Porch of the Week: Adirondack Style and Indoor-Outdoor Dining
An architect makes room for grilling, pizza-making, dining and lounging in a Florida screened porch
Mosquitoes, biting yellow flies and countless other insects and critters make screened-in porches a must for comfort on the Florida panhandle. A couple living in Atlanta hired architect Danny Martin to design a home for their retirement in a new panhandle community called Draper Lake, and a screened-in porch plays a key role in the home’s design and in their lifestyle.
The couple uses the screened-in porch for dining, grilling, lounging and enjoying a favorite hobby — making pizza in a wood-fired oven. Working within a tight lot overlooking a dune lake, Martin also used the porch as a key connector between the carriage house, the main house and the yard.
The couple uses the screened-in porch for dining, grilling, lounging and enjoying a favorite hobby — making pizza in a wood-fired oven. Working within a tight lot overlooking a dune lake, Martin also used the porch as a key connector between the carriage house, the main house and the yard.
On the home’s lake-facing side, the porch connects to an exterior staircase. These stairs lead up to the carriage house apartment and down to the yard. In addition to providing an area for dining, lounging, watching TV, grilling and making pizzas, the porch bridges the home, carriage house and yard. “The fact that the porch is such a connector between spaces makes it a very active space. It’s an integral part of this home,” Martin says.
The chimney structures are composed of concrete block. A mason completed the stonework that wraps them, using full-size round river rocks, not veneer. “These match the rocks used throughout the neighborhood on retaining walls and on the community pool house,” Martin says.
The chimney structures are composed of concrete block. A mason completed the stonework that wraps them, using full-size round river rocks, not veneer. “These match the rocks used throughout the neighborhood on retaining walls and on the community pool house,” Martin says.
The homeowners park in the carriage house, walk through the porch and enter the main home using the door seen here off the right side of the living room. This rustic chimney matches the one on the screened-in porch.
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A Dutch door opens to the porch from the house; the couple can leave the top half open on cooler days. Like all the other exterior doors, this one is mahogany.
Browse porch furniture in the Houzz Shop
Browse porch furniture in the Houzz Shop
This photo was taken from the carriage house door; the Dutch door can be seen on the right. The Adirondack Great Camps inspiration comes in through the materials and architectural details. The siding is western red cedar shingles. The railings, brackets, stickwork and trusses are rough-sawn cypress and cedar.
“Stickwork” refers to the X-shaped and diagonal pieces that create patterns on the railings and at the top of the screens. “This comes from stick-style architecture, an offshoot of shingle-style architecture,” Martin says. In this case, the decorative stickwork and the exposed post-and-beam structure reference the Great Camps. “I beefed up the wood in the stickwork to make it look heavy,” he says. The heavier look highlights the details, stands up to the scale of the high ceiling and adds to the rustic look of the porch.
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“Stickwork” refers to the X-shaped and diagonal pieces that create patterns on the railings and at the top of the screens. “This comes from stick-style architecture, an offshoot of shingle-style architecture,” Martin says. In this case, the decorative stickwork and the exposed post-and-beam structure reference the Great Camps. “I beefed up the wood in the stickwork to make it look heavy,” he says. The heavier look highlights the details, stands up to the scale of the high ceiling and adds to the rustic look of the porch.
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The ceilings add to the warm rustic character of the porch from high above. They are 1-by-4-inch tongue-and-groove stained cypress paneling. Cross breezes and a powerful ceiling fan cool the porch on hot days.
The floor is composed of Tennessee fieldstone. “This material is very indicative of mountain and lake houses. It’s very natural, in irregular sizes. It has a wide variation in colors, and it’s rustic,” Martin says. The deeper orange and red tones pick up on the hues of the wood ceiling and the mahogany doors. They are also a nice complement to the river rocks.
Ceiling fan: Fanimation
The floor is composed of Tennessee fieldstone. “This material is very indicative of mountain and lake houses. It’s very natural, in irregular sizes. It has a wide variation in colors, and it’s rustic,” Martin says. The deeper orange and red tones pick up on the hues of the wood ceiling and the mahogany doors. They are also a nice complement to the river rocks.
Ceiling fan: Fanimation
The pizza oven is a ceramic insert in the chimney, and wood burns behind the pies to cook them. The oven has cast iron doors on the front. Martin designed the wood storage area beneath it to look like a fireplace.
The architect continued the river rocks from the chimney to the wall behind the grilling area, lending a cohesive look. “We needed some sort of masonry behind the grill to protect the wall,” he says.
The porch’s kitchen includes a gas grill, a sink and storage. The pipe from the grill’s hood captures smoke and fumes and vents them out through the chimney. The countertop is Silestone Charcoal Soapstone, provided and installed by Florida Bath & Surfaces. The cabinets are cypress, built by JM Custom Carpentry.
