Tip one:
Add more space. Many porches are designed to only provide you with access to the house. They consist of a few stairs and a landing that leads to your front door. This design restricts you from sitting on your porch and socializing with your friends and neighbors. By simply widening your front porch to cover the front part of your house, you are giving yourself some livable space. You can also deepen your front porch a few feet so that it comes out past those three stairs.

Tip two:
Enclose your front porch; this actually will depend on what kind of climate you live in. You should consider screening in your front porch or adding walls with plenty of windows to allow in that extra light. The roof and supports you will need to accomplish this will be easy enough to install if they are not already there. Walls with windows will help protect you and your friends from the weather, where a screened in porch will not protect you from the weather but will prevent bugs from getting into your porch space.

Tip three:
By adding a few rocking chairs, regular chairs and a table, you have a readymade spot to relax with a cold drink. You can also consider adding a porch swing, which is great to sit back and relax in during the warm summer evening. Having furniture on your porch will make it easier to entertain outside on summer nights.

Tip four:
If you plan to use the porch in the evening or at night, you will need to add some lighting to your porch. If your porch is hard wired, meaning your light fixtures are connected directly to your house's electricity instead of having to plug into an outlet, you can choose from a variety of overhead lights. If your porch is not hard wired you can use your electrical outlets to plug in lamps or string lights. If your porch is not hard wired or does not have outlets, you should consider putting in some outlets or remolding your porch to make it hard wired.

Tip five:
Add decorations. You can add potted plants or planter boxes along the edges of your porch or have them strategically placed throughout the porch. You can also put a flowerbed right in front of the porch to add some color. You can also consider adding hanging plants. Just keep in mind that certain plants attract different types of insects so you might want to use a bug zapper or you can buy wasp collectors that come in a variety of colors.

Tip six:
Paint or stain your porches's wood and add flooring. Depending on what you prefer, you can do a stone floor, wood floor, or a tile floor for your porch. This helps to make it another extension of the house rather than a separate dwelling. If you decide to paint the wood, choose a color that is going to go well with your house. When choosing the paint make sure you get a type of paint that is designed for porches because it is a more durable paint and can withstand the different elements.