Awning ideas for porch
16 Stunning Porch Awning Ideas with Before & After Photos
We’re big fans of outdoor living here at brick&batten. One of the best ways to get some outdoor livable square footage for you and your family to enjoy is to add a porch awning to your home’s exterior design. Porch awning updates can range from simple and straightforward to structural and statement. They can be small — enough for a planter or two and to protect you as you approach your front door — or wrap around your main level, with multiple seating areas. Here are 16 ideas to inspire a porch awning update of your own.
The before-and-after images below are all real examples of client homes and our suggestions for how to update them, based on each family’s desires and also their limitations. Learn more about our virtual exterior design services.
#1 // Modern Wraparound
The simple lines of this under construction home were a good starting point. Our designers took it next level with a contemporary industrial design featuring a modern wraparound porch. It extends the living space smoothly from interior to exterior.
#2 // Gable + Classic Awning with Columns
The addition of this gable + classic awning combo brightened what was before a dark entryway on this Cape Cod style home. The white columns keep true to the home’s traditional bones. And the front seating area is now covered, so it can be enjoyed during the rain. After all, what’s better than watching a storm roll in from your front porch, coffee in hand?
#3 // Open It Up
By opening up the space beneath the gable on this front porch awning, our designer made the entire front porch feel larger and more inviting. We recommended Woodtone Rustic Series lap siding on the underside of the gable to emphasize the home’s modern rustic style. A mid-century modern mahogany door with huge sidelights keeps with the open, spacious vibe, and a statement Rejuvenation globe pendant tops things off.
#4 // Awning Alongside Garage
Is your front door set back and alongside your garage, or another structural element? This simple front porch awning idea adjoins the roofline from the garage.
The built-in lighting offers a clever way to get more light around your front door in the dark. Plus, the coverage protects you and your guests from the elements before entering your home.
Check out this list of 4 good reasons to add a front porch awning or portico to your home.
#5 // Tall Statement
Maximize the height of a tall front porch awning by making it a visual focal point. Here, our designers used a statement tile and wood columns in a walnut stain to accentuate the entryway of this home.
#6 // Modern Slanted Awning
Adding a statement slanted awning to this modern industrial-style home is a striking way to highlight the front entryway. Contemporary home exterior design is all about straight lines, but subtle angles like this are also a hallmark of the style.
#7 // Gabled Craftsman Awning with Wood Columns
This home didn’t have a front porch at all. In the virtual after, the front porch and awning are the first thing you notice from the curb.
The wood columns with stone bases and three point detail rising up to the gable have a modern craftsman-style feel that coordinates with the rest of the home. Notice how the added walkway from the sidewalk to the front door helps draw your eye that way. The open steps and fresh light fixtures on either side of a craftsman-style front door complete the picture.
#8 // Wood Columns, Classic + Gabled Awning
The front porch awning addition to this home was perhaps the most transforming design element we recommended. It gave depth to a flat façade. Plus, it provided a more defined seating area and helped draw attention to the front door. The classic awning adjoins a gabled awning, both with craftsman-style columns and stained in walnut. (We typically recommend IPE wood for outdoor use, but your local contractor can recommend something that will stand up to your climate.) Thoughtful touches include the raised brick porch and the Bevolo French Quarter light hanging beneath the gable.
#9 // Extended Entryway
Perhaps you’re noticing a trend here. The addition of this classic awning with wood columns gives depth to this traditional Spanish Mediterranean home. It’s a simple update that makes a big impact on the approach to the home. The shape of the wood columns harks back to classic Spanish architecture, the modern outdoor pendant from Circa Lighting keeps the look modern, and we can’t get enough of the double front doors.
#10 // Lengthen Existing Roofline
This front porch awning idea is so smart. By decreasing the angle of the slope on an existing roofline just slightly, this new awning stays true to the home’s original architecture but makes for a larger, more functional front porch area. Switching out the shingles on the other overhangs beneath the home’s bookend gables for the same material as the awning makes for a cohesive look. A copper gutter system pulls the whole thing together.
#11 // Copper Juliet Awning
This virtual home exterior design was all about bringing a fresh touch to a beautiful traditional home with great bones.
The new copper Juliet awning is one important piece of this puzzle. It opens up the entryway and widens it to match the home’s wide footprint. Simple white columns, a craftsman-style door with windows, new stones steps and walkway, copper lighting, and some modern planters make this front porch both welcoming and stylish.
#12 // Awning + Sun Umbrella
Another fun front porch idea: Use varying overhangs to create multiple porch spaces! In the design for this mid-century modern ranch, we used a modern flat-roofed awning over the entryway (complete with a fun Rejuvenation sconce next to the front door). We paired this with a more informal seating area that makes use of a raised wooden deck and a Sunbrella umbrella. This is a great solution for warmer climates!
