Problem Solving Is Just One Part Of Our Porch Transformation Process At The Porch Company

Tucked away in the inviting Sylvan Park area of Nashville, Tennessee, The Porch Company recently undertook a project that showcased our expertise in custom porch design and problem-solving capabilities.

Our client, a homeowner with a passion for outdoor living, sought to replace an aging porch structure with a new, functional space that harmonized with the historic charm of their home while overcoming challenges posed by an existing storm drain easement.

Understanding The Porch Design Challenge

The storm drain easement in the backyard posed a unique challenge, limiting the size and scope of the new porch. However, our experienced porch design and engineering team saw this as an opportunity to think creatively and develop a solution.

Rather than seeing the storm drain easement as a limitation, we embraced it as a design feature. Our team designed a two-room porch for the Sylvan Park home with different roof lines, one vaulted and one with a flat roof, strategically maximizing the available space while maintaining the desired aesthetics. This approach not only addressed the size restrictions but also added architectural interest to the porch.

An Intimate Porch Al Fresco Dining Area

One of the rooms in the porch is dedicated to creating an intimate al fresco dining area, perfect for enjoying meals with family and friends. The seating arrangement, carefully designed to accommodate eight guests comfortably, invites lively conversations and memorable gatherings.

The Second Porch Room Provides Luxurious Seating For Family And Guests

The gable roof portion of the porch became the gathering space, offering seating options for both the family and their guests. This versatile area served as a hub for relaxation, entertainment, and quality time spent outdoors. Our team provided some needed privacy by installing a 1x6 cypress wall that adds a warm and cozy feel to the outdoor living space.

An Exterior-Centered Entrance Door, Complete With A Doggie Access

To ensure seamless access to both rooms of the porch, we installed an exterior-centered entrance door. This thoughtful addition not only facilitates easy movement between the spaces but also includes a doggie access panel, catering to the furry family members and their convenience.

Attention To Detail And Finishing Touches

To enhance the comfort and functionality of the new porch, we incorporated ceiling height heating elements, ensuring year-round enjoyment even during cooler seasons. An oversized fan provides a gentle breeze on warm days, while carefully placed accent lighting adds ambiance and highlights the architectural features of the porch.

Cypress wood is known for its natural durability and resistance to rot, decay, and insect damage. This makes it an excellent choice for outdoor applications like screened porches, where exposure to the elements is inevitable. Also, cypress wood has natural oils that help it withstand moisture and weathering, making it ideal for environments with varying humidity levels and weather conditions.

Solid 1X cypress boards are relatively stable and less prone to warping or twisting, especially when properly installed and maintained by our expert team. This stability ensures that the new porch maintains its structural integrity over time. Furthermore, cypress wood has a beautiful, distinct grain pattern and a warm, honey-toned color that adds character and charm to the interior of a screened porch. Its natural beauty enhances the overall aesthetic of the space.

The flooring of the new porch, made of heat-modified Ash, not only offers durability but also contributes to a warm and inviting atmosphere.

For long term stability and dimensional stability, heat modification enhances the durability of Ash wood, making it more resistant to decay, rot, and insect damage. This increased durability is especially beneficial in outdoor environments where the porch floor is exposed to moisture, sunlight, and varying weather conditions.

Also, heat-modified Ash is less prone to shrinking, swelling, or warping compared to untreated wood. This dimensional stability ensures that the porch floor maintains its shape and integrity over time, reducing the need for frequent maintenance or repairs.

Client Collaboration And Personalization Courtesy Of The Porch Company

Kudos to the Sylvan Park homeowner for their collaboration and personal touches that further enhances the porch's appeal. Their decision to paint the back wall of the house inside the porch created a cohesive and inviting environment, making the porch feel like a natural extension of their home, rather than an addition.

The Porch Company's meticulous attention to detail, innovative design solutions, and commitment to client satisfaction were showcased in the transformation of this exquisite two-room porch in Sylvan Park. From overcoming challenges posed by a storm drain easement to creating functional and inviting spaces, our team's expertise shone through, resulting in a porch that not only meets but exceeds the client's expectations.

Your Sylvan Park Solution For Porch Perfection

The Porch Company is a design/build construction company focusing on creating screen porches, open-air porches and outdoor structures that fit your lifestyle.

Be it a screened in porch, an open air porch, a front porch or other outdoor structures, connect with us for a complimentary design consultation.

Call us at 629-209-1672, email us at hello@porchcompany.com or simply click right here to connect to us.

