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Porch sofas are banned in Pittsburgh because sport fans have been known to set them on fire.

A couch (meaning an indoor couch) on a balcony, porch or lawn just SCREAMS "weekend at the frat house" to me. I can't see it without envisioning a bunch of college guys holding red and blue party cups blasting music through the windows.

Now, furniture made to be in the outdoors is another thing entirely. But even then, I'm much more likely to put it on a deck or patio in the back yard.

I've lived in both the north and south, and am currently in the mid-Atlantic. While the south does outnumber the north in porch sofas, the north has far more planters made from old tires, and they're just as unappealing.

It would seem to me that indoor furniture that is stored outside is susceptible to mold and becoming animal shelters, and thus becoming a safety hazard.

Let's face it, it also looks gross.

I'm with ThatGrrl on this one - my immediate first thought was a flashback to college, where it was a common fixture to have a normal couch on the porch, which, needless to say, I never sat on. I could go for some regular outdoor furniture on the porch, though.

I'm from around Philadelphia. I've seen this done but only in lower-income neighborhoods and usually the couches were clearly indoor furniture. Not a good look.

Upholstered outdoor furniture is not, in my opinion, very practical since the region is prone to unpredictable, extreme weather (warm and sunny one day, violent thunderstorm the next, sudden drop in temperature the next...). You'd need a very sturdy couch and weatherproof upholstery and maybe a place to stow things during the winter and early spring.

only the very last photo is what i'd agree with: a 'couch' made specifically for the outdoors with weather-resistant materials.

otherwise, it's too 'grey gardens' for me.

I have had a wicker settee on my front porch and really enjoyed it. Wicker is one of those could be indoor or outdoor materials.

The idea of fabric indoor furniture outside especially in the front is quite yucky to me.

About 20 years ago while vacationing in Key West I remember a Southern Style home I fell in love with. It could have been a three story home but I remember it had two porches one on the main floor the other on the second floor. There was a couch on that terrace more like an iron daybed with bright fabric on the mattress and large euro style pillows. I still to that day remember how I'd envisioned myself with a cold glass of ice tea and book laying out on that bed!

If I had a home with a wrap around terrace with privacy I think I'd do the same thing of course using outdoor materials. Nothing too expensive or upscaled looking I'd want something comfy-cosy and that could withstand the elements.

Like JoanneM, Columbus (OH) bans them for the same reason. Well, I'm not 100% sure if it's city-wide, but I do know for a fact that it isn't allowed on campus.

The only personal experience I've had with indoor furniture outside was a couch that used to be in my parents' basement. My mom had acquired it for free at some church function, on the basis that it was "fabulous" and "retro!" and perhaps it was. To me, it was a horrid red-orange, furry thing from the seventies, and I was glad to see it gone when she decided to let it go. It was twelve feet long and a bitch to get up the stairs and my overall opinion of it didn't improve as I helped my dad wrangle it out of the house.

But, in the midsummer days that it sat in our breezeway between the house and the garage, waiting for someone to discover it on craigslist, it was sheltered from the elements by the eaves of both buildings and protected from infestation by suburban wildlife by an enthusiastic Labrador and a fiercely territorial little terrier, it suddenly became the family hotspot. It was a quiet place to curl up and read, it was perfect for a leisurely outdoor nap, my younger sister would have friends over and they would sit and gossip inanely outside, rather than in, and the dogs were suddenly in sole possession of a couch that no one cared if they sat on. And even as far as design faux pas go, it wasn't visible from the street, and even if it was, against the clean white stucco, it somehow managed to look halfway inoffensive.

So as far as indoor furniture outdoors...I agree that in general, a sagging old couch sat smack dab on the front porch is fairly high on the tack-o-meter. But I also think that the whole thing is highly situational. And I know that the only fond memories I have of that horrid orange beast happened in the space of the week it spent in the great outdoors.

no indoor fabrics outdoors. no, no, nooooooo. i'd be freaked out.

