Tips for Cleaning Pollen Off a Screened-in Porch & A Feeder for Dried Mealworms

Welcome to the 480th Metamorphosis Monday!

Yesterday I had a comment from Mark who said:

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 an easy way for water to run off, like yours, but wondered what you normally do.

Normally when I’m using the porch on a regular basis during the spring, summer and fall, I sweep or vacuum as needed, which usually works out to be about once a month. But pollen is a different kind of “dirt.” I’ve never tried to vacuum up pollen for fear it would damage my vacuum cleaner since it’s so fine and powdery.

I was thinking today, a shop vac might work okay since those are normally used for vacuuming up sawdust and such. I may try that next spring when the pollen attacks, but for this year I did what I always do: I swept up the bulk of the pollen, then followed that up with a good mopping.

Pollen Covered Porch Floor

 

I ordered a new broom about two weeks ago and it worked great for sweeping because the bristles are stiff and super dense. (You’ll find the broom I used here: Broom.)

Pollen on Porch Floor

 

After sweeping, a fine, powdery dusting of pollen still remained on the porch floor.

Sweeping Up Pollen Before Mopping Porch Floor

 

Time to bring out my secret weapon, my Mopnado! If you’ve been reading BNOTP for a while, you’ll remember when I purchased this spin mop last year. I love this thing because it greatly speeds up the mopping process and the mop that comes with it holds a lot of water. Each strand is like a big ole sponge. I look forward to mopping with it because it’s actually fun to use. You can read more about it where I purchased mine here: Mopnado. After 4,685 reviews, it has a score of 4.3 stars. I think that says a lot.Mopnado Mopping System

 

Here’s how the porch floor looked after mopping it. When mopping the porch, I always leave a lot of water in the mop head, especially when mopping up pollen. But the spin mop will spin out all the water if needed.

Mop Porch to Remove Pollen

 

I think the worst of the pollen has passed now. I noticed the table and some of the other areas I had wiped down a couple of weeks ago, weren’t covered with pollen near as much as they were the last time I wiped them all down. I went ahead and put out some of the items I like to use when decorating the porch. At first, I had planned to wait on decorating the hutch, just to make sure all the pollen was really gone. That empty hutch got the better of me, though. I just couldn’t stand seeing it completely empty with the rest of the porch decked out for spring. lol

Getting the Porch Ready for Spring and Summer

 

So I went ahead and pulled out my favorite “porch” dishes. It was just starting to get dark when I took this photo.

Decorate a Screened Porch for Summer

 

Darker still…

Nightime on a Screened Porch

 

I’ve added something new to the porch this summer. My sweet daughter-in-law gave me a beautiful picture this past Christmas. Do you see it there on the wall near the swing?

Soft Lighting for Relaxing on Porch at Night

 

She and I both love our Hunter boots, so this was perfect! I won’t leave it on the porch during the winter, but it should be fine here for spring and summer. It feels like it was made to hang on a porch.

Porch Decor, Red Geranium, Porch Art-Painting

 

The porch hutch decorated with my favorite summer dishes…

Evening on the Porch

 

The pattern is Ma Maison, designed by Dario Farrucci for Tabletops Unlimited. (See this pattern in a table setting here: Ma Maison.)

Porch Decorated for Summer

 

Hope wherever you live, you’re starting to see warmer temps and some pretty springtime weather. It’s going to be in the 60s to upper 70’s here this week. The birds are coming to the feeders all day long now. They are loving the fresh mealworms I’m putting out.

I also have dried mealworms available for the birds. I just ordered a feeder recently that’s specifically designed for dried mealworms, and it’s working great. The birds are already using it, so they took to it immediately. If you like to put out dried mealworms for your nesting birds, you’ll find the feeder I’m using here: Mealworm Feeder.

Mealworm Feeder

 

I have bluebirds nesting in one of the dovecotes in the front yard, and another pair is nesting in a birdhouse in my neighbor’s yard, just on the other side of my backyard fence. I’ve been seeing them a lot at the feeders. Bluebirds aren’t able to crack open a sunflower, but they love the shelled “No Mess” sunflower seeds I’m mixing in with my regular seed from Wild Birds Unlimited.

