Front porches are gathering places. An entryway to your home, the front porch is where you welcome family and friends and greet the day before you. For these reasons, you want your front porch to be inviting, warm, and comfortable.
When you’re choosing the best furniture for your front porch, there are three main elements to consider:
- The type of environment you’d like to create
- The kind of furniture you’d like to use
- Color and other details will create a gentle flow as your eye moves from your landscaping to the front porch itself.
Best Furniture for the Front Porch
The first thing to consider as you choose the best furniture for your front porch is the kind of mood you’re hoping to create. If you’re happiest when the whole family stops by and you’re entertaining 5-10 people at a time, you might want to consider making a second living room outdoors.
Suppose you prefer to have more intimate front porch gatherings, perhaps 2-4 guests at a time. In that case, you’ll want to create a gathering space in which you provide plenty of outdoor furniture to accommodate guests, but not so much that your visiting area feels cavernous.
Outdoor Furniture for Larger Front Porches
Let’s take a look at the first option–an ample gathering space.
If you anticipate using your front porch, or even your screened-in porch, as a place to welcome bigger groups, you’ll want to offer enough furniture pieces for everyone to sit, as well as a place for each guest to set their drinks and the delicious snacks you’re serving. Whether it’s hot chocolate and coffee as you listen to the gentle tapping of autumn leaves falling from surrounding trees or an ice-cold pitcher of lemonade in the summer, part of creating your outdoor space is having tables to make your room comfortable and functional.
The best outdoor furniture for your porch includes rocking chairs, ladder back chairs, and slat top patio tables.
For large gatherings of 5-10, it’s best to intersperse rockers with ladder back chairs or even farm back chairs, so the guests who enjoy the gentle sway of the rockers have plenty of space to move. You can place slat top tables around your front porch between rockers, in front of stationary chairs, and the center of the porch. As you choose where to place your tables, keep a couple of things in mind: you want to leave space around the center “entertaining” table, which will hold food and beverages, and space around side tables to leave room for the movement of the rockers.
Outdoor Furniture for Smaller Front Porches
For smaller gathering areas, think about creating triangles and circles that will encourage conversation with friends and family. For face-to-face conversations, place your outdoor seating no more than 8 feet apart. You can use furniture to create comfortable islands, and an outdoor rug to define the space further while adding a pop of color. One idea is to face two to four rockers in the center of your porch and place side tables at each end to create an intimate setting.
If you embrace the idea that your front porch or screened-in porch can become a kind of second living room, no matter the size of your outdoor space, you’ll allow conversation, comfort, and connection to guide your design ideas.
Different Types of Outdoor Furniture
Most of our rave reviews at Troutman Chair Co. come from customers who are happy with the quality of our furniture and the versatility of our designs. We pride ourselves on both!
Our Kennedy Rockers, for example, have a rich history in the United States, and they also complement the most modern of decor. The clean lines and classic texture of the natural cane weaving in the seat and back can be accented to add comfort and style to any space.
For outdoor porches, specifically, both the Kennedy Rockers and our Classic Rockers offer a traditional outdoor seating look that can be as versatile as the style of your home and landscaping surrounding it. To this end, we suggest that rockers are the best furniture for your front porch and the best furniture for your screened-in porch.
You can allow rockers and slat-top tables to create most of your outdoor living space while adding Cottage Ladder Back chairs as needed.
Pops of Color and Other Design Elements for Front Porches
The final things to consider when you’re choosing the best furniture for your front porch are the pops of color and other details that can create a gentle flow as your eye moves from your landscaping to the front porch. In general, you want your seating area to blend in with the environment and complement your house.
When adding the final touches to your front porch or screened-in porch, there are several design elements to consider: flowy curtains, outdoor rugs, painted ceilings, and potted plants, to name a few. You can also add cushions to any of our rockers or ladder back chairs, which you can change with the seasons. During summer, you can choose to complement your black shutters with black and white striped cushions and add a few potted flowers to your decor. During autumn, you can contrast bare trees with brightly colored accents, such as turquoise or lavender.
Whichever outdoor furniture you choose for your front porch or screened-in porch, we have the styles and colors that will best accentuate your home. Our Classic Rockers come in nine colors—from Natural and White to Geranium Red, Seaside Blue, and more. Our Cottage Ladder Back Chairs come in even more colors.
The best furniture for your front porch are the pieces that provide you, your family, and friends a cozy spot to enjoy nature and one another.
You May Also Like:
Sources:
