Reader Ashley has an outdoor Retro Design Dilemma — our first exterior challenge — how exciting! Ashley’s house looks pretty darn cute already, but there is something perplexing about her front porch. Read on to find out more about Ashley’s dilemma and three possible solutions to her porch problem…
I’m trying to get more information on round metal porch posts. My house was built in 1949. The previous owners did something weird with the porch, but I can’t completely figure out what they did. The metal posts seem original to me. As you can see from the pictures, they spray painted the entire house a taupe/beige color, and didn’t bother to cover the posts, which look to be originally black. It seems odd to me that there are no railings or anything. I’ve seen the article on the pretty ornamental porch railings and posts, but I’ve never seen any pictures of just plain round black posts with no railings before. What do I do with them? Just repaint them black? Add railings? I can’t find any pictures on the internet of any old houses with plain black posts like this. I have NO idea what to do with the front of my house! PLEASE help me!
My first thought regarding these round metal poles on Ashley’s porch — they surely couldn’t be original. I doubt porches in 1949 were typically held up by the kind of round, metal poles that we most commonly see used to reinforce support beams in basements. If they are indeed original, I’ve never seen a midcentury house with porch posts like this before. I’m thinking that somewhere along the line, the original posts (and possibly even railings) rotted or gave out causing the need for some structural support — and the previous owners went with this very basic, effective — but aesthetically blah — solution. Regardless of their origins, I can see why Ashley wants our help.
Pam was quick to remind me of a post she wrote a while back about midcentury homes with a lack of curb appeal, which had a great illustration from a vintage Dutch Boy flyer depicting a cute little house with an even cuter little porch. I instantly knew this type of porch railing would look great on Ashley’s house. Using the power of Photoshop, Ashley’s porch was instantly transformed.
But what happened to the poles? In my opinion, you could do one of two things:
- Build boxes around the poles — wrapping them in wood — to make them into square wooden porch posts
- Replace the current metal poles with solid wooden porch posts (after consulting with a pro of course!)
Once the poles are replaced/wrapped, you could then attach any sort of railing you desired. In the solution above, I added a railing similar to the retro Dutch Boy ad from Pam’s midcentury curb appeal post. I’d make the posts and railings white, to blend with the soffit and trim and then add an accent color (I chose an aqua) to the front door, garage door and newly added shutters. The shutters have the same raised panel design as Ashley’s current front door and help to add interest as well as give a more finished look to the front of the house.
To spruce up the yard, tall shrubs were placed at the edges of the house — which nicely frame the porch and garden space. Planting shorter shrubs in between helps to fill in the gaps. These shorter shrubs were chosen for their coloration — one being a blueish evergreen shrub — to echo the aqua trim color — and the others are bright pink knock out rose bushes to dial up the color making the overall view of Ashley’s house a little less neutral. A few more clumps of pink flowers out by the pole light help to hide its cement base and repeat the pink — just like an indoor room design, repeating colors helps to make the exterior of a house feel more cohesive and finished. I’m not sure exactly what part of the country Ashley lives in, so I’d advise checking with a local garden center to help suggest which species of plants and shrubs would work best in her yard.
For the second solution, I’d use the same method of either wrapping or replacing the metal porch posts mentioned above. Once that is done, installing some easy horizontal railings would give Ashley’s house more of a ranch vibe, which could also be repeated on the shutters. Instead of painting the poles and trim bright white, using a beige several shades lighter than the siding would create a less stark affect — painting the other white trim beige to match would complete the look. Painting the garage door and front window trim would add some color and a new door (or door kit) from Crestview doors, painted in a terra cotta would really liven up the entry. Once again, I would plant tall shrubs to act as a frame around the edges of the house and fill in with shorter shrubs. A reddish hued shrub (like a crimson barberry) would blend nicely with the terra cotta front door.