I live in Philadelphia and I have a wooden bench on my front porch with an cushion meant for the outside. All of our neighbors have outdoor furniture (meant for the outside) on their porch except for one. They have a ratty old sofa. But I think they're college students renting the house. The house is one the eyesore of the block (for many reasons). I love sitting on our porch year-round. In the winter we sip hot cocoa and wrap ourselves in blankets and in the summer we laze around with lemonade. Our immediate neighbors have dinner on the porch with an outdoor table and chair set. I would say our neighborhood is middle to upper middle class.

It's totally tacky, so naturally I love the idea.

Nothing says "White Trash" like an indoor sofa on the porch, an old cars on cinderblocks in the back yard, a neglected yard, chipping and peeling paint and torn window screens...

Prelude in Z: you write beautifully.
Agree: My tack-o-meter would be smoking in the red zone if I spied an indoor couch in an outdoor space. Yeeeewwwwwww.

Yay for PreludeinZ. I once lived in a tiny apt that wouldn't allow for my sofa and loveseat. I had a large covered porch and pulled the loveseat out there. It became home to a neighbor cat when I sat reading or just watching the world go by. And on hot evenings there was no place better than laying on it and catching the tiniest movement of air. The porch was on the side of the house so no one could really see it, but I would do it again, even on a front porch. I am not in love with the sagging pieces of detritus that constitute many pieces of porch furniture, but I love driving in the countryside and seeing folks sitting on their porches, whatever they sit on. I do get tired of the constant rules about what is appropriate without concern for what is human.

It must be a slow news day at AT.

I live in Oklahoma and I've seen far too much worn out furniture on the front porch. It's absolutely tacky. Outdoor decorating should be done fittingly so that the furniture size fits the size of the porch and it's the type that's durable and made for the outdoors. If your porch is only a few feet deep then a wrought iron/bamboo cafe table and two chairs is as much as you should ever have. If you are lucky enough to have a warp around porch then the set in the last photo might be appropriate, although full size furniture really belongs on a patio in the backyard or side yard.

Only if your name is "Earl".

I grew up in a rural area so porch couches make me think 'Redneck' not 'Frat house'.

If you have a real porch, get a porch swing, more fun, still comfy. Or get a nice rocking chair. Southern ladies love old shaker rocking chairs and sweet tea. Gets you that 'southern' feel you are looking for without sliding into the 'white trash' area.

Man you guys are snotty! I wish I had pictures to show you how a porch couch can be very pretty, and not at all tacky, not to mention extremely comfortable. I had a couch on the porches of my last two apartments. The first time it was well back on a covered porch, the second time was on a partially enclosed porch. I sprayed the back and sides down with lysol spray before I put it out there, and I never had a problem with bugs, mold, animals, or grungy-ness. (I live in upstate NY, so maybe the cold half of the year helped out with that.) If I had to sit on some crappy plastic furniture, I would probably never have used my porches. Going out on my porch with a blanket on a chilly night to lounge and read and drink a cup of tea is one of the things I miss most now that I live in a porch-less apartment.

I responded on my blog (I got inspired).

http://www.thepinksink.com

phoebeart, i definitely agree that i hate crappy plastic furniture, and your evenings reading and drinking tea on your outside couch sound lovely.

my concerns with couches on uncovered porches and humid areas are grime and mold. i love comfortable furniture on a porch, just not regular indoor furniture. i need something that could stand up to the elements a little better.

the pink sink, i like your blog. :)
cute man, cute pets, cute place!

I get the desire for having an attractive home inside and out. But there are also, for many of us who don't constitute "rednecks" (a term i think is dismissive and means poor, southern and not like me, thank goodness) or "frat boys" is the cost of lovely outdoor furniture, porch swings or any of the other more desirable items listed here are out of our reach. Even at thrift stores and craigslist. I own an apt full of secondhand furniture. Items given to me or purchased very very cheap. The stuff listed here as great finds for a few hundred dollars is so beyond my means they might as well be thousands. So many of you recently dismissed a woman who had a lot of ikea in her space. It's displays not just an interest in creative use and reuse of furnishings but a kind of superiority that speaks to a rather ugly narrowness. I own some lovely pieces thanks to my parents culling their own furnishings. But I also own an abundance of second hand ikea and odd bits from thrift stores. And I would still put a sofa on my porch if I felt like it. Jeese louise. Open your minds and hearts a little bit.

do I hear banjos dueling?

the city of Pittsburgh just passed a law that upholstered furniture is not allowed on porches.


it is mostly due to college students in a specific area of the city having them, and how they are filthy, and then, how these idiot students sometimes drag them into the street and burn them when their fav sports team wins.

i think its a silly law, but it allows the city to go after some "slum lords" and fine them for it i guess.