How To Take Your Front Porch And Rear Deck To The Next Level With The Porch Company In Belle Meade Highlands

Belle Meade Highlands, situated inside the Metro Nashville area, is a blend of old and new homes. The area offers unique and charming options when it comes to outdoor living.

The landscapes and structures within this neighborhood are meticulously designed, reflecting a harmonious blend of nature and sophistication. The outdoor living spaces in Belle Meade Highlands are not merely extensions of homes; rather, they are retreats that seamlessly integrate with the natural beauty of their surroundings.

Such is evident in this front porch and rear deck transformation. The operative word of the day here is LOW MAINTENANCE.

Low Maintenance Outdoor Leisure Enjoyment On A Front Porch Custom Built With Non-wood Building Materials

Many homeowners in Belle Meade Highlands invest in outdoor amenities to enhance their living spaces. Expansive front porches and rear decks that are well-appointed and highly functional have become the focal points for social gatherings and family events.

This client wanted us to reinvent their front porch making it totally maintenance-free, so TimberTech Advanced PVC by AZEK building materials were specified for their dependability.

Why TimberTech Advanced PVC by AZEK Is Always At The Top Of Our Low Maintenance Materials List

TimberTech Advanced PVC by AZEK, a brand known for its high-performance, low-maintenance decking and porch products, offers several benefits that make it an attractive choice for these outdoor spaces.

1. Resistance to Moisture and Mold: AZEK products are engineered to resist moisture, making them less prone to issues such as rot, warping, and mold growth. This is particularly advantageous for front porches and backyard rear decks, as these areas are constantly exposed to the elements. The resistance to moisture ensures that the material remains durable and attractive over time. There are no wood fibers in the boards.

2. No Painting or Staining Required: AZEK products are made with excellent UV resistance. This means that the color is built into the material, reducing the need for painting or staining. Homeowners can enjoy the aesthetic appeal of their front porches and rear decks without the hassle of regular painting or staining maintenance.

3. Easy Cleaning: AZEK products are easy to clean with just soap and water. This simplifies the maintenance process, allowing homeowners to keep their front porches and backyard decks looking pristine without the need for specialized cleaning agents or labor-intensive maintenance routines.

4. Long Lifespan: AZEK materials are engineered for longevity. The durable construction and resistance to various environmental factors contribute to a longer lifespan compared to some traditional decking materials. This durability reduces the frequency of replacements, making it a cost-effective and low-maintenance choice in the long run.

5. Insect Resistance: Unlike natural wood, AZEK is not susceptible to insect damage. This feature is particularly advantageous for outdoor structures like decks and porches, where insects can pose a threat to the structural integrity of traditional wood materials. With AZEK, homeowners can enjoy peace of mind knowing that their outdoor spaces are less vulnerable to insect-related issues.

6. Sustainability: AZEK boards are made from 60% recycled material, including post-construction scraps like vinyl siding and trim.  And at the end of its’ useful life, it is fully recyclable. A green PVC decking product like no other on the market.

A True Joint Effort In Perfecting A Low Maintenance Transformation For Both The Front Porch And The Backyard Rear Deck In Belle Meade Highlands

The great thing about this transformation outdoor living and utility upgrade is that the homeowners – who were avid gardeners – knew exactly what they wanted us to achieve.

These front porch people are extremely fastidious, tidy and neat so understandably they wanted everything as maintenance-free as possible, so our team went to great lengths to make sure that is precisely what we did for them.

Accessorized with vibrant red pillows on the white rocking chairs, it all complements the bright red door, resulting in a sweet porch.

We used our PVC picket panels from The Porch Store, and we put an AZEK cap rail on top of each section, creating a flat surface for a cool drink.

We used Hermitage Sleeves from The Porch Store for wrapping the stair posts.

Critter control is a concern for many homeowners.  Skirting was installed at the base to keep wandering little creatures out. Holding true to the low maintenance schema, more AZEK building material was deployed for that detail.

A Rear Deck That Is The Ultimate Blend Of Outdoor Living Comfort, Functionality And More

This residence also had a back rear deck with the framework already established, but the decking had seen better days and needed to be replaced.

The homeowners had a nifty way to accommodate hiding their trash cans. Trap doors were built on the deck that lifts up to expose the trash cans below.  While the original design was clever, it was made of wood. Aged, splintered wood needed to be redone.  AZEK again was specified in this portion of the project.  No painting or touch up needed in the years to come.

