Welcome

Entrances interest me. The street behind us in Berkeley was made up of small frame houses of similar design to each other but quite different from the larger more imposing homes in the neighborhood. I liked them. They seemed cosy, inviting and unpretentious. They all had front porches, some quite small and most of which had a bench or a chair. One house was owned by an architect, who widened the steps to the porch. It was a simple change but it made the house much more welcoming. 

When we bought our house in Berkeley, it had an awkward front porch which opened onto the driveway at the side of the house. We rarely parked in the driveway, which was very narrow, but when we did, visitors had to sidle past the parked car to get to the front porch. 

We were finally forced to change the porch when it began to fall off the house because  bricks had been laid over the original wooden porch which was rotting. The new porch was made of cement with repositioned stairs. The result was so nice that we redid the driveway as well, proving that the entrance is essential to creating a welcoming approach to a home.Here is a link to a picture of the new porch.

Now we live in Santa Rosa in a house with a nice front porch approached by wide steps. This time the problem was the fact that the doors were almost too welcoming. They were all glass French doors that made me feel a bit like I was in a fish bowl. When we decided it was time to have the house painted, I convinced OilMan that we should get a new door. This one is metal and very solid but still lets in a lot of light. 
I'm not quite sure why, but somehow the reflections of the hills across the creek seem more welcoming than peering into the living room....

I know I published practically this same picture a couple of weeks ago, but we found some suitable wreath holders and I thought our bay leaf and chili pepper wreaths added to the welcome. Besides, it has become very windy today and I'm quite happy to stay indoors. Santa Ana winds like this freak me out more than usual after they did so much to cause the fires that caused so much damage here.

We're still looking for a chair  for the porch....