For the third solution — after wrapping or replacing the porch poles — I would install a classic white vertical railing. The pizazz in this design comes from the retro diamond patterns on the shutters and the front door in addition to a Crestview door kit, or a new door and a fun shade of purple on the shutters, front door and garage door. Tall shrubs once again frame the space and add height, but this time a secondary focal point — a large landscape rock — is placed near the curve of Ashley’s sidewalk. Planting purple flowers (like petunias or pansies) around the rock help distribute the purple trim color out into the yard. An arrangement of yellow rose bushes, forsythia and marigolds complement the purple trim (purple and yellow are complementary colors) and finish the look of this solution.
Pam interjects here: Ashley, I presume you had a house inspection and were told your front porch is effectively supported. If not — consult with a properly licensed professional to ensure it is. Also, check with your local building inspector to ensure that any work you are planning is done to code, pull permits, as required, etc. Oh, and I wholeheartedly agree with Kate: What a sweetheart house!
Back to Kate: I hope I’ve given you a few ideas you can use Ashley! Please let us know what you end up doing to your porch!
Lee in Florida says
First off, I vote for diamonds. Second, my 1960 house has those poles supporting the peaked carport roof, quite visible to the street.
Christa says
I vote for the cottage version. I really want to see a pretty tree on the right side to block the view to the neighbor house and give the whole place a bit of height. I kind of like the light post and I remember those kinds of details from the neighborhood where I grew up. The winding path is so sweet. Cute house.
Lynda Bourgeois says
I like the landscaping in the “Diamonds are Forever” this helps to balance the house on the lot. It is a lot with a large set back, so make use of the space. Landscape to draw your eye into the entry. Looks like you have a shady exposure so every greens and flowering shrubs like hydrangeas may work best. Also landscape with a boulder and shrubs around the lamp post.
The porch railing is necessary to add architectural detail, and the shutter framed window and new MCM door complete the look. I think the front door needs to be a prominent design feature. Using contrasting paint color with the choice of plantings is important to make those details pop from the body of the house.
Janet says
I like the landscaping and railings on the first one but the diamonds on the last one! In my first house, a 1958 ranch, I had that door and the basement door had THREE diamonds. The entire development was built around the same time and each house had a different door. Some had those triple circles, some had crescents, mine had diamonds, and some had the double rectangles. I know there were others. I should drive through and see how many are left but I know most have been updated. When I see a really neat door, I am always tempted to stop and offer to pay them for a new one if I can have the old one!
Rita@thissortaoldlife says
Torn between “diamonds” and “home on the range.” Both confirm how much I want to find a period door to replace the 90’s “upgrade” given to our home. These are awesome, Kate.
Kate H says
I like all of these, but if the round poles have to be replaced for some reason, what about that lacy ironwork Pam featured awhile ago?
pam kueber says
You know I love that idea!
pam kueber says
I think Kate did a fantastic job with all these ideas! I am particularly impressed at what a huge difference adding some coordinating color to the landscaping makes! I also want to put in a vote for Home on the Range. You can no longer see it in these photos because of the Photoshop work, but the cornice (or whatever it’s called) above the porch is kind of panelled or beadboard looking. If that is still in good shape and can be retained, I loved the idea of carrying the panelled wood idea to the shutter and railing.
I agree with some of the other commenters that a railing may not be necessary as per building codes (please do check though!) but even so, I think the railing really adds to the curb appeal. And, it would provide some additional privacy, too…
Personally, I also LOVE a porch swing on a porch like this. But, I think a porch swing would block the view out the front window.
Lovely job, Kate!
Kate says
Thanks Pam!
It was fun to do these mock ups!
I’m also glad that there are also others who have these round metal porch poles who are commenting – you aren’t the only house with them Ashley! 🙂
Jody says
All of the railings in my MCM neighborhood are pretty decorative–generally an inverted pyramid with scallops and whatnot. But I like any of the ideas presented above, cut cottage being #1.