From the street side view, there are the two white gates that open keeping the trash can hidden until they are rolled out for collection. Brilliant, we think. It’s a great way to comply with HOA rules and regulations in good taste and high style.

Bring Your Ideas and Outdoor Living Thoughts to The Porch Company - We Love a Challenge!

 We invite you to energize your creativity by viewing custom examples of our porches and outdoor living spaces.

 When you’re ready to meet with us in person, please call us at 615-662-2886 or click here to connect with us.

Creative Thinking And Design Mastery Are Just The Beginning Of This Forest Hills TN Screened Porch And Deck Combination Space

When we first arrived at this majestic Forest Hills family home, we noticed the rear of the home already had a very large second-story deck, which the family wished to keep. So we retained the footprint of that existing deck structure, strengthened it and changed the decking, adding a screened porch in the process.

The resulting transformed outdoor living space now consists of a screened porch and deck combination space with dry space for storage under the screened porch.

Keeping What Works And Improving What Doesn’t

By keeping the original second-story deck and redecking its surface, we kept what had worked for this family, but we added a new screened porch.  We also replaced the deck railing with black metal Fortress rail and used a composite cap on the railing even though the deck is Thermory Pine.

Our screened porch design plan yielded a hip roof on the new porch supported by The Porch Company box columns. For protection and architectural interest, we embellished it with a wood picket railing

Beautiful Longevity By Using Thermory Pine Decking On The Deck And Porch

Our team chose the new durability standard for softwood decking,

Thermory Pine Decking. It redefines expectations for softwood decking. Unequaled in durability and stability, this thermally modified Scots pine decking features distinct knots, a beautiful golden brown color, and no visible sapwood.

As the house indentation has an existing ceiling – and the new porch has a roof of its own, to introduce natural sunlight we needed a creative solution.

So, we installed sun tunnels in the ceiling to allow more light into the porch and thus, into the home. Notice the soft glow of natural sunlight on the interior brick wall. A win/win.

Best of all, sun tunnels are a sustainable lighting solution as they reduce the need for artificial lighting during the daytime, which can lead to energy savings. Also, they provide a natural and pleasing quality of light, enhancing the visual comfort and ambiance of the interior space.

A Floating Stone Fireplace Provides Unique Architectural Interest While Keeping The Chilly Evenings More Comfortable

Notice the floating stone fireplace, which we cantilevered as the faux stone is lighter than traditional stone. Positioned in front of the conversation seating area, and to the right of the screened porch dining room, this gas-burning heat source adds a cozy touch to keep family and friends comfortable – while giving them something beautiful to look at.

Speaking of comfort, we also installed a 72-inch ceiling fan, Solaira heaters and ambient coach lighting on the horizontal columns.

As we used the existing posts for the exterior staircase, we dressed them up a bit with our Hermitage sleeves on the staircase of the deck, which worked great for adding the needed height.

Using Real Wood For Exterior Porch Spaces With Peak Modified Wood

The aim of Peak Modified Wood is to overcome the shortcomings of standard timber. The heat modification treatment of the real wood dries out the inherit sugars in the wood to keep bugs out and resist rot.

This modification process enhances the performance of the wood, resulting in improvements in the longevity of timbers – dimensional stability, decay resistance, and reduced water absorption, with less expansion and contraction. In addition, since most advanced modification processes are environmentally friendly, the materials can still be disposed of properly at the end of the product life cycle.

Questions? Just Call Us!

We’d love to connect with you to answer any questions you may have or to assist you in scheduling a complimentary design consultation for your own new project or home improvement.

Call us at (615) 662-2886, or connect with us instantly by clicking this link right here.

This Porch Company Screened Porch In East Nashville Is Elegance Personified!

This newest East Nashville screened porch design checks all the boxes for beauty, charm, creativity, and functional layout.

This classic white screened porch features the architectural highlight of a crisscross transom design at the top of the gable roof. It is interesting to note that the newly built gable porch roof is higher than the roof of the house itself. Notice the niche on the outer right deck area. That recess accommodates a creative solution so that falling rainwater does not interfere with the screened wall panel. Instead, the water is diverted and routed into the black-accent-painted gutter and drainpipe – a practical solution to thwart moisture issues down the road.

A Splinter-Free Wood Handrail Features An AZEK Low Maintenance PVC Rail Cover Top

Knowing that this beautiful porch design will accommodate much in and out traffic over the years to come, and to ensure that hands touching the railing top would not be exposed to wood splinters over time, the top of the rail is durable, low maintenance AZEK decking material.  As you can see, the staircase is positioned for a choice – front yard or back yard?

