Cabin in Fitch Bay, QuebecRustic Dining Room, Montreal

11. Set up a table on the porch. On a pleasant day, it can be so lovely to bring your breakfast or lunch out to a covered porch. Any old table and chairs will do. Cover the table with a homespun cloth like a ticking stripe or feed sack material, set out a vase of cut flowers or interesting foliage, and use any mismatched china you like.12. Hang simple barn lights. Barn-style lights can be found at every price point, and they work just about anywhere. Try them on a covered porch and in the kitchen, bathroom and mudroom, for starters.

When Longpré built the cabin, a screened-in porch was an important factor. “With a porch, you can virtually be outside, comfortably, any time of the year,” he says.

Set up a table on the porch. On a pleasant day, it can be so lovely to bring your breakfast or lunch out to a covered porch. Any old table and chairs will do. Cover the table with a homespun cloth like a ticking stripe or feed sack material, set out a vase of cut flowers or interesting foliage, and use any mismatched china you like.

Ticking-stripe table for tea on covered porch.

Extend dining room to include a glass-enclosed porch. Set table in there.

On side porch OR front porch with appropriate lighting and drapery.