In our efforts to go a little bit greener we have tried to reuse as many materials as we can find and blend that with new for the rest. One of these projects was our front porch. We bought an older fixer upper home and the front porch was more of a front step, and the wood was beginning to fall apart making it unsafe. We tore it out and began with the new materials. This was a three-year process, as we were also working on other projects needing done.
The first year my sons helped to build the larger porch area with a small step in front and on the side. My oldest was taking a carpentry class at the local career center as part of his high school class and wanted to try his hand at this project. So, my husband showed him the plan and let him do much of the work, with my youngest helping to get tools out in the morning and putting them up at the end of the day. This ended up as a nice usable porch as it was, so we stopped there and finished up our yard work, gardening and preparing for winter.
Year two I found a small wooden porch for sale on one of the local buy sell sites. It was the perfect size to add to the front of our porch replacing the temporary small step we had made the previous year. My oldest son went and picked it up and helped me put it in place. My husband was dealing with cancer during these years and my son was graduating high school and preparing for entering the military, so we did not get any more done that year, but still it was much nicer than the original we had started with.
The third year my oldest son was gone to follow his calling, serving in the military and getting further education in his chosen field. Thankfully, my husband was done with cancer treatments and on the road to recovery. So, we found some weathered porch railings, again on one of the local buy sell groups and added them to the porch. My youngest son was now old enough to be a big help with this. We had thought about staining or painting the porch, but other projects needed finished. I love my front porch the way it is, being able to sit outside enjoying nicer days. Chatting with my neighbors who also love porch sitting makes staying at home during this pandemic much more pleasant.