It's Day 2 of my housewarming party!! (Actually, this might not literally be day 2, but I got distracted yesterday with things like making pillows, going to the pool, and rearranging furniture.) Thank you to everyone who dropped by, left comments, posted on their blogs, and Facebooked me to say they wish they had a blog so they could play!
Today's Party Favor has to do with front doors, back doors, and porches. For the first 10 years of our marriage, Dr. H and I lived in apartments or rented houses. In Iowa we had the bottom half of a big old house, so we got the big front porch. Every evening (except from October-April when it was —88 degrees) we sat on the porch and waved to neighbors as they walked
by, chatted with friends, or just listened to the corn growing. It was idyllic. We always had two requirements for our home, when we bought one: a big front porch and sidewalks.We did finally finish graduate school, get a job, and buy a house, which we love. But of course, we don't have a big front porch or sidewalks. We have lovely flowerbeds with benches and a small, pretty porch that Jesse painted for us last summer. And sidewalks are scarce in this city unless you live in one of the historic districts or a brand new subdivision.
So my Party Favor for today is simple:
Day 2 Party Favor: Your Entrance
All you have to do today is answer these questions in the comments:
• Do you have a front porch?
• Do you have a welcome mat?
• When people come to your home, do they enter by the front door or the back door, or does it depend on who they are?
That's it! And remember, you can always do the
Week-long Gifts (leave me a comment to say you've done any or all of these, each time you do)
1. Mention SmallWorld's Housewarming Party on your blog, and you'll get 5 points each time you do!
2. Put my party sign on your blog somewhere, and you'll get 10 points.
3. Subscribe to SmallWorld and get 2o points! (How to subscribe: look on my sidebar and click on the button that says "posts" under the header "subscribe.")
4. Cut and paste the day's Party Favors on your blog for 10 points each day.
5. And by the way, you can jump in the party on any day, and you can even go back and do the previous days if you missed them the first time around! Our door is always open to new friends! See Day 1 here.
We love porches as well and like you have always welcomed people on our porch. When we lived in Kansas we had a table/chairs and grill on the porch. In Atlanta our porch had screens, a big swing and ELECTRICITY! It was lovely to have a lamp on the porch. Here in Cincinnati, we have a stoop and still have a rocker, a small table and a chair. We are on the stoop nightly. We have a sunroom and a great deck in the back, but we choose the front. That is probably why we got the nice nickname. Mostly, we like to wave to the neighbors and say hello. You can't do that from the back. We have a sturdy mat to wipe your feet on and when we have guests, they enter through the front. We've also been known to eat on the front porch and drag the fire pit from the back to the front! You're not going to have any sympathy for me anymore are you? (A-hole hippie that I am)
ReplyDeletei have a nice front porch with two rocking chairs. the porch really needs some attention, which we plan to give it this fall. it needs a sidewalk to direct people to it and the flower beds really need some work. i have a wreath on the door, but sophie keeps stealing my welcome matt and chewing it up.
ReplyDeletemost people use my side entrace which comes off my carport. there i have a bench, a porch swing and pots of flowers. it's much nicer there.
I love your new place! Looks lovely. :)
ReplyDeleteWe have a wonderful porch that happens to be in a state of disaster due to a chaotic hubby, 3 little boys who play outside often these days, and a lazy mom. :) It has great potential that isn't being reached at the moment. We have a mat at the front door, but I wouldn't say it is exactly welcoming, LOL. People enter by the front door. I won't let anyone through our mudroom. :)
Hiya, sorry I missed day 1.
ReplyDeleteNo porch here. But I so long for one. It's one of the few things I covet.
WE have a very small front stoop. Our back door has a deck, and usually people come to the back door.
ReplyDeleteOne of the improvements we would really like to make when my dh is out of school and we can do some work on the house is to make a full front porch and a screened in patio on the back.
Leah
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lcourtneymom
Not really a porch, but a covered entry.
ReplyDeleteWe do have a Mickey Mouse welcome mat.
People always come through the front door, unless it is my kids' friends following them in through the garage.
Here's my answers...
ReplyDelete• Do you have a front porch? Yes, but it's small.
• Do you have a welcome mat? Does the one we threw away several months ago because it was all torn-up count?
• When people come to your home, do they enter by the front door or the back door, or does it depend on who they are? They enter by the front door... just like we do. We have a back door, but it's a sliding glass door which normally stays locked. (Plus, most people prefer not to risk letting our dog out of the fence in order to get to the back door.) Also, we have a sidedoor that leads into our garage. However, we only use it when there's a heavy downpour and we don't want to wait 'til it 'lets up' a bit before going inside. (aka "Mommy, I've got to go potty NOW!") (We don't have an automatic garage door opener.)
I blogged about this here.
BTW, we lived in the top half of a big house when we were in Minnesota (just up the road from Ames). :)