Pizza oven: Chicago Brick Oven; grill: Napolean
The architect continued the river rocks from the chimney to the wall behind the grilling area, lending a cohesive look. “We needed some sort of masonry behind the grill to protect the wall,” he says.
The porch’s kitchen includes a gas grill, a sink and storage. The pipe from the grill’s hood captures smoke and fumes and vents them out through the chimney. The countertop is Silestone Charcoal Soapstone, provided and installed by Florida Bath & Surfaces. The cabinets are cypress, built by JM Custom Carpentry.
Pizza oven: Chicago Brick Oven; grill: Napolean
This end of the porch is the seating lounge. “When I’m drawing up plans, I always make sure to draw in the furniture to make sure everything will fit properly. I also made sure there was enough room to move around and work in the kitchen,” Martin says. “In this case, I made the porch as large as it needed to be and not any bigger than that.”
The lake view is off the left side of the porch. “A screened porch does have an enclosed feeling, so I wanted to make the screening as transparent as possible,” the architect says. He used high-visibility screening from BetterVue.
He covered the porch walls in the same cedar shake shingles that he used on the home’s exterior. The mahogany door on the left opens to the carriage house. The screen door and the stairs that go up to the carriage house apartment are on the left side of the porch. These stairs also lead down to the yard.
The lake view is off the left side of the porch. “A screened porch does have an enclosed feeling, so I wanted to make the screening as transparent as possible,” the architect says. He used high-visibility screening from BetterVue.
He covered the porch walls in the same cedar shake shingles that he used on the home’s exterior. The mahogany door on the left opens to the carriage house. The screen door and the stairs that go up to the carriage house apartment are on the left side of the porch. These stairs also lead down to the yard.
This is the lake-facing side of the house. Martin maximized the size and number of windows to take advantage of the lake views. All the glass on the house is impact-resistant, eliminating the need for hurricane shutters.
The porch is tucked behind the trees to the left of the house. Nestling it into this spot between the two buildings gave it privacy from the neighbors.
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The porch is tucked behind the trees to the left of the house. Nestling it into this spot between the two buildings gave it privacy from the neighbors.
New to home remodeling? Learn the basics
Here’s an overhead look, showing how the porch connects the main home to the carriage house. A retaining wall of round river rock that matches that of the chimneys appears above the house in this photo. Retaining walls run throughout the neighborhood to prevent stormwater runoff from reaching the delicate ecosystem of the dune lake that connects to the Gulf of Mexico.
This home was built to strict building codes to withstand hurricanes. It is fully clad in plywood; all the glass is impact-resistant; there are metal connectors between the rafters and walls; and there are metal rods through the walls that connect to the roof. “It was built to resist 160-mile-per-hour winds,” Martin says.
This home was built to strict building codes to withstand hurricanes. It is fully clad in plywood; all the glass is impact-resistant; there are metal connectors between the rafters and walls; and there are metal rods through the walls that connect to the roof. “It was built to resist 160-mile-per-hour winds,” Martin says.
Floor plan: The porch’s kitchen and chimney are on the left side of the plan, with the door to the living room above them on the plan. The carriage house is on the right side of the plan. The access to the exterior stairs is in the top-right corner.
“My clients tell me that they spend a lot of time on the porch, and that everyone who comes over talks about it. They say they all love it,” Martin says.
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“My clients tell me that they spend a lot of time on the porch, and that everyone who comes over talks about it. They say they all love it,” Martin says.
More on Houzz
Browse thousands of porch photos
Read more stories about porches
Hire a local general contractor
Shop for your porch
Porch at a Glance
Who lives here: A retired couple
Location: Santa Rosa, Florida
Size: 320 square feet (30 square meters)
Designers: Daniel M Martin (architecture) and Vicki Kaminski (interior design)
General contractor: Chase Green Construction
Conservation and sustainability guided the site planning for the Draper Lake neighborhood, while the Adirondack Great Camps served as style inspiration for the homes and community buildings. Martin incorporated the feeling of the post-and-beam architecture and other details from these upstate New York mountain lake properties when designing this home.
Preserving the area’s natural forested setting meant tight lots for the houses. Working within these constraints, Martin proposed a screened-in porch that would connect the main house to the carriage house. In this photo, you can see how close the neighboring homes are, and that the front porch is just a few feet from the street. Martin’s placement of the porch creates privacy and allows the porch to serve as a connector between the two buildings.
Shingle stain: Platinum Gray translucent, Benjamin Moore: trim stain: Shale semitransparent, Cabot; rafter tails and soffit paint: Extra White, Sherwin-Williams
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