Wrapping the Wrap-Around Porch

When we first saw Oak Creek Ranch six and a half years ago, it was in really sad shape but ... it had a wrap-around porch.  Despite knowing the house and property were going to be the mother of all fixer-uppers, we went ahead and bought it.  We joke that with all the plumbing and windows and siding and bathrooms and kitchen that we’ve replaced, we’ve pretty much rebuilt the house.  There are still projects on the list but we are making our way down to the ones on the “wouldn’t it be nice” side of the page, instead of the “holy crap, the xxxx is broken” side.

Back to that wrap around porch.  The front porch was, and is, beautiful with a wide deck, pretty railing, comfortable chairs and brick steps.

The sides are kind of meh.  We’ve added railing to driveway side and the other side is primarily used for stacking firewood but we did add some French doors.  The back... it’s always been pretty stupid.  The porch did not wrap around to the back door when we bought the house.  Instead, there were some rickety steps leading to a wobbly landing so small that you couldn’t set your groceries down to unlock the door.

Brett cleaned things up and a few years ago he wrapped the porch around to the back door.  The old steps came out with one swing of his sledge hammer.  It was a definite improvement.  However, in the winter, the deck (which wasn’t covered) got very icy and was a definite hazard.  Brett would scatter sand on the deck in the frosty mornings so I didn’t slip when leaving for work.

This past summer he widened the deck and, with the help of a friend, added a roof.

Now we have a very comfortable place to sit and put on our shoes, or have a glass of wine, or give the dogs belly rubs.

Brett keeps saying he doesn’t know what to get me for Christmas.  I think he’s already given me a great Christmas gift with an extension of the best feature of this house.