On the day that I first visited the house I would buy and live in for the next 40-some years, the swing was waiting in the wings of possible dreams. From the roof of a long narrow front porch, two ...

If your porch is small and flat, with a solid roof and no overhang, “it should be fairly easy to install a porch swing on it. If your porch is large and has an overhang, it may be more difficult ...

And that's what we did. Over the years, we sat on the porch swing while our three daughters ran through the sprinkler in the front yard or chased lightning bugs across the neighbors' lawns.

A front porch can be a comfortable outdoor room, and it also does an important job of protecting the front door from the weather. (Dreamstime) Perspective by Tim Carter Q: The house I grew up in ...