HOUSE AND GARDEN 
June, 1912 
31 
in their furnishings have changed. It 
used to be that the porch was as cer¬ 
tain to be placed across the front of 
the house as that the kitchen w.as at the 
back of it. The owner of a big front 
porch was at the mercy of sociably in¬ 
clined passersby who sought an attrac¬ 
tive loafing' place, and neither quiet nor 
privacy was possible. 
While the front porch is by no means 
.an out of date institution, there is a 
growing tendency on the part of archi¬ 
tects and owners to curtail its dimen¬ 
sions, making it merely an adjunct to 
the main entrance of the house, and to 
build the outdoor living room at one 
side. Sometimes this room is in the 
form of a regulation side porch, giving 
a second entrance from the lawn into 
the house, but more often than not it is 
.accessible only through the house, and 
is as absolutely private 
as an upstairs room. 
With the development 
of the outdoor-room idea 
the porch has become an 
integral part of the 
house, rather than an 
excrescence, or an after 
thought, as so m,any of 
the old porches appeared 
to be. From the little 
bungalow, with its porch 
tucked snugly away un¬ 
der an extension of the 
roof and protected by 
brick or cobblestone 
sides, to the pretentious 
house that boasts of au 
elaborately fitted up 
piazza, one is impressed 
by the fact that the 
porch of the modern 
house is designed .as an 
extra room, and not just 
a lean-to sort of an af¬ 
fair for the ornamenta¬ 
tion of the exterior of 
the house. 
In fitting up such a room, 
plants and flowers naturally 
demand consideration, even 
before furniture and rugs. 
One would .as soon think of a 
library without hooks as a 
porch room with its gret-n and 
growing things. If there is a 
ledge sufficiently wide, win¬ 
dow boxes filled with scarlet 
geraniums or nasturtiums in 
a variety of colors are most 
attractive. Provided of 
course that the enclosure, 
whether a wooden railing or a 
brick or concrete w.all, is not 
so high that the boxes shut out 
The combination laundry table is a useful style 
A porch should be in appearance as well as in fact a cool and shady retreat on 
hot days, with comfortable, sensible chairs and settles 
light and air and give a stufifv 
effect. 
Flexible screens or curtains that can be raised or lowered at will may be 
arranged to shut out direct sunlight 
For a porch of ample dimensions 
potted plants are good, and sturdy 
looking' palms and ferns add consider¬ 
ably to the cool appearance of ,a shady 
veranda. Too many of these, however, 
are apt to clutter up the place and get 
in the way, only to he knocked over and 
smashed to pieces, so that for large 
porches as well .as small ones, hanging 
pots, filled with ferns or vines or trail¬ 
ing nasturtiums are decidedly more 
practical. These can he hung from the 
outer edge of the porch roof, of if there 
are screens that will interfere with them 
here, they can be attached to heavy 
brackets of wrought iron placed on the 
pillars or against the side of the house. 
Where it is not possible or desirable 
to care for a number of plants or hang¬ 
ing vines, a single window box, on a 
substantially built stand in a corner or 
against the wall, where it 
will not take up too much 
room, gives at least the, 
touch of nature that the 
outdoor room requires. 
The worthy rocking- 
chair, without which no. 
well regulated porch used 
to be considered quite re- 
spectahle, has been 
routed by big, broad com¬ 
fortable chairs in wicker 
and splint, swinging set¬ 
tees, and the picturesque 
Gloucester hammock that 
is quite large and com¬ 
fortable enough to be 
used as .a bed if necessary. 
iSIade of heavy sail cloth, 
with denim covered cush¬ 
ion and pillows, it is the 
final word m porch luxury. 
GTually it is’ swung like a 
hammock from heavy 
iron hooks in the ceiling, 
though sometimes there is 
a pulley arrangement by 
which it can be hauled up 
out of the way when not in 
use. The swinging settees of 
willow are also fitted with 
cushions and either hang by 
chains from the ceiling or 
swing in a iiiovable frame of 
iron. 
In addition to these there 
are various adaptations of the 
steamer chair. The person 
who decreed that this sea¬ 
going article of furniture 
would be equally useful on 
land conferred an inestimable 
blessing on iDorch-dwellers. 
Padded covers of cretonue or 
denim that can be bought 
ready to tie on will transform 
the most uncompromisinglv 
