As children return to school and we get back to daily routines, refresh your porch for summer’s waning days. We turned to interior designer and architect Sarah Hayes of Sarah Hayes Design for advice on easy ideas to breathe new life into outdoor spaces. Texture, comfort, and a seamless transition from indoors to out are key tenets of Sarah’s design. She recommends using a full-size sofa and arranging a conversational seating area with accessories like candles, lanterns, and throws that instill a welcoming touch for friends and family.
When planning this back porch makeover as part of a historical society fundraiser, the first thing that caught Sarah’s eye was a crisp white lattice used mostly as a privacy screen. “I saw that lattice, and I wanted to make it feel Southern and summery,” she says. At the same time, the architect in her felt a strong pull toward the history of the 1910 home, located in Chevy Chase, Maryland, where Sarah’s firm is based. Ultimately, an old-fashioned lawn party emerged as inspiration for the redo, complete with a croquet game and a 1920s Southsides cocktail. “I tried to envision who was coming to this party,” says Sarah. “They’ve played croquet, and they’re going to have Southsides and sit on the porch.”
When seeking a fabric for the project, she decided vintage was the route to take. After researching early 20th-century textiles, she selected a Schumacher option in bright blue, vivid green, and citrus. “It’s vibrant,” Sarah says of the large-scale pattern Magnolias, a Paul Poiret design from the same period as the house. “I wanted to take something old and make it fresh.”
Sarah decided to forgo side tables for the veranda, instead letting the curtain panels frame the scene. The panels, made by her teenage twins, are hung on PVC pipe slipped into a pocket sewn into the material. The same cloth is used in accent pillows and linens for the dining table, which is set with bamboo flatware, stoneware dinner plates, wicker glassware, and seagrass place mats.
A round coffee table helps maximize the flow, and a side bar offers a spot for refreshments, including a milk glass cake plate that reminded Sarah of the early 1900s. An ice bucket and pitcher complete the display.
Sarah says it’s important to layer in varied textures with throw blankets, flowers like the pincushions and hydrangeas used in this scheme, and even small knickknacks like the vintage brass tortoise-shaped box. “Porches and outdoor spaces are fun places to use ephemeral objects as accents,” Sarah says, noting that changing them out with the seasons is easy. “Just the napkins, drapes, and pillows—you could swap those out and have a totally different [look]. You could do a tartan for wintertime, and make a cozy setting for Christmas.”
Text by Marie Baxley
Design and Styling by Sarah Hayes
Photography by Kelsey Glading
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