A Multi-Functional Interior, Richly Appointed, Accented By Dark Wood Tones Balanced By White

The handsome wood rafter beams on the inside of this screen porch are stained using a dark color, which accompanies the dark cypress flooring.

Surrounded by white walls, area rugs and comfortable white upholstered seating furniture, it’s an environment that the homeowner now enjoys daily – and is one that neighbors and visiting guests won’t soon forget.  The sunlight that filters through the mesh screens casts a warm and dappled glow across the space. 

That Much Sought-After Touch Of Black To Complete The Design In The Chandelier, Ceiling Fans And Coach Lights

The breathtaking antique chandelier, the homeowner’s first purchase for her project, in black with luminescent accents of gold, takes center stage in the ceiling rafter design. Long-lasting LED chandelier bulbs provide adequate dimmable lighting for evening alfresco dining and casual nighttime leisure and conversation. Augmenting the lighting design are energy-efficient coach lights around the interior periphery of the custom screened porch.

A Touch Of Pink With A Purpose – By Design

The interior accent color scheme of painting the entry door back into the home is pink – inspired by the client’s brother who is an artist. The original floral lily close-up features rich red, pink, and green tones, to complement the backyard vista.

Behind it will soon rest a smart TV which will be camouflaged by the original artwork when the TV is not in use. The result is tasteful, smart, and very practical.

We Would Love To Have Designs On Your Outdoor Living Future

For a chance to meet with our professional design team for creative, unique and highly practical solutions, connect with us by phone at 615-662-2886 – or simply click right here. It’s that easy to connect with us.

Adding A Screened Porch To Nashville Home With Tight Backyard Dimensions

The Porch Company had a very tight space to work with in this Nashville backyard. Like many properties we work on within the Nashville area, this one features a stunning home built on a lot with a defined space to work in.

Before we brought this design to fruition, the home originally had a deck attached to an existing sunroom. We started this outdoor living space transformation by replacing the existing deck with a new screened porch, and we added a new adjacent deck.

A Low-Maintenance Deck Sets The Stage For Outdoor Living Enjoyment

Starting with the new deck addition. In the spirit of less upkeep means more enjoyment, we used AZEK PVC decking for this portion of the new outdoor space. Combined with the multi-toned, variegated deck boards, we used our Hermitage post sleeves and caps for the railings.

Both the deck and the screened porch also feature solid board skirting with plenty of storage underneath for lawn care equipment, gardening supplies, outdoor furniture, and cushion storage off-season.

Natural Wood Balances With Tones Of White Create An Inviting Outdoor Room

Exiting the home and walking into the new screened porch, one is welcomed by tasteful comfort at every turn. At first glance, you can’t help but notice the marriage of form and function inside the white hip roof interior. Accented with natural wood beams that transcend the depth of the space, they add a subtle, sophisticated charm, reminiscent of the country.

To accentuate the decor of the interior floor, Thermory Ash flooring was selected for it’s warm feel under foot and complements the stained rafter ties.

On the rafter ties, Solaira heaters were installed to fill the space with cozy warmth whenever desired. The heaters provide just enough radiant heat to take the chill off a fall or early spring morning.

Upon entering the screened porch from the deck, you’ll notice our classic Sapele screened door – one of our signature design elements.

The door is an out-swing door, and whenever you have an out-swing door, you cannot have a step down at the door – therefore, the deck and the porch were built to the same level. Had the design scheme allowed for it, we usually prefer to have a step down, as it helps keep water from splattering on the door during a rain and keeps water from rolling back into the porch. But because of building codes, and limited space inside the porch, an out-swing door was the best option.

Elegance And Practicality Equal An Enviable Space

For added texture and tonal balance, the homeowner chose to add custom curtains to this space. In addition to being a beautiful visual accent, they can be drawn to cover the screened walls whenever required for sunshade or desired privacy.

The curtains also come in handy on weekend afternoons while the family is on their screened porch enjoying golf matches and football games on their TV. The custom-built TV cabinet, disguised as a wood sideboard, raises up for active watching, then lowers down and is completely hidden when not in use.  

The unique TV cabinet would have taken up some precious floor space, so we created a nook for it by pushing the porch out a few feet in that one section.

This custom porch is warm and charming, despite the space limitations. The red brick tones of the house wall mix with the wood floor and stained beams for a thoughtfully decorated screened room.

Making Your Porch And Deck Dreams Come True Is EasyWith The Porch Company

We invite you to connect with us online by clicking here.