather!! Yours is absolutely lovely, Susan.

  3. Thanks so much for the party!

    Hugs,
    Debbie

  4. What and how do you keep the pollen out that will be taking over all our lives really soon? And when it does rain, does it ever get so bad that it may get on the furniture or the floor?

  5. I like the open look – seems to make the room feel larger and opens up the view. The curtains added a softness which is always pretty. It’s fun to try something different. Next year you’ll probably want to go back to hanging them! We had near 60 degrees on Friday and for us that’s quite amazing- in fact we broke a record that day. Spring and summer will be here before we know it!

  6. Either way, your porch is beautiful. I’d love to take naps on your porch. Thank you for hosting.

  7. I love it both ways Susan – the curtain way reminds me a little of your trip to Africa actually !!! ( too bad a giraffe can’t reach up through the window )
    What a spectacular room to have with your home !
    Thanks so much for hosting – hope you have a great week.

    • Oh, kind of like the mosquito netting they dropped down around the beds at Giraffe Manor…and a little like the bed curtains on the bed at Mahali Mzuri. lol Yeah, unfortunately no giraffes in the back yard here. A lot of squirrels, but no gifaffes. 😉 Thanks, Suzan! Hope you have a wonderful week!

  8. Susan, thanks for hosting! I always love posts about your porch. I have to say, I like the porch with the sheers, but I think I like it better without. It’s nice that you can easily have it both ways!

  9. I loved rereading about your porch. It is a dream of mine to have one someday. Thanks, Susan

  10. Thank you for hosting Susan… I totally see what you mean, I love your porch both with and without the sheers too. Such a lovely porch!

  11. Your porch is iconic….it is so beautiful and you create such a most wonderful aesthetic for each season and holiday….a true classic southern porch for all of us to enjoy!!

  12. Susan,
    I too LOVE your porch! I would like to know about what paint to use on the ceiling. I have a ceiling like yours and have paid twice to have it painted. It looks awful again. I believe the knot holes seeped sap the first time , so I had the painter come back, and now it looks like possible mold.
    Help!
    Thank you,
    Billie

    • Billie, I had one or two places that did that on mine. I think my painter used Kilz from a spray can to coat those areas when the sap ring/stain appeared through the paint…then he repainted the area. He warned me it might try to bleed through again. Kilz will usually stop it though. My whole house, including the porch is painted with Sherwin Williams, Duration and I highly recommend it.

  13. I love the beautiful picture of your gorgeous porch and it does give me some wonderful ideals, how to decorate my porch for the summer time! or any other time of the year. Thank You for showing your beautiful ideals and always keep your wonderful ideals a coming and so glad that i found Between Naps on the Porch.

  14. Your porch is perfect either way…such a nice place to sit for morning coffee! Thanks for hosting! Hugs…Debbie

  15. Love your porch. Can’t tell from the photos….Is it screened or glassed in? What type of flooring? Thanks!

  16. I love the photos that show the movement of the curtaims. It fuels the imagination – a warm spring day, a crisp autumn afternoon, a balmy summer evening…all with an ocasional breeze that carries with it the perfumed scents of a southern garden. I especially love the juxtaposition between the stationary lime pie and the blowing curtains – it appears as though the billowy sheers are playfully teasing the tips of the meringue! Okay, now I’m getting sheers for my porch.

    • What a beautiful picture you painted, Terri. Just add, “your favorite music softly playing from the speakers” and you have the reason I love porches so much! 🙂
      You’ll love the sheers! I like them so much better than typical “porch” curtains because they sway with the breezes.

  17. I love the sheers, Susan. It takes the porch up a notch in the romantic category. And everything Terri says I second!

  18. I use white sheers on my porch also and I especially love the way they billow in a summer breeze. At night I call them my dancing ghosts! I hung mine a bit differently by screwing a collection of crystal and vintage metal drawer pulls into the wood below the porch ceiling and then hanging the sheers using ribbons I’ve sewn onto the rod pockets. Each 60″ sheer is hung from 4 drawer pulls and the finished look is nice and full but casual. I take mine down during the North Carolina Pollen season because everything on my porch is covered in a hideous greenish powder for about a month until I put on my surgical mask and haul out the wet/dry vac. But in the end a two day allergy headache is forgotten after an evening on the porch listening to the summertime sounds.

