By Mary and Dave Morris
5
11 ratings
The podcast currently has 42 episodes available.
Porch Stories: Porches are special places for making memories. And many of those memories are made on the front porch swing. Shannon Lee wrote this true account of how she passed through the rituals of childhood with the front porch swing as her anchor and her mom as her sounding board. We know you will enjoy the special memories that Shannon shares with us here. Thank you for listening!
This story first appeared on the Build Direct Blog and we are pleased that Shannon narrated it for us to hear.
If you love porches, you will also love our website. Please stop by and share your porch stories with us.
Listen to all of our porch-centric podcasts.
In the mobile home / manufactured home world, there are plentiful ways to make wonderful home improvements. Our guest, Tim Peele, President of the Mobile Home Parts Store, explains the most popular ways his customers improve their homes - both exterior and interior.
Tim touches upon assorted ways that mobile and RV home owners add curb appeal and improve the original amenities of their homes
- How skirting boosts the appeal of your home and helps keep critters out
- The beauty of shutters and awnings
- Using patio covers and custom roofing options to create a covered porch
- Adding temporary or permanent space to your mobile home with a three season porch or sunroom
- The #1 bathroom improvement that Tim is seeing his customers want
- The #1 kitchen improvement that mobile homeowners would like to have
- The difference in sizes for tubs and sinks between conventional homes and mobile homes
- The many DIY tips offered on their website from replacing a door to measuring windows to repairing ceiling stains - and so many more
For more details and pictures go here.
Visit us at the Porch Ideas Network.
Whether you have a covered open porch or a screened porch, you can easily and affordably turn it into a wonderful three season porch.
Caison Craven with Eze Breeze Windows shares with us how these screened porch windows can easily turn your screened porch into a three season porch. And not only that, how these retractable porch windows keep out pollen, dirt, dust, rain and wind so that you can enjoy your porch more months of the year.
- These vinyl screened porch windows are more affordable than glass windows which equates to an affordable three season porch. Maybe some of your budget can then be directed to comfortable furniture and rugs!
- Windows can open up 75% compared to 50% for casement windows allowing you much more fresh air and wonderful breezes than ordinary windows.
- The vinyl windows can be tinted so you can block out the strong rays of the sun and enjoy your porch that much ore.
- If wind, dust, pollen or rain keep you from your porch, these windows take care of that problem. So enjoy your porch even when the weather isn't the best.
Visit our podcast page to listen to dozens of shows for inspiring porch ideas.
See pictures of the screened porch windows here.
We welcome Linda Lytle, Executive Director of Visit Madison,Inc.
Linda shares why people love Madison so much and gives us a sampling of things to do there such as attending one of their many festivals, hiking at Clifty Falls State Park or watch the boat races at the Madison Regatta during the 4th of July festivities.
Or do what we love: stroll the downtown streets and enjoy the amazing architecture, porches and friendly people who live there!
Whether you live in Madison Indiana or are one of its 300,000 visitors, you realize it is a friendly community that welcomes visitors and loves its historic downtown area.
This is a historic Hoosier community with 19th century buildings and homes where people live and work. The town is noted not only for its historic and scenic beauty but also for its many festivals, hiking and biking trails, arts and music culture and the friendly camaraderie.
See more pictures of Madison Indiana.
Madison, Indiana is one amazing porch town, located on the Ohio River smack dab between Cincinnati Ohio and Louisville Kentucky. Dave and I interviewed Trevor Crafton, Executive Director of their Chamber of Commerce, to learn the background of this vibrant and welcoming small Midwest town.
Madison IN is a very scenic riverfront town located on the Ohio river between Louisville, KY and Cincinnati, OH. It has been selected as one of the top 15 semifinalist communities in the America's Best Communities competition - the winner to be selected in 2017.
The downtown section is comprised of historic building and houses which have very charming porches and architecture. Captivating in appearance, the historic colonial and shotgun homes are postcard worthy.
The majority of Madison's downtown area has been designated the largest contiguous National Historic Landmark in the United States—133 blocks of the downtown area. Larger than the historic districts in either Charleston SC or Savannah GA.
A cultural arts and music center, its town people embrace festivals, visitors and 21st century technology. The low cost of living, low unemployment rate, walkways and bike paths and nearby Hanover College are but a few of the reasons people enjoy living in Madison.