#13 // Slatted Window Awning
Front porch awnings don’t have to have gables or columns. This simple slatted window awning is less structural, but just as useful. It creates shade and a defined front porch seating area for this mid-century modern home.
But this idea has many uses and works on a wide variety of home styles, from traditional to coastal to contemporary, depending on the materials used. Bahama shutters can also be mounted like an awning to create protected porch or patio spaces.
#14 // Black Pergola
Pergolas make fantastic front porch awnings. They don’t compete with a roofline and are wonderful for growing vines — try grapes, clematis, or ivy, but pay careful attention to pruning as you don’t want vines to creep into the mortar between bricks and affect your home’s structure. We love the double pergolas above the garage and front patio in the virtual exterior design above.
#15 // Complete the Slant
Making use of existing rooflines is clearly a front porch awning solution that our designers frequently employ. Here, it was a simple way to cover the front porch seating area while staying true to the home’s modern bones. The wood accents, stylish lighting, fresh front door (painted in Galapagos Turquoise by Benjamin Moore), and on-trend railing update are all complementary to the look this client requested.
Looking for more ideas to spruce up your front porch and entryway? Check out these front porch railing ideas, front door inspiration images, and our list of outdoor lighting ideas for maximum curb appeal.
#16 // Large White Pergola
The white pergola and raised front porch addition took this ranch from simple to show-stopping. Where there was nowhere to comfortably enjoy the front yard prior, now these homeowners have a great space to relax, grow container plants, and welcome their guests.
Porch Awning Ideas Are Just the Beginning
Adding or updating a porch awning is a great way to enhance your home’s curb appeal. But, as you can see, it’s an update that will make you look at your entire entryway with new eyes. From there, you may start thinking about other elements of your exterior design, like paint, shutters, windows, and more! That’s why our virtual design service was created: To help you come up with a cohesive design plan for upgrading your biggest investment.
Dreaming and scheming about home exterior updates is one thing. Making them happen is another. At brick&batten, our expert designers are ready and waiting to help you turn your home exterior design dreams into a reality. All it takes is a photo of your home and your ideas — with as much detail as you’d like to share — about the look you want. We’ll take it from there. Get started here!
9 ways with canvas, metal and more |
(Image credit: Mary Patton Design / Molly Culver Photography)
Front porch awning ideas can be an excellent alternative to a traditional covered front porch. They're a better choice for small spaces, and they can be retrofitted to existing front stoops to provide shelter from the elements while you open your front door. Not to mention, an awning can help prevent door leaks, and it can be a stylish front porch idea that enhances the overall look of your home.
One of the biggest benefits to an awning is that it'll offer similar benefits to a covered porch, with a much smaller investment, in terms of both time and money.
'Awnings are significantly cheaper than doing a traditional covered porch. Covered porches are mostly something you install during the initial construction or add during a major renovation because of their cost and the amount of work and time that goes into them,' says Edward Griffith, a home inspector and construction engineer at Griffith Home Analysis . 'Most awnings can be installed as a weekend project by the owner.'
Front porch awning ideas
You'll find lots of options for your front porch awning, and they even work for your back porch ideas, too. There are copper awnings with a craftsman feel, canvas awnings with coastal appeal, or wood awnings that can be tailored to the style of your home's architecture.
Whatever style you're after, we've got inspiration for it, below.
1. Choose a fabric awning
(Image credit: Mary Patton Design / Molly Culver Photography)
A fabric awning is the perfect small front porch idea, because it doesn't require any support beams on the ground.
It can be attached directly to the exterior of your home above your front door.
When deciding how to decorate a front porch, canvas awnings can also be an aesthetic choice, as they create a beautiful, retro-inspired or coastal scene on the summer front porch.
2. Add a simple wooden awning
(Image credit: Future)
For a simple, functional awning, install a flat wood or fiberglass canopy above your front door. At this modern, ranch-style home, the slim awning is painted a similar shade of charcoal gray as the rest of the exterior, which helps the awning to recede visually and maintain the home's sleek but rustic style.
3. Complement a traditional façade
(Image credit: Blesser House)
If your home is traditional in style, consider a more permanent structure like the one above. This small, open vestibule at the home of Lauren Shaver sits somewhere between awning and covered porch.
It's a bigger project than simply installing a ready-made awning, but still nowhere near as involved as building a full-size, covered front porch.
Adding fluted support columns instead of simple beams or porch railings gives it a classic look that suits the home's exterior.
