A creative eye turns design challenges into accents and features
Many projects come with design challenges such as a difficult roof tie-in or challenges in gaining exterior access to the porch. We love these challenges and we love coming up with creative solutions that not only solve the design challenge but turn them into design accents and features. Our customers will often tell us that we were able to solve design challenges that everyone else told them couldn’t be solved.
Take this job, for example, in Hendersonville TN. While the front of this home was at street level, the back of the home had a steep drop off presenting a huge hurdle in gaining exterior access to the porch. There was an additional challenge to creating exterior access because the porch sat on top of a driveway. What you’re seeing in this picture is a boardwalk we designed that allows exterior access from the front of the home. Also working with the driveway, the porch had to span the driveway so people could drive under the porch.
The home is on a beautiful wooded lot and the owners wanted to see as much of the woods as possible but the porch was 8′ off the ground so we had to balance this with meeting all of the safety requirements. One porch element that has a huge impact on visibility is the railings. It was important for us to select a railing material that had a very slender profile for maximum visibility. But we also wanted to select a railing style that complimented the house.This home is an 1800′s log cabin that was moved to this site and restored. It had a great farmhouse feel. We selected rebar for the railings. It complimented the rustic style of the house while meeting the safety and visibility requirements.
The next challenge we had was tying into the existing roof lines. The home had multiple additions which made the roof lines difficult to tie into. Our talent is to figure out a roofline when so many other people said they can’t do a roof there. To achieve this, we designed a hip roof on all 4 sides making the roof symmetrical inside the porch.
At The Porch Company, selecting the materials is extremely important. This 1800′s farmhouse needed a very rustic yet still an elegant feel. For the interior of the porch, we used tongue and groove cypress with stain and sealer for a warm beautiful color. The inside of the home is all stained so the inside of the porch is stained as well. The outside wall is painted gray to match the house.
We used a low beadboard wall with rebar outside the screen, again to maximize visibility. Because the rebar rails are think and dark, your eye passes right through them. On the far side of the porch, the doors opened up to a deck we built. For that wall, we did not need to use the low wall so we opened up the low wall area by using screens.
At The Porch Company, our strength is our finding creative solutions to challenges which not only solve those but turn those into accents and features of the design. Give us a call for a design consultation at 615-662-2886. We look forward to speaking with you.
Nashville rustic screen porch with beadboard walls and tongue & groove cypress