Photo from a previous spring

 

All the birds are loving the fresh mealworms I’m putting out several times a day. I just ordered 3,000 more from Rainbow Mealworms. Chickadees, Nuthatches, Wrens, Tufted Titmouse , etc…all love them. So does a greedy little Mockingbird who wants to eat ALL of the mealworms in one sitting when he visits. lol

Photo taken during a previous spring

It’s so much fun watching the bluebirds stuff as many worms as possible into their mouths/beaks, before heading back to the nest.

Bluebird Taking Mealworms Back To Babies

Photo from a previous spring

I’m still seeing my Robin stopping by, usually for a sip of water from the birdbath. Occasionally he’ll eat some of the mealworms, but today he just looked at them and didn’t eat any. Maybe he thought they looked like an appetizer since he’s probably used to much fatter worms from the garden. lol

Robin eating dried mealworms

Photo from earlier this spring

 

I’m looking forward to sipping a glass of iced tea with you on the porch this summer. So glad spring is finally here!

Soft Lighting for Relaxing on Porch at Night

 

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

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Comments

  1. Margaret says

    I have a screen in porch that I love. In a bad rain everything gets wet ! Any tips . Thanks.

    • During most rainstorms, the porch stays pretty dry. If it’s a really bad storm with blowing winds, the rain will come into the porch maybe a foot or so. Since it’s a porch, it doesn’t hurt anything. All the furniture in the seating group is outdoor wicker. The hutch was an inexpensive hutch that I painted with exterior paint, so it’s held up well. The dining table/chairs are indoor furniture but they have held up well, too. The only thing that’s weathered a bit is the oval table near the screens, but it’s not that much, especially considering the porch was built in 2008–10 years. All the furniture stays out on the porch year around. All in all, it has held up great. The builder put a pretty decent overhang all the way around the porch, so maybe that helps. If you are concerned about the furniture, I would just buy outdoor wicker or furniture that’s designed to be outside in the elements. You’ll also want to buy cushions that are made for outdoor use.

  2. Renee S Cook says

    Your porch is just beautiful, Susan! I love your new picture with the boots! One thing I hadn’t noticed before is the lovely view you have out back. I saw your post when the trees had leaves, but don’t remember seeing it when the trees are bare. It’s great you have neighbors and are still able to enjoy the beautiful natural setting.

    • Thanks so much, Renee! Luckily the house behind me sits way back off the road so my porch overlooks it’s large front yard instead of the house, itself. It used to be all wooded many years ago, before I moved in 27 years ago, but one of the earlier owners sold off the timber. Wish it was still fully wooded like it was so many years ago before I moved here.

  3. The calendar says it is spring but here in central Illinois winter still has a grip on us. We have snow on the ground this morning. For the last three weekends we have had snow. I am so anxious for warmer weather to get here. Our porch is feeling lonely.

    Your porch looks so inviting. I am ready to move south. Have a great week.

    • Thanks, Kathy! Wow, it’s time you got a break in the weather. You deserve some springtime in your life, pronto. Hope it warms up soon, Kathy!

  4. My brother-in-law was singing the praises of the Mopnado over Easter, Susan. I may need to get one. He likes it because it cleans tile floors (indoors) much better than just the Libman Wonder mop (that’s basically like a handi-wipe fabric), he says. Our pollen is not as bad as further South, but today we have SNOW falling…again (Sat had snow too). Ridiculous.

    We have robins nesting in our magnolia right outside our bedroom windows, and they’re driving my husband nuts in the mornings with their sometimes 3-4am wake up calls. A friend of mine said “tell him he ought to be glad he can still hear the sound of birds”. lol

    Thank you for hosting us, cheers to a more Spring-like week!