4. Try a gabled canopy
(Image credit: The English Porch Company)
Cottage porch ideas require awnings that match their charm, and this gabled version fits the bill. At this brick cottage, detailed woodwork like Arts and Crafts-style corbels and an arched cut-out add extra character.
5. Choose a black and white striped awning
(Image credit: Wayfair)
Black and white stripes are classic, and suited to a number of different house styles. A striped design complements Tuscan or Mediterranean-inspired architecture (think umbrellas on the Amalfi Coast), but it also underscores the timeless style of traditional colonial architecture.
Canvas awnings are one of the easiest types to install, because they're lightweight, and the installation only requires securing the frame to the house. 'Awnings are very easy and quick to install on an existing structure with very little fanfare involved,' says Griffith.
6. Add metal awnings
(Image credit: Sherry Petersik, Young House Love)
Like fabric awnings, metal awnings are both easy to install, and can be excellent space-saving options for front porches (they're also a great back porch idea, which is actually where this one was used at the home of Sherry Petersik , above).
7. Go for a glass look
(Image credit: Wayfair)
Glass might seem like an impractical awning idea, especially if you live in an area that gets lots of snow, but this decorative canopy only looks like delicate glass. Instead, most glass-look awnings (this one included) are actually made from high-impact acrylic sheets that can stand up to the elements.
8. Take a cue from the roof
(Image credit: Paul Dyer)
If you're stumped about the right shape or style for your awning, look to your home's roofline. Mimicking the style of your roof, whether it's flat, peaked, or gabled, will guarantee that your awning suits your home's architecture.
At this contemporary home, a flat metal awning shares a style, scale, and color with the roofline above, and to keep thing extra sleek, the front porch lighting ideas are built right into the underside of the canopy.
9. Create a farmhouse look
(Image credit: Brooke Christen)
Love the farmhouse look? Take a cue from stylist Brooke Christen , and add a black metal awning with batten-style detailing. The extra feature adds modern farmhouse style to the home's exterior, and would make a great spring porch idea for once those April showers arrive.
Can you put an awning on the front of a house?
If you're looking for a way to add a shelter area to the front of your home and your front porch furniture, but don't want to build a front porch, an awning is a simple but effective solution. To enhance the overall look of your home, choose something that naturally fits with your home's architecture. At a modern farmhouse, a streamlined black metal awning works seamlessly, while at a coastal home, a canvas awning would better suit.
What are the different types of awnings for a home?
The main types of awnings for a home are canvas or fabric awnings, metal awnings, and wood or fiberglass awnings. Less commonly, awnings can also be made of glass.
Kaitlin Madden Armon is a writer and editor covering all things home. Her work has appeared in Real Homes, Architectural Digest, Martha Stewart Living, Refinery29, Modern Luxury Interiors, Wayfair, The Design Network, and lots more. She graduated from Northeastern University with a degree in journalism and currently lives in Connecticut with her husband, three kids, and black lab.
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Shade Sails Idea Gallery | Inspirational solutions for stylish awnings for life and business
Idea Gallery
Here you can find inspiring ideas for using shade sails for various areas of life and business.
Why is this needed? This will help us understand your ideas about the desired design. To do this, send us a link to the solutions and ideas you like. Understanding your expectations and preferences will help us form the right shade sail system design concept for your space.
| LIFE |
| FOR BUSINESS |
IDEAS FOR LIFE
Use the VERANDA shade sail system to create a stylish and modern outdoor gazebo, shading a seating area, barbecue area or summer kitchen.
Create a unique sun and wind resistant tent with triangular sails.
Use VERANDA structures for sun protection and terrace or porch design, zoning the pool area, shading the parking space with a minimalistic sail carport.
With the help of our company's interior shade sail system, you can create a comfortable shade inside a brightly lit room and transform the space into an impressive piece of art.
Combine and imagine. We will be happy to help bring your idea to life.
BUSINESS IDEAS
VERANDA spatial architecture structures are an effective solution for sun protection and creative design of commercial spaces. Fabric and awning tension sails can be used for summer and beach cafes, outdoor terraces, pavilions, swimming pools, to create stylish beach awnings, outdoor parking awnings.
In the field of HoReCa, shade sails can be used to create beautiful recreation areas, canopies in the territory of beach cafes, bars and restaurants, shading the terrace, spa area, pool area. Modular structures VERANDA Cube and VERANDA Frame can be used on roofs and areas where foundations cannot be installed.
Shade sail system combines membrane aesthetics with functionality and long life.
To create a unique outdoor solution, we will develop an individual project, manufacture and install every detail and structural element, taking into account all the features of your space.
