Making your porch habitable.
There are a few easy steps you can take to make the most of out your porch. A place to sit, a way of dealing with bugs, a few nice touches. Busy? Can only use your porch once a week? Why not make the best out of it?
A place to sit.
Nothing beats an old couch, the kind you probably have been meaning to throw out when cousin Antonio comes over for a holiday to help you move it. Might want to cover it in the winter, but heck, its old. Its good to slouch in. If you are pressed for space, you might want to check out fold up chairs. They can turn an area with little space into a comfortable place to relax.
Too many bugs?
Build a bat house. Why you ask? Insect-eating bats are supremely good at what they do: a single little brown bat can catch and eat 600 mosquitoes in an hour. That’s a lot of bugs. If you are out on your porch in the evening hours, it’s always a show watching bats swing back and forth eating bugs.
http://www.batcon.org/bhra/economyhouse.html
You might want to write your congressman to increase funding for bug busters, people who stop dangerous insects from making it into the country, which also makes hanging outdoors less desirable.
Check around the house/building for tires and other objects that might hold a bit of stagnant water. These can be mosquito breeding grounds.
A touch of life.
A few plants placed in hanging baskets or around the porch can make an otherwise boring porch seem really lively. Geraniums are a beautiful addition adding flowers too. If you know yourself well enough not to entrust yourself with a plant, try a few Cacti.
BBQ!
BBQ tips can be found all over the web. Another great porch related activity. Be careful grilling on a wooden porch.