    • I’ve really enjoyed mine. I hated mopping before and having to touch the nasty mop head to wring it out…and the other type cloth mops never worked worth a hoot. I hope this one lasts a long time because it’s much better than any other method I’ve tried. I can’t get over how fast it is to use, I get done much faster than I did the old way.
      Aww, that’s crazy your robin is having to nest with snow falling. I hope it warms up quickly there, Rita!
      lol That’s a good point your friend made. I have a mockingbird singing outside my bedroom window all night long. He starts around midnight or 1 AM every single night. I know it can’t be the same bird, but I had a mockingbird do the exact same thing many years ago. Apparently, that’s what they do when they are looking for a mate in springtime and haven’t found one, yet. I sleep with a fan running which drowns everything out, but if it weren’t for the fan, not sure I’d get any sleep. He changes his song constantly all night long (that’s what mockingbirds do) and some are not are real pleasant. lol

  5. Thanks so much for hosting each week!!
    Hugs,
    Deb

  6. Beatrice says

    Ha! From your title, I had to wonder if you had hungry mealworms…lol. Nice pix of the birds. I saw the last Roseate Spoonbill fly over the other day, and the Miami Supreme gardenia is covered with buds, so I know winter is over and the temps are climbing to low 80s during the day. Pollen is all gone; now starts the dry season, which lasts until sometime in June. Luckily I won’t be here. We have acres of tile, like many FL houses. When we moved in, I got a Hoover Floormate, which vacuums and puts down cleaning fluid, scrubs, then sucks up all the dirty water. It’s still going strong 15 years on (!) and does a wonderful job on the pollen, which isn’t as heavy as yours. We keep all the sliders to the lanai open from November 1 until about now, so it’s essential to keep after it however you can!

    • lol Maybe I should have put the word “bird” in front of feeder. 🙂
      Can you use the Hoover Floormate on hardwood flooring? Awesome that it’s lasted so long!

      • Beatrice says

        Oh yes, it works with Bellawood hardwood flooring liquid in our bedrooms, as well as tile cleaner…makes everything smell so clean, and afterward you can feel how smooth and clean the floors are. The only part I’ve replaced (and all are available online) is the soft squeegee that gathers the dirty water up so it can be sucked into the tank. It saves soooo much time. Like many appliances these days, the versions made years ago are built better. Don’t even come for my 25-year-old Kenmore washer. The only time I had minor service, about 5 years ago, the service guy said, “They just don’t make them like this anymore–never let it go!”

        • I know, I so agree. I’m stilling using the same washer purchased back in 1980…a GE. It’s 38 years old now and still works great…and I love the hand-wash basket it was designed with. I’ll cry the day it quits working because you can’t find the hand-wash baskets on machines now. Everything is made so cheaply now, they design it to fail I guess, so you have to buy again and again. 🙁

  7. Susan Savas says

    Good morning…since it will only be in the thirties here today,your porch looks great…..I would love to get those small dish like feeders for my deck rails…..are they on amazon….thank you.

    • I’ve had mine so long, I can’t remember now where I purchased it. I think it may have been Amazon, but not sure. I just Googled to see what I could find. I found this one that’s similar. http://www.outtherealive.com/mesh-mealworm-feeder/
      Normally I place the worms in a bowl or a glazed saucer, the type that goes under a pot. I then place that bowl/saucer on top of the mesh feeder…it fits over the rail. Mealworms can wiggle right through the mesh/holes so that’s why the worms have to be in a dish/saucer.
      Hope you see warmer temps soon, Susan!

  8. I’m sure it must be a lot of work to keep up an outdoor room, but always worth it for such a delightful spot! Let’s hope Spring is here to stay this time!
    Thanks Susan

    • It’s actually not too bad once pollen season is over. Usually, it only needs what other rooms in my home need, only not as much work since it’s a porch. I just dust and vacuum it about once a month during the spring/summer/fall.
      I know, I sure hope it is. The date that it’s supposed to be okay to plant annuals here is always April 15th. Since we are so close to that date, I’m optimistic it’s really here to stay this time. 🙂 Famous last words!

  9. ELIZABETH L GLASS says

    Susan,
    I’d love to hear more about your ordering LIVE meal worms! I get mine from a “bird store” and it’s expensive! You are always just a wealth of information! THANK YOU! Elizabeth

    • Thanks, Elizabeth!
      I know, they are so expensive in the bird stores, plus sometimes the worms are tiny, tiny! I order them from Rainbow Mealworms. I usually buy 5,000, which is only $20. This time around I ordered 3,000. I always get the medium size in case the large worms would be too big for baby birds.

      They also sell the “bedding.” I’ve purchased that before, too. Here’s their website: http://www.rainbowmealworms.net/shop-mealworms/

      You’ll see the bedding/bran on the menu on the right, in case you need that. I should probably do another post and show how I store them. Here’s an older post showing how I store them, only now, I don’t refrigerate them, especially when I only order 3,000: https://betweennapsontheporch.net/mr-bluebird-on-my-shoulder/

      I have a good many birds and they love the mealworms, so they aren’t around long enough to hatch into beetles, so no need to refrigerate them.

      • ELIZABETH L GLASS says

        Susan——ordered! THANK YOU SO MUCH! On another note have you seen the pretty pattern dish wear from Cracker Barrel? Yes I said Cracker Barrel! They are with blue patterned back ground with a sweet bird on each salad plate! I ran right out and got a few! Thanks again! Elizabeth

        • No, I need to check those out. I love shopping in Cracker Barrel each new season, they have the cutest things! I usually stop in one or two on trips to Ohio. 🙂

        • ELIZABETH L GLASS says

          Susan—If I was smart enough I’d post it for you—the pattern is by Susan Winget! It’s called Stoneware Blue Garden Print! You can only get a few pieces online! I had to go into C.B. to get the salad plates and cups!

          • Thanks! I will check it out. I was in Pier 1 a few weeks back and they had an adorable blue/white pattern. It was all I could do to not pick up 6 of the salad plates, but I always already buying porch cushions, napkin rings and a big pillar candle holder, so I barely resisted.

  10. I love your blog because you cover so many different topics. Here in Florida we start fighting the pollen in February. I call it the green and yellow crud season. Not only is it ugly, but it wreaks havoc with all my family’s allergies.
    I’m also in awe of all your China and silverware. You are a great inspiration!

    • Thanks, Nancy…appreciate that so much! I’ve been pretty lucky this year, only had a headache a couple of times…and some sneezing. I feel bad for those who have it much worse. Thank goodness for the good medicines they have out now to help with the allergies.

  11. Luckily, here in Upstate SC the rain has kept a lot of pollen down this year. I keep a box of old sheets to cover everything on my screen porch at the first sign of pollen. Once it looks like the worse is over I sweep the floors, wall, and ceiling and hose everything down with a garden hose and mop. Then I put all the dishes on the Baker’s rack through the dishwasher, finally ending with shampooing the outdoor rug. It’s an all day ordeal, and at all times both feet are on the floor! (Washing pollen off the porch is how I fell off a ladder and shattered my heel into 7 pieces a few years ago!) Once it’s all done, I fix a very large gin & tonic and sit back to admire my hard work!

    My hummingbirds are back and our Mama Goose is sitting on her nest at the edge of our pond!! I love Spring when everything comes back to life! I will definitely try your mealworms trick. Thanks for the tip!

    • I think that has helped us, too…because normally it’s way worse this time of year. I did that with the sheets last year and this year never got around to it. That’s so smart to do!
      I can’t imagine how painful that was! Yes, I’m all for feet firmly on the floor. I climb a tall ladder to clean the ceiling fans, but I probably shouldn’t being doing that!
      Thanks for that reminder, Roxanne…I need to put my hummingbird feeder back out.

  12. Yikes, that’s a lot of pollen! It’s still very cold here in the northeast. We dodged the snow bullet this weekend, but I wish we could the cold! 😉

  13. Such beautiful shots of the birds. I love the one with the three of them and the mealworm in mid-air. The expression on their faces–looks like one said, “hey watch what I can do” and another dared him. 😀
    Great cleaning/caring for tips but makes me sort of glad I don’t have a porch to prepare. Of course, that feeling will soon pass.

  14. Thanks for the links, I am sure we will get one of the meal worm feeders. My Joe actually made the 2 we use mow but this one will hold alot more worms! Ours empties in minutes! I LOOOOVE your porch! Pinned.

