You have a small enclosed front porch, and while it should be a nice feature, it's ultimately too crowded and looks... let's just say it's not attractive. You want to make it look better as people walk up to your door, but you also need it to be usable and comfortable! You need Small Enclosed Front Porch Ideas like these.
1) Three-Tier Plant Stand
If your porch is too small to comfortably spend time on, you can at least use it as a decorative feature. While you can get tin porch decorations and hangings, plants are a more natural way to decorate, and they'll draw the eye far more than manufactured decorations. We liked this three-tier plant stand because it has multiple levels so that you can hold plenty of plants without taking up much floor space, making it ideal for a small space.
2) Mudroom
A small porch might not make a good sitting room or even a place to eat for a get-together or cookout, but it can make an excellent mudroom if you don't have one. Even if you do, having an extra place to sit and remove shoes can be helpful when you have particularly muddy shoes. You can use this article from The Painted Home to get inspiration for your small porch mudroom, but you can create one with just a single bench and a place beneath it to store shoes.
3) DIY Wall Decor
Wall decor is one of the better decorative choices for a small porch since wall decorations don't take up any floor room, and typically you'll want to reserve the floor space for furniture that you can sit on or tables that are more useful. Try making wall decorations or buying them. For instance, you can use this video tutorial from Home with Mrs. Colunga to make farmhouse windows, which make perfect decorations for a rustic-, country-, or farmhouse-style porch.
4) Glider
Porch swings are standard on porches and have been for a long time because they're some of the most comfortable seats out there, but they take a lot of room, so you might think you can't have one on a small porch. While a porch swing probably is out of the question, you can get a glider like this one from Amazon. Gliders have a similar rocking or sliding motion that's comfortable, like a porch swing, but they don't take up very much room.
5) Five-Tier Plant Stand
If you like the idea of using plants as decorations, you can get a short plant stand, but you can also get big pieces like this that take up almost no room. You can press this plant stand up against the porch's back wall and create a carpet of bright green and colorful plants, or hang a few plants on it since the stand is decorative, too. Since it's tall, you won't take up much floor room that could be used for seats and tables.
6) Wall TV
You don't have much room, but you might have the space for a small couch or seat, and if you do, an outdoor TV would be a fun way to pass the time. If you want an outdoor TV for your porch, you'll want to mount it on the wall so that you're not wasting precious floor space, and since it's on the front porch, you may want to hide it out of sight. This way, it's less temptation for would-be thieves. You can use these plans to make an outdoor TV cabinet to cover the TV from prying eyes.
7) Tie-Dye Tapestry
Your front porch is the first thing people see when they come to your home, so you'll want to make a good impression, particularly if you want the porch to look good from the road. To make it stand out, you can get a bright hanging like this tie-dye tapestry that'll be visible from far away. It'll also be a beautiful decoration that won't take up any floor room since it hangs on the wall. In a small room, you want big and bold decorations to make the space feel larger, so this will help with that, too.
8) Small Rocking Chairs
A typical rocking chair is comfortable, but they're too big for a small space. If you have enough space for one, you'd probably be better off with two smaller chairs, but of course, they wouldn't be as comfortable as a rocking chair. We found a couple of small rocking chairs that should be nearly as comfortable as a larger one, but they'll fit in a much smaller space than most rocking chairs, and you'll still get most of the freedom of movement you'd normally have.
9) DIY Resin Dandelion
Natural decorations are often some of the best for a porch or patio since those spaces are somewhere between an indoor room and an outdoor space. The natural decorations bridge the gap between your yard and home, and they're beautiful in a unique way. We loved the idea of making a dandelion decoration with resin. You can learn how to in this video, and you can see how natural the decoration looks. It won't take up much space but will have a major impact.
10) Garland
Garlands are a good decoration for a small space because you can drape them almost anywhere, so they don't take up much usable space. You can get a garland like this and drape it almost anywhere, and it'll make the enclosed porch feel more like a part of your yard. One of the problems with an enclosed porch is that it can feel more like an indoor space without the luxuries of heating and AC, so adding natural-looking decorations like this is important.