    • Patricia…I love that expression…dancing ghosts. 🙂 I would love to see a picture of your sheers and how they are hanging, it’s sounds so pretty!
      Yep, that sounds familiar about the pollen. What I normally do is, I do one cleaning about half way through the pollen attack, then after the pollen is done, I do a final cleaning. It just gets too deep out there if I don’t do one mid way.
      A reader suggested covering the swings and the chairs with sheets while I’m waiting it out, which was brilliant. So, while the pollen is raging, when I want to sit out on the porch in the swing, I just lift off the sheet. I think I’ll do that again this year since it worked so well last year.
      As you said, it is so worth the pollen a million times over for the joy an open air porch provides, especially here in the south where you can almost enjoy them year around. Even in Jan and February, we have those unusually warm porch days when the temps hit the 60s and 70s.

  19. I love your porch, Susan, with or without the sheers…..Christine

  20. I love your porch it’s beautiful and the curtains gives it a breezy and airy feel, it’s just so pretty and romantic 😉

  21. Your porch is lovely and I am so glad to see these sheers. I have been wondering about removing the sheers in our living room and dining room since we have the house for sale. I don’t know if they are in or out as I am a retired person[read older] and don’t know if the young buyers would view them as beautiful or hokey. The sheers are new and puddle slightly on the floors.

    • Thanks, Claire! I’m not sure if sheers are used a lot inside these days. I know when selling a home, they recommend you make the rooms as bright as possible, so as long as they don’t darken the rooms are obscure a fabulous view, I think they would be fine. They sound lovely!

      • Claire Hallman says

        Thanks so much for your reply. I think they are airy and beautiful so they are up and when we sell the house they are going with me, I will leave the custom panels for the new owner and they can decide whether they want blinds or sheers.
        I really enjoy your blog, thanks for sharing your home with the world.

  22. Love your porch Susan with or without sheers! I have sheers on mine, which is not screened, and they do very well here also. I noticed all the green, and am wondering how you have green leaves so early there. We are expecting snow here this week:-)

    • Oh, those are older pictures I pulled to use for this post. It’s definitely still winter landscape here with bare trees. That should start changing in about a month though . 🙂

  23. Orchid Girl says

    Gorgeous porch Susan, truly gorgeous!!

  24. I am new!! Thanks for the party and the beautiful inspiration 🙂

  25. I love your porch. I put sheers on my porch a few years back after seeing yours. I’ve moved since then and have been playing with doing that on my new porch. Always love getting inspiration from you for my own little porch.

    Thank you!

  26. I love the soft floaty shears on the screens. So romantic!

    Big Texas Hugs,
    Susan and Bentley

  27. Carillon Orban says

    Susan, your porch is an inspiration. Are the lamps outdoor lamps or do you just keep them away from the rain?

    Thanks,
    Carillon

    • No, they are indoor lamps. The only one that gets rained on is the one closest to the windows and it’s never on when it’s raining. I don’t leave them on unless I’m out on the porch.

  28. I also like the porch with/without the sheers, but especially like that you change it up. And the photos with the breezy sheers just put you right there on a summer day–such a tease!!

  29. Love your porch both ways. I’m often tempted to put up sheers on ours, but I KNOW they would become yucky in our humid and rainy south Florida summers. It would have to be a “winter” look here, which is just about the only time we actually get to use the porch. I clicked on your Key Lime Pie link. Please, please, please try it with real Key Limes which are now in season(they are a bit of a booger to juice), but the difference between real juice and bottled is significant. Warning: you may never go back to bottled juice! …only acceptable in the “off season”

    • That sounds yummy…using real Key Limes. Yeah, fresh anything is always better than bottled or canned. I’ll have to try that sometime.
      You might be surprised about the sheers. Being nylon, they seem to repel everything. They hold up great!

  30. i love your porch each & every which way. plain or tablescaped, sheers or no sheers. keep the pictures coming, i’m always inspired by your porch. thanks for hosting. xo- maryjo
    https://masterpiecesofmylife.com

  31. Love your beautiful porch Susan. Unfortunately, we have a while before we will be enjoying porch weather, we are supposed to have snow this week! As always, thanks for hosting and I hope you have a great week.

    • No, not more snow! Well, I hope it melts quickly Kristi and your spring arrives before too long. We’re still a month or two away from spring here. I think your snow must be our rain since it has been raining here all blooming day!

  32. Ballard catalog sells outdoor quality rods and curtains. I have pewter color rods and I think they are plastic coated. I use the curtains to block sun so they are heavy Black and Tan stripped and I use curtain ties to pull them back. No wind issues!

  33. Your porch is just beautiful! Thanks so much for hosting the get together!

  34. I love your porch. It feels calm. The trees in the back ground make it all the more wonderful. Thank you for sharing your amazing style and ideas.

