The Porch Story

Turns out, the porch has been there all along. 🤍

Open Porch Co. started with a little dream I’ve had for a long time: to build something of my own.

I’ve always loved a good side gig (apparently I don’t know how to not add things to my plate 😂), but I always wondered what it would be like to create something that was completely mine. My own idea. My own brand. Something I could build from the ground up.

There was just one problem.

I never knew what that something was.

Honestly, I didn’t think I was creative enough to dream up a brand of my own. Ideas would come and go, but nothing ever felt quite right.

Until, somehow, a little porch changed everything.

It started right here.

We recently added a small porch to the front of our home, and almost immediately, something happened.

People started gathering there.

Neighbors stopped by. Kids came and went. Bikes and scooters ended up everywhere. Conversations lasted a little longer.

And I loved it.

Around the same time, I had been thinking a lot about hospitality—about becoming a better host and creating the kind of home where people know they’re welcome. I’ve also found myself craving a little more of the way life used to feel. Less rushing. More connection. Kids outside. Neighbors who know each other’s names. The kind of summers where you left the house in the morning and knew to be home before dark.

Then one afternoon, I came home from work and found my parents sitting on our porch with our neighbors while the kids rode bikes and scooters up and down the street.

Everyone was talking, laughing and hanging out.

And somewhere in the middle of it all, our neighbors started asking my parents about Jesus. 🤍