I loved the dueling banjos. Classic American music. I think it's more a case of those who consider possibilities a priority and those who consider "good taste" as the only definition of style. I think you can combine them, have fun and still look good. In fact, I think that is nearly a definition of style. Looks and brains with a sense of humor. :-)

Regarding "white trash," I do think the Eyes of Etiquette should not be looking into my backyard. Front yard, fine, any cinderblocks and cars that do not constitute a health hazard away from the neighbor's views is my business.

I like an old naugahyde, even if your legs do sweat and stick, so you kin hose off the chicken poop before you sit a spell.

Ole Miss White Trash

I saw a vintage photo once of a young couple at a party lounging on a sofa on a veranda of what looked to be a very grand house(Philadelphia Story immediately came to mind) ever since then i've always loved the idea of having a sofa outdoors but never had the space to do it.

@cometz: I don't think people are being narrow-minded just to be snobs. I think the issue is that when one sees indoor furniture used outside, it's almost always terrible-looking, beat-up junk.

I'm sure there must be some examples of indoor couches being used attractively outdoors, but I personally haven't seen any.

A friend of mine had an old couch out on the covered front porch of her rented duplex for comfort while smoking outside. Unfortunately, some of the local homeless population discovered this haven and took to sleeping on it at night. Eventually someone... soiled it. Ever since, I've held to the guideline that if I don't want it stolen or crapped on, I shouldn't leave it outside.

Slowdown: I agree that a lot of outdoor furniture belongs in an outdoor dump. I guess what gets me is the absolutism that a sofa on a porch equals "white trash" which, i suspect, means "lower class", untouchable, unworthy, ignorant, to be despised. I have a close friend and a relative who live in mobile homes. They love good design. They have beautiful homes. They can't afford to buy a single family home and they choose to live in mobile homes vs apartments. Does that choice ipso facto make them ignorant trash? I live in an apt. Luckily it's a small building, three floors, three apts. But I consider the giant beehives turned condos to be my personal version of hell. But I don't condemn people who choose that. It is the apparent association of a style choice (sofa on porch) to be a sign that the occupant is nearly less than human. It is also the almost immediate reaction that it will always be ugly and dirty. I have an ikea poang chair on my porch. It is indoor furniture. It looks great. It was given to me by a very stylin' couple who had it on their porch but were moving. It sits next to a very similar style porch chair purchased at a thrift store. They look great together. Indoor furniture. Outdoor furniture. Nice couple. It can be done.

preludeinz...i was there in that story...it was so sweetly told...I saw your sisters' gossiping and everything!..thanks!!!..

Having lived in Key West, Southern California, and now back to Northern California, furniture outside is a must for me. If done with a bit of taste. Unless of course going you're going for the frat house vision.

I have an 1877 farmhouse with a 2nd floor veranda off my bedroom. On my veranda I have an off white rocking chaise lounge that I purchased at a thift store and is meant for indoor use. I have put it outside for several reasons a) its nice thick material b) our very moderate climate c) there's just nothing like watching the fire works on the 4th or a dvd from the portable player on a warm summer evening d) it does take up a lot of space and fits pefectly in the corner of the veranda. I have kept the lounge outside through the winter with no problems yet. I did move it inside for a few months not because of possible weather damage, but because my daughter and I are very much warm weather people. We discovered that it made the perfect napping location when the sun flows through our west facing window in the livingroom.

it definitely depends on the furniture itself.
i live in a duplex in baltimore city...and while i have a steel/wicker love seat and two little wrought iron end tables on my porch my neighbors, at least at the moment, have a giant china cabinet, a really gross sofa, and like 4 broken brooms (?) on their porch. to each their own i guess.

