After a hard day’s work, wouldn’t it be nice to sit on your front porch rocking chair with your favorite book and some homemade cookies? If that image is too old-fashioned for your taste, you could be missing one of the guiltiest pleasures available to anyone with a front or back porch: no nonsense relaxation and a chance to people-watch.
Porch rocking chairs conjures up images of America in the 30s, of retired men sitting on their front porches reading the paper while the wife tends to the front lawn flowers, of taciturn and stern grand-parents. But it does not have to be so. Porch rockers and front porches can be something ideal not just as a throwback to the past but also as part of modern living. As a matter of fact, while the arrival of the television wiped out porch rocking chairs from the face of American lifestyle (as people started staying indoors all the time in front of television), it is making a comeback.
Adding a porch rocker to your front porch offers a lot of benefits. It can instantly turn your front porch into a useful part of the house and not just an appendage that you added for style. Rocking chairs are more relaxing than a stationary sofa or bench and it gives a porch an instant homey and cozy feel that can be as inviting to you as to your guests. It is perfect for summer: when it gets too hot inside the house, sitting in the porch lets you benefit from the breeze.
Choosing the right porch rockers depends very much on the style of your porch and house. They are usually available in wood or wicker. Slim wooden porch rockers are perfect for suburban porches: they are streamlined and discreet. Big wooden porch rockers are perfect for cabin homes, and those small and slim ones made of white-finished wood are perfect for Victorian porches. Wicker rockers are perfect for country houses. Porch swings can be the perfect choice for suburban homes, especially the ones that has lots of kids. The choice would also depend on the usual weather. Warmer places need rockers that are made of slim wood or with seats that are made of woven material to let the air pass through. Houses in more temperate climates could do well with rockers that have solidly woven backs and armrests so that cushions and pillows can be added when temperatures get a bit colder, but not too cold to inhibit sitting outside altogether.
Whatever style or material you choose, the most important is whether the porch rocker is comfortable enough to entice you to use it often enough and whether it can withstand the elements, seeing as it is always sitting just there in the porch, usually unprotected from heat or cold. After all, what you would not want to happen in your porch rocking chair is for it to just sit on your porch because it is too fancy to be used, or for it to look positively antique only after a year because it is made from inferior quality materials.