  15. Cyndi Raines says

    I am SO READY to bring out our wicker furniture for our covered front porch, but temps aren’t there yet. Thanks to you and your discussions on mealworms, last year I purchased the dry mealworm cakes from Lowe’s and they were devoured in about 2 days. It was fun to watch the birds come and enjoy their new treat. Will purchase again this year, I am addicted to it as much as they are. The dried cakes are placed in a large wooded and metal cage, much like the suet holders. Thanks Susan for all your very smart tips. One day I hope to entice some Eastern Bluebirds.

    • I hope you see spring soon, Cyndi! I am loving the longer daylight hours! 🙂 Glad you birdies love the mealworms. Do the birds have to “cling” to eat the mealworm cakes? Bluebirds are not good clingers, they have to sit to eat. So if they have to cling to eat from the cakes, you may want to try putting the worms in a small dish or getting a mealworm feeder with the little perches. I haven’t seen my Eastern Bluebirds eating from the mealworm feeder I just purchased, but all the other birds are eating from it. The bluebirds still seem to like eating from a saucer or bowl best. I guess they are trained now to expect that. I’ve been surprised they haven’t discovered the hanging feeder with the perches…but there’s almost always another bird or two on it, so maybe that’s why they haven’t tried it.

  16. Here in northern Illinois we woke up to 3 inches of snow and it is still snowing. Your post gives me hope that one day we may see warmer weather. In the meantime I will live vicariously through you.

  17. You are such an inspiration. I have two screen porches – one has E Z Breeze windows and the other just screen. Have not cleaned them this year due to cold weather and pollen. I would suggest using a dust mop rather than a broom for getting up pollen. I use a Swiffer mop with a chenille sock from the Dollar Tree over it. Just throw in washing machine when finished dusting.

    Are you still car shopping? I would highly recommend a Toyota Sienna. Love, love mine.

    Looking forward to your next post. Have a great week.

    • I am still car shopping, but I’ve about decided to wait until later in the year. I can’t make up my mind between two models, and both are getting some changes for 2019, so I may just keep driving my old SUV a bit longer. It’s been keeping awake at night, trying to decide what to do, so that makes me think I need to wait a bit longer and just keeping saving my money for that humongous down payment I plan to make. lol

    • Thanks for that recommendation, Bobbie! I will Google it and check it out.

  18. Sandy K Park says

    Oh boy, the porch is open for business. Love your beautiful new picture. It’s perfect!

  19. It is snowing here this morning…is this really Virginia…am I hallucinating… Your “porch photos” MADE MY DAY.” I think Spring was blown away with the 50-60 mph winds we’ve had recently. Luv the birds, too!! franki

  20. We are seeing some warmer weather but it snowed Sunday. I was worried about all the buds and if they would survive the 26 degrees we hit but the dogwood buds are starting to open today. We have had lots of rain which is keeping the pollen down but know it is coming. Starting yard cleanup. Oak leaves are just about down now. Your porch looks great! We are adding an addition to our deck by connecting the deck to an arbor close by and adding a deck floor to it. We put in a wrought iron fence to the lower yard area and hope it keeps Bambi confined to the upper area. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the deer will leave my azaleas and Japanese Maples alone…please please please. Would love to have your porch. You work so hard to spruce everything up. Looks great.

    • Glad the buds survived, that would have been sad to have missed all those beautiful blooms. Regular rain really does help, we’ve been having that too, which may be why the pollen isn’t as bad this year on the porch as in previous years.
      Thanks, Nancy!
      Good luck with the deer, hope that works! They, or perhaps it was a bunny, did a number on my pansies last year. lol

  21. Do you put out black oil sunflower seeds? The birds will empty a feeder in one day but instead of eating them they sling them all over the yard, where I have to shovel them up before they sprout. If you use them, what kind of feeder do you have? Where do you get your feeders?

    • My backyard is pretty natural. I tried to sod it a few years back and it didn’t take. So I don’t mind if the seeds fall to the ground under the feeder, they can’t hurt anything. That may change if I try to landscape the back yard again.
      I’ve tried buying the “No-Mess” sunflower seeds and they clumped together at the bottom of my squirrel proof feeders, especially when it rained several days in a row.