That said, is it possible to paint the round metal posts white?
Gwen says
I have a 1938 vintage “borderline modern” style adobe house in central California with the same kind of metal poles holding up the porch roof. I have no reason to think they’re not original to the house.
Like the house in this blog, my porch has no railings, and it’s about 2 feet off the ground. There’s a bouganvilia bush in front of the porch for “safety” (actually a pretty effective deterrent to getting too close to the edge, really).
Of all the looks I saw in this blog, I think the “cute cottage” one suits the house best.
Also, not all adobes are the stereotypical Santa Fe pueblo style. Mine looks just like the one in this blog, except it’s all stucco. Until you look more closely, that is, and realize that all the walls (interior walls included) are at least 14″ thick. Also, adobe buildings have their own faint but distinctive scent. I love my adobe abode 🙂
pam kueber says
Wow! 14″ thick walls — that is awesome. So good for insulation, correct? The way we SHOULD be building everythign today!
Gwen says
14″ of adobe = major thermal mass. It did not have air conditioning when built, and may not have had central heating either, but it has high ceilings (about 9 feet) and lots of for provide cross ventilation. No idea about the R value, but on hot summer days, the walls are still warm to the touch hours after the outside temperature has dropped. Vice versa for winter weather. There’s a certain technique to maintaining the indoor temperature in houses like this.
The rooms are also darn near soundproof. All the interior and exterior walls are adobe brick with textured plaster and beautiful coved ceilings. All the walls sit on their own concrete footings so it has a total of six crawl spaces.
Though I love the house, it’s a problematic building material here in earthquake country and as unreinforced masonry, would be tough to retrofit without some major expense and remodeling. And I doubt very much you could get a building permit for new adobe construction anywhere in California.
It’s a tough little house though. It survived the 7.x Kern County quake in ’52 and countless other smaller ones before and since. There is an “interesting” crack in the porch that line up perfectly with a similar crack that goes all the way across the garage floor.
There’s also a front window next to the crack in the porch that was just enough out of square that the custom-made replacement window didn’t want to fit without some chiseling on the wooden window frame. All the other windows fit perfectly. Repaired quake damage from the Big One 60 years ago? Could be.
Also, this house and other adobes we’ve seen all had galvanized iron water pipes running inside the adobe walls. They eventually corrode and fail. I saw a pretty catastrophic failure in another adobe building (fortunately not mine) where water from the leaking pipe washed away several feet of wall, leaving a big hole. Amazingly it didn’t collapse, and the owners eventually filled in the hole with real bricks once the mud dried out.
We had the pipes to the shower replaced not long after moving in because the bathroom walls were damp and sagging enough that the door wouldn’t close. While we had things ripped apart, I could see that the mud walls were a perfect match with the dirt in the yard. Once the walls dried out they straightened back up and the door works perfectly now.
We had the whole house repiped completely with Pex about 13 years ago because scale buildup inside the pipes had almost completely blocked the water flow. The contractor told us the old pipes were corroded and starting to leak throughout the house. Dodged a big bullet there, and it was a complex and expensive job routing pipes under floors because of the thick adobe and concrete footings under every wall.
All in all, a very unique, interesting old house. Our current tenant has been there 11 years and counting, and loves it too.
Gwen says
“lots of windows to provide cross ventilation” oops.
Lynne says
I think it depends on how deep your porch is, will a railing close it to a tiny narrow walkway? If so, you could replace the poles with a wide (12″ – 14″or so) framed lattice. You could think up almost any design in the center of the vertical wood frame pieces. That would give you some “bulk” without boxing in a narrow porch. We had a little cape built about the same year, and that’s how the little porch was done. I too wish I could post a pic. Love the shutter idea on the one window, and turquoise always looks great with beige.
I also agree with the other poster who mentioned the lamp post. I would try to replace it with a more appropriate model.
pam kueber says
So maybe the weekend uploader will be front porches!