Sometimes furnishing a porch is an exercise in artful omission. A single chair – two at most – may be quite enough. Let nature provide the complexity, the color, the excitement. Let the porch be an island of serenity. Except for providing some degree of shelter from the elements, a porch is probably best regarded as a vantage point. It ought to feel, at a minimum, safe, comfortable, and firmly anchored to the house – a quiet balance between the sanctuary of home and the unbounded wildness of nature.

Adapted from Porch (Down East Books, 2011), with Brian Vanden Brink’s photographs on the Vineyard and beyond.