A front porch designed well can turn a plain looking structure into an impressive home. This home improvement project is worth adding to your summer to do list. A new porch can be designed to suit any style of home and if done correctly it will look like it is an original part of the structure.

My brother purchased an old, run down shack recently, that no one else would touch. We all thought he was crazy and making a bad investment but turns out he knew what he was doing after all.

He is a builder and his first step in improving his house was to start designing a front porch. I am a graphic artist so I drew some rough sketches from his dictation. I added little gingerbread details here and there because I love the traditional look and intricate details and thought it would look more interesting. I planned it to lead in nicely to the hallway where I knew, laminate flooring would be laid.

Three weeks later I went round to visit and to check his progress. The new front porch had completely transformed the house. It looked bigger and very inviting. In fact it looked so pretty, I drove right by without recognising it. I knew that I was on the correct street but I just couldn't believe it was the same wreck that my brother had bought.

A particularly nice touch was the light that he added which was powered by miniature solar panels.