  35. Thanks so much for the party, Susan. Your porch is always beautiful.

  36. Cyndi Raines says

    Susan,
    Looking at your porch is like taking a min-vacation, so cool and refreshing. I told my husband that I would love to enclose our deck into a screened in porch and so we started getting quotes and quotes and quotes. Well to make a long story short, before you know it, somehow MY idea of a nice, simple screened in porch morphed into a full closed in sunroom my husband likes, because in MI we would get more use out of it, says hubby and so the quotes went higher and higher and while it would have been absolutely lovely it really was NOT want I wanted. So for now this dream is on hold and I will enjoy yours! 🙂 Also, wanted to let you know my bunny from Pottery Barn arrived today and I LOVE him. He is precious! Can’t wait to start decorating for spring/ Easter.

  37. I love your porch. I wish I had a large one like that!

  38. I live in Atlanta too, and have been thinking about adding a screened I porch to our existing deck. Do you happen to have the names or company of the guys you used to do your decks and porch? By the way, it looks amazing. Love the simplicity of the design.

  39. Valerie Allen says

    Hi! I love your porch and use it as inspiration for my own. I just had a wicker swing installed and feel it’s too high from the floor to look in proportion to the wicker settee and chairs I have that are similar to yours. Could you please tell me from the floor up to the bottom of your swing what the measurement is? Thank you for taking your time to respond!

    • Hi Valerie, I think my swing came with instructions on the correct height. I remember also googling that before I let the guys who built the porch install it. I don’t remember now what I found online for the correct height but the wicker seat of my swing is exactly 15 inches up from the floor. To the top of the cushion I have in the seat, it’s 18 1/2 to 19 inches. That height is perfect for me and I’m 5’4″. So it might be a little short for a 6 foot man, but it’s perfect for my height. My feet can touch the floor easily. So, don’t forget to figure in the height of your cushion when deciding what will be the perfect height.

      • Valerie Allen says

        Thank you, Susan! My carpenter came back today to lengthen the chains and coincidentally the swing is now 15″ from the floor! Much better height to concur with my chairs and loveseat. Thank you for your blog – you keep me inspired, even with all of the cleaning porches require! Porch love and hugs!

        • Great! Was that the height he set it or did you request that height? Glad it’s better now! 🙂

          • Valerie Allen says

            Hi Susan, I went from the height you said and with the added chain it’s now perfect. I told my carpenter I needed it fairly low so that my 18mo. grandson could easily climb onto it ;). Another question – I put white cord covers like your’s to cover the chain but, I’m not sure how I like it. I’ve googled other idea’s and came up with using natural color rope wound around the chains, but, as of yet, the only rope I can find is 1/2in which doesn’t look wide enough. Do you ever find yourself looking for things that really don’t matter? Drives me crazy!

            • Glad that height worked out. Well, I definitely often find myself looking for things that don’t exist. And usually about the time I buy something to just make do, someone comes out with that thing I had imagined and wanted but couldn’t find. 🙂 I think anything is better than seeing the raw chain so the rope would probably be pretty too, if you can find the size you need. Not sure if you’ve tried googling for it, maybe someone will be selling the width you need online. Hope you are able to find it.

  40. Have a similar porch to yours and we love it already. It is coated in pollen. Do you ever hose yours off??? What is your cleaning routine? We are in NC and the pollen is 3 ft thick 🙂

    There is not easy way for water to run off, like yours, but wondered what you normally do.

    • lol Yeah, it’s about that bad on my porch right now, too. What I do each spring is usually clean it twice–once about 1/2 way through pollen season, and then after it’s all over. I don’t vacuum it with my regular vacuum like I do the rest of the year because I’m afraid the pollen would clog it up, plus I’d be bringing all that back into the house. I have a broom I purchased on Amazon this spring that does an amazing job of sweeping it up…you can see that broom here: https://amzn.to/2Hi9ZMp .
      It does a much better job than another one I was using, I guess because it’s so dense. After I finish sweeping it, which only takes about 10 minutes, I follow that with my Mopnado…seen in this post: https://betweennapsontheporch.net/plant-stand-makeover-paint-deck-railings-brown-to-hide-stains-between-cleanings/
      I would have to change the water out too many times in the mopnado if I didn’t sweep first, so that’s why I do it that way. You can cover a lot of territory very quickly with the mopnado, so I love it.

  41. Susan,

    I absolutely love your porch! We are moving into our new to us home in June and it has a screened porch. It’s on an old deck that we can get 2-3 more years out of before replacing. If you’re in GA like we are, I’d love your contractor info. What about wood furniture with the elements and humidity? I want to put my iron daybed out there, but place the mattress in a waterproof cover. Yours is my inspiration even though ours is smaller.

    All the best,
    Kimberly

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