I'm with everyone who is flash-backing to college. I just expect outdoor couches, no matter how stylish, to have a decent collection of empties piling up for bottle returns, and a lot of ashes and rolling papers buried in it.

There's a world of difference between the first two pics and the third pic. The third pic is nice, and if that kind of effect can be achieved, by all means! As far as the first two, if those start cropping up in the general area, it's time to move. ;^p

Well, gosh. Thanks to everyone who appreciated my story :D I'm typically a little hesitant to get onto comment pages, because the nominal half-life of civility in internet disagreements always unsettles me a bit. But this seems like a really good community so far and everyone's points are well thought out and interesting. ^__^

(Pink Sink, I like your blog too!)

I live in Florida. I tried the interior couch on an exterior porch idea. It looked nice...until a month later I realized it had become a roach haven. End of THAT idea.

Guilty. I currently have a interior couch on our porch. I REALLY did not plan it to happen. We were going to move it when we could borrow a truck. Well it's been there for four years. It doesn't look great, but oh is it nice. Such a great neighbor hang. It's an old couch so the kids have a blast jumping all over it and eating popsicles there in the summer and I don't care. We just have too much fun to get rid of it. We've thought about investing in a nicer outdoor set, but with little ones in the house we think we'll wait. It's not visible from the street. We are poor, white, maybe trashy to some, but we're happy trash.

Always reminds me of college days.
Or frat houses.

I think it's highly contextual, but in general, indoor upholstered furniture in the open and exposed to the elements isn't really a good idea. And, if it's a tweedy plaid with big arms and wooden accents sagging in the middle, it's got major Frat vibes. If old inoperable appliances, etc, start showing up, it is generally representative of the sort of person who doesn't care about their house or what others think. And, yes, kind of rednecky, and not something I want to look at (or have rodents live in) in my neighborhood. I don't think comfortable outdoor furniture necessarily has to cost a fortune, though--and certain ones could work (the Ikea Poang chair would probably be fine...it's not exactly a huge upholstered piece). I'd want some kind of treated fabric at the very least.

Not an option regardless! They just passed a law here that disallows porch couches. But I'd say it's a no-go for me anyway -- I can't imagine an outdoor couch remaining clean for more than 10 minutes.

Upholstered furniture on a porch? Absolutely NOT in the NY Metro area anyway...beyond tacky.

Phoebeart,

You clearly do not live in a college town. Those first two pictures totally look like the student tenements in mine. All that's missing is the beer pong and baggo games on the lawn in front, and a bunch of cocky guys with no shirts and backwards baseball caps hanging out with shrieking underdressed girls on the sofas.

In my experience... outdoor couch = scary homeless guy asleep on your porch in the morning.

And that wasn't at my house because I'm not lucky enough to have a porch... but I have a couch in my garage!

If Crosby, Stills and Nash were sitting on the couch in the first photo, it would remind me of their first album cover. :)

I love the wisdom of PreludeinZ and cometz. I might add a Z at the end of my username in homage.

FYI: "redneck," "white trash," and references to banjos dueling (which implies the incredibly offensive belief that Southerners routinely practice deviant sexual behaviors that lead to inbred monsters) are all extraordinarily racist and offensive terms.
People generally find these terms acceptable because the targets of such offensive terms are white. Become colorblind and realize that the R-word is just as offensive as the N-word, and reduces its target to a nearly-animal state as effectively.
Terms that paint entire groups of people as lazy, evil, lacking taste, sexually deviant, alcoholic, snobbish, cold-hearted, violent, dangerous, etc. shortcircuit the human heart's best work. We are at our best when we regard each individual as a child of All That is Good and treat others as we wish to be treated.

As for the design question, the problems people abhor are easily addressed: If you want the comfort of a couch on your porch, obtain a good breathable cloth cover for good weather and use it, and a good weatherproof cover for inclement weather and use it; place it where you can periodically put it in full sun to chase away incipient mold and mustiness; shampoo it regularly as you do your indoor furniture. What? You don't regularly shampoo your indoor furniture? Well, then, you might have dust mites in them.
Just a thought.