11) Small Bistro Set
A bistro set is a nice decoration for an outdoor space, but if there's any wind where you live, you'll want to make sure it's in an enclosed outdoor space like your front porch. These sets are small and lightweight, so they're perfect for an enclosed porch, and you can get a small three-piece set like this one to place next to the door where it won't be in the way. The nice thing about these is that they don't need to be against a wall, so if you don't have any free wall space, you can still have seating.
12) DIY Hanging Seasonal Decorations
Your floor space is probably the space you need to conserve the most since it's where you'll put seats and other furniture. One way to avoid using too much floor space is to get or make hanging decorations, but even these can get in the way a little bit. We liked the idea of getting or making seasonal decorations like this that you can hang up for a month and then take down afterward. That way, you can show your holiday spirit to the neighborhood.
13) Rustic Lift-Top Coffee Table
Lift-top coffee tables are excellent if you want to use your porch as a small office and maybe people-watch while you work. They're perfect desks since you can lift them to pull them closer to when you're sitting, and when they're lifted, they're at a better desk height than they normally are. The nice thing about a lift-top like this is that it has storage underneath that you can get to without clearing the top, and this one has a perfect look for a rustic porch.
14) Faux Ivy Curtain
Including plants in an enclosed porch can make it feel more like a porch and less like an extra room. While there's nothing wrong with a small porch, a tiny indoor room is often an annoyance. Therefore, you'll want to make the room feel like it's still part of your yard and the outside of your home by adding natural-looking decorations. Plants accomplish this well, and you can create curb appeal with decorations that are visible as people approach, such as this faux ivy curtain.
15) DIY Etched Glass
Since you don't have a lot of room to place or hang decorations, one creative way to add them is to etch the glass of your porch windows. You can use this tutorial video by Jennifer Maker to learn how to etch glass, then add decoration, or even etch your family name, address, or initials into the front porch glass. This takes no space, and you can even put furniture in front of it since people will still be able to see it from outside.
16) Storage Loveseat
On a small porch, it's not a bad idea to make sure that all your furniture has storage space built-in, and it's not hard to find outdoor furniture that's designed that way. You can get pieces like this storage loveseat that's designed to seat two people in a smaller space than most two-person couches. This effectively gives you extra seating, and the loveseat is comfortably cushioned with storage space for extra pillows, blankets, and seasonal decorations.
17) Seasonal Wall Decorations
Hanging decorations can work, but they do get in the way sometimes. Wall decorations, on the other hand, are almost never going to be in the way of a piece of furniture, so they make the best decorations for a small enclosed porch. You can make seasonal wall decorations like this Christmas Hula Hoop, then change out to a new set of decorations with each season or holiday. Then, store them in your storage seats when you're not using them. The nice thing is that you don't have to worry about finding waterproof decorations since the porch is enclosed.
18) Tiny Wicker Bistro Set
Wicker furniture is common for porches because composite wicker is attractive and easy to clean, and it doesn't hold moisture and lead to a wet seat. We thought this wicker bistro set was neat because the chairs store perfectly beneath the table so that it takes up almost no room. The wicker look makes it seem nicer than a metal or plastic set, and the cushioned seats will be comfortable since they won't get wet on your enclosed porch.
19) Fantasy Nature Tapestry
Nature is one of the best porch decorations, particularly for an enclosed porch where it's harder to see the nature around you. Since you have a small space, you need to have big, bold decorations that'll make the area seem bigger, and of course, unique and vibrant decorations will show the character of your home and your family best. Try putting up something like this tapestry with a fantasy nature scene that has a bold look with small lights and many colors throughout it.
20) Paint Front Door
If you're looking for a way to make your front porch pop from behind screens and walls, you'll need something big and bold, but you might not want to hang art pieces to accomplish this. To create a unique but tasteful look, you can simply paint your front door using these directions from Sherwin Williams. If you choose bold or bright colors, it'll stand out more, and since it's inside the enclosed porch, it doesn't need to match your trim color.
21) Modern Lift-Top Coffee Table
Lift-top coffee tables are some of the best space-saving coffee tables because you can use the lift-top without taking things off of the surface the way you need to with a lot of similar coffee tables. They make excellent desks if you work from home and like to watch the passersby, but you might have a particular style in mind. This white lift-top coffee table from Amazon is ideal for a modern style but also for a farmhouse or classic old-fashioned style.
How small is your small porch? Did we miss any ideas that you'd like to share? Please tell us about your project and ideas in the comments below.