      So now what I do it buy my favorite “Choice Blend” bird seed at Wildbirds Unlimited…it’s pricey but good and the birds love it. It also attracts a wide range of birds, which I love.
      Then I mix a 5-lb bag of No-Mess sunflower seed into the Choice Blend, also purchased at Wild Birds Unlimited. I have a large container that I purchased many years ago in WBU and I mix the Choice Blend and the No-Mess together in that container. That gives the birds who can’t shell the sunflowers and don’t eat the other items in Choice Blend something to eat.

      You may want to buy a bag of the No-Mess and see how it works. It may work great depending on the style feeder you have. It’s really expensive but you’re getting more in the bag since there are no shells. So prepare for sticker shock. It may be perfect for your needs, though.

  22. Marlene Stephenson says

    Doing things for your children sometimes nips you in the rear,lol! My son and i moved a dresser to my screened-in porch for easier access for him to pick it up and three months later, anyway i did clean part of it i love to set out there when it is nice. Susan your porch looks so nice and know you are enjoying it.

  23. Kathleen says

    Just loved this post. The picture from DIL is perfect and the frame even more so. It sure looks like a lot of “work” getting the porch ready. The porch looks wonderfully inviting with the lights on! New cushions look great and the green in the hutch picks up that color so perfect. I also was oohing and awing over the bird pictures. The one with the “meal” in mid air and ready to be grabbed. Then the next one with the bird flying off with his “meal”. Looked like pictures from a garden magazine!! Thanks for making such an interesting post. Also, you’re getting me sold on that mop—maybe. I’m thinking that bucket takes up a bit of room but maybe worth it.

    • Thanks so much, Kathleen! That bucket is pretty big. I store mine in the garage which is right off the kitchen. I love it, so I don’t mind storing it since it makes mopping a lot faster/easier. If you do buy it and don’t like it, just return it. Since it’s a “Prime” item sold through Amazon, Amazon should let you return it no matter what, without any hassle.

  24. Thanks Susan…great porch. I modeled mine after yours.
    What do you about cleaning your screens? And have you had any birds make holes in the screen? If yes, what do you do about that?

    Thanks again…Georgia

    • When my porch was built, I opted for regular ole screens which I think are aluminum, or something like that. To clean them, I just take a few wet rags and gently wiped over them. I don’t press very hard since I don’t want to damage them, but it’s amazing the dirt that comes off with just wiping them off with a damp cloth. I always notice afterwards that I can see out of them a lot better, too.

      I’ve never blogged about this, but I purchased these cloths several months back and they are awesome! https://amzn.to/2qm62y3

      They hold a ton of water and what I do when I’m cleaning the porch is I get 4-5 of them really nice and wet, squeeze out some of the access water, then head out onto the porch. I can clean up a storm without having to stop and go back to the utility sink in my laundry room to rinse out a rag. It really speeds up the process of wiping down the porch, having so many rags ready to go…and these work great for cleaning pretty much anything.

  25. I’ve already used my mop/bucket 3 times and it does make quick work of cleaning the porch. Thankfully, the worst of the pollen is over.

  26. I have been feeding the birds since I took your advice and purchased a squirrel proof feeder. Like a previous person commented, beneath my bird feeder is a ton of sunflower shells. If I buy the “No Mess” sunflower seeds will this problem be eliminated?

    Thanks so much. Love your blog!

    • Thanks so much, Elaine! I just wrote a kinda long reply to that previous comment, so I’ll just paste it here below, if that’s okay. Hope this helps! 🙂

      My backyard is pretty natural. I tried to sod it a few years back and it didn’t take. So I don’t mind if the seeds fall to the ground under the feeder, they can’t hurt anything. That may change if I try to landscape the backyard again.
      I’ve tried buying the “No-Mess” sunflower seeds and they clumped together at the bottom of my squirrel proof feeders, especially when it rained several days in a row.

      So now what I do it buy my favorite “Choice Blend” bird seed at Wildbirds Unlimited…it’s pricey but good and the birds love it. It also attracts a wide range of birds, which I love.
      Then I mix a 5-lb bag of No-Mess sunflower seed into the Choice Blend, also purchased at Wild Birds Unlimited. I have a large container that I purchased many years ago in WBU and I mix the Choice Blend and the No-Mess together in that container. That gives the birds who can’t shell the sunflowers and don’t eat the other items in Choice Blend something to eat.

      You may want to buy a bag of the No-Mess and see how it works. It may work great depending on the style feeder you have. It’s really expensive but you’re getting more in the bag since there are no shells. So prepare for sticker shock. It may be perfect for your needs, though.

  27. Beautiful porch! What suggestions do you have for cleaning the screening? Our screen porch is on our second level (like a treehouse) and I’m sure that has contributed to our screening getting “green stuff” on it!! We have VERY high ceilings too which means we don’t have an overhang to protect the interior. I learned that purchasing a very nice outdoor furniture is the answer to that! I look forward to your suggestions! Thank you for your suggestions!!

    • Hi Marie,

      My porch is two stories up also…love that treehouse effect. 🙂

      I believe you can have an overhang with high ceilings. My porch ceiling goes up to 12 feet in the center and it was built with an overhang. You can see the overhang in this post: https://betweennapsontheporch.net/screened-in-porch-how-much-do-they-cost-to-build/

      I so agree about just purchasing nice outdoor furniture…then there’s no worries. My seating group is all outdoor furniture. They have some absolutely gorgeous outdoor furniture now, pretty enough you would think it was designed for indoors. lol

      About the screens, I had a similar question a few comments up so I’ll just copy and paste my answer here, if that’s okay. Hope this helps.

      When my porch was built, I opted for regular ole screens which I think are aluminum, or something like that. To clean them, I just take a few wet rags and gently wiped over them. I don’t press very hard since I don’t want to damage them, but it’s amazing the dirt that comes off with just wiping them off with a damp cloth. I always notice afterwards that I can see out of them a lot better, too.

      I’ve never blogged about this, but I purchased these cloths several months back and they are awesome! https://amzn.to/2qm62y3

      They hold a ton of water and what I do when I’m cleaning the porch is I get 4-5 of them really nice and wet, squeeze out some of the access water, then head out onto the porch. I can clean up a storm without having to stop and go back to the utility sink in my laundry room to rinse out a rag. It really speeds up the process of wiping down the porch, having so many rags ready to go…and these work great for cleaning pretty much anything.

      • I am so sorry! Your comment went to my spam for some reason and I just NOW saw it. Thank you so much for the advice about cleaning screening. I ended up using a combination of Krud Kutter and Dawn liquid after spraying them with a very diluted Clorox & water mixture! They were really BAD! We went over them three times and now we can SEE our beautiful trees! If I could post a picture I would love to share the results! Anyway, thanks so much for your advice! P.S. Your porches are beautiful. Our screen porch is more of a mountain home look since that is the look of our home too!

        • That sounds like a good combination for cleaning them! It’s so amazing how much clearer they are after cleaning! 🙂 Your porch sounds beautiful, Marie!

  28. Your porch is so lovely and inspiring. I would like to make a covering for my swing chain. Did you make yours? If so, could you tell me how you did it? Thanks for sharing your beautiful ideas.

    • Thanks, Jessie! Those are actually electric cord covers I purchased in Hobby Lobby about 9-10 years ago. They have a million snaps down them…maybe a billion. That’s how it feels when I unsnap them each year to wash them. lol
      Not sure if HL still carries the cord covers. I hope they do because a few of the snaps have broken over the years and I’d love to buy some new ones at some point, although these still look really good. Wonder if I can just replace the snaps that have broken over the years. Ummm.

      You can read all about how many cord covers it took to cover the chains and how I cut two of the cord covers I purchase in half to make it work/fit the swing chains, in this previous post here: https://betweennapsontheporch.net/electrical-cord-covers-hide-metal-swing-chains/

  29. Hi Susan,

    I particularly like pictures of the porch at dusk or during the blue hour. It’s always inviting, but seems especially so with the welcoming light of the lamps.

    I’m sure we all wish we actually could have a tea with you on the porch. Happy Spring! 🙂

  30. Thanks for the advice on getting rid of the pollen; I hate that stuff. Think I’kk take a pass on the mealworms though! Have a great week, Cheryl

  31. Love your porch FLOOR. I am in a tizzy thinking of what I can put in my now concrete screened porch.
    Any suggestions?

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