In the event of a poltergeist

I was googling "porch ceiling blue" when I learned that its not a exact color, but the shade of blue. In the South, its referred to as "Haint Blue", as it was the blue that repelled restless spirits, aka Haints, and, coincidently, annoying mosquitos.

We decided on Sherwin-Williams' Atmospheric for the ceiling, and it looks just like I think a porch ceiling should look. Or will look. After Jeff finishes the painting.

Outdoor lighting choices

Its been difficult to find outdoor lights for the new porch.

here
Since the header beams aren't that high, the light is going into the soffits and therefore has to be about 10" wide by no more than 11" high. We might get this light in a fun color.

Its hard to find the lights we want that are pendants,

I love this, but it only seems to come in a wall-mount.

I had wanted something like this acorn

but I worried about it swinging during a storm.

Then we went back to BarnlightElectric.com and realized the Laramie came in lots of fun colors.

Now we just have to pick a color!

Next up: Ceiling Fans!

Raise the roof!

The walls/supports and the roof are on the new screened porch.

I am so proud of how it looks from the yard, I love the way the roof peak disappears with the hip roof design.

Now we really have to decide on the details: a fan, lighting, the screen doors. Since the main parts are up, I can start to imagine the details. More to come on the details after we figure them out.

Starting to frame the floor

 

The floor is going in over the existing deck to save time/money on demo and to use the existing flooring to make the structure stronger. Also, it raises the floor up to be even with the floor in the house so there's less of a transition to the outside.

The flooring will be Douglas fir, tongue-and-groove, to get a tight fit so the mosquitoes can't sneak in.

The Deck. Before

We have officially decided to build a screened porch on our deck.

The deck as seen from the 2nd floor window.

This is the "problem" with the deck. It has 3 levels of fun, where we'd prefer 1 to maximize the surface area. Little kids and over-served adults are often in danger of breaking an ankle if they stumble between levels without paying attention.

Our plan is to consolidate the middle layer with the diagonal layer and build a screened porch over it. This will give us some room for eating and lounging. We are working out door placement and where to put the grill.

Stay tuned for updates.