Dave and I thoroughly enjoyed our visit there and we know you will enjoy this podcast we had with lifetime resident and Executive Director of the Chamber, Trevor Crafton.
See pictures of Madison Indiana.
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Our guest, Lori Sawaya, from The Land of Color, is a color expert and color strategist. She understands both the art and science of color. Lori helps those of us who are color-impaired to understand how to make the most of color in your decorating especially the exterior of your home.
She also clears up some misconceptions that most of us have about color - such as the meaning of neutrals and why, for example, the color red doesn't pop as much on brown as it does on white.
She also tells us about a new system that one of the big paint stores is offering in their stores to help consumers make better colors choices the first time.
If you are like us, we bring home a color of paint for our walls only to be surprised at that the color has more yellow, green or pink in it that we didn't notice in the paint chip. Lori talks about how we can alleviate that.
But in the end, she says, that the ultimate test will always be to bring home a sample from the store and try it before we do the whole project.
This is educational and helps to clear up some of those mysteries we have about color in our world. And best of all how to apply it to the exterior of our homes and porches. Yeah!
Our guest Moises Cruz, Principal Engineer for A-1 Engineering, talks to us about foundation performance for buildings, including porches and decks. He helps to clear up some misconceptions about cracks in your foundation and also talks about the steps you need to take if you want to upgrade your open porch to an enclosed porch or addition to your home.
You will learn:
- Why homeowners should keep tabs of the condition of their homes and where the cracks are
- Why a foundation crack does not necessarily mean something is wrong
- The reasons that foundations crack - and it's not the foundation's fault!
- When you should call a Structural Engineer to diagnose issues with your foundation
- Several of the ways foundations are repaired
- One of the best things you can do if you're going to upgrade your porch to an enclosed porch
- Why the materials and quality of foundations for a porch are as important as the foundation for your home
- How you can read important information about foundations that will make you a wiser homeowner
- Why it's absolutely necessary to work closely with your local building department when adding on to your home
Visit us at Front Porch Ideas and More for a complete porch portal: amazing porch pictures, tutorials, DIYs and designs. Thank you!
Our guest, Shawnna Steele, of ReDesign HP, shares insider tips on modifying stock house plans. If you are planning to build a home from an online house plan, Shawnna shares tips to make the process go easier.
What you will learn:
- What is the driving force for many common home modifications?
- Two reasons why starting out with a stock plan and then modifying it can be a better for you than working with a local architect
- How many houses does a homeowner need to build to get the "perfect" house? Of course, that is subjective!
- What should you focus upon when selecting a house plan - and you might be pretty surprised by this.
- You should know a common and natural modification request that homeowners ask for - which is actually quite difficult to achieve
- How search engines on stockplan websites can help you narrow down the type of houseplan that you want
- A few fun yet functional modifications that you might want to consider - even for remodels
Visit the Porch Ideas Network to hear all of our podcasts and our complete porch site for a bazillion porch ideas and pictures.
We had the honor of speaking with Guest Jarret Magbee, CEO and President Family Home Plans and Cool House Plans. Today Jarret spoke with us about buying house plans online.
He shared:
- What you get when you purchase house building plans online
- What modifications you can have made
- What are the most popular home plan styles these days
- What size homes people are looking for
- Why it is good to have a contractor to assist you for meeting local requirements
- He compared the price of purchasing a pre-designed house plan plus modification to getting your own designer or architect
- Are McMansions still in vogue?
- Learn about other fun project plans you can get for garden sheds, porches and trellises
- Get a bazillion porch ideas on our site!
We welcome Kevin Harris of AGS Stainless who talks about the wonderful options you now have with cable or glass railings for your porch or deck. Of course, interior applications are popular, too.
Highlights include:
- Why stainless steel is superior to aluminum when it comes to porch and deck railings
- The various finishes that cable railings come in to match to your home's decor
- The pros and cons of glass railings and when they are better suited than cable railings
- Railing options to consider when it comes to pets or small children
- A story (true one) about how to keep puppies safe from alligators
- The ease of installation for the homeowner or the builder
- How you can order stainless steel railings and have them shipped the very next day
See more details on this podcast on our site.
Also visit us for plenty of porch pictures and ideas.
The podcast currently has 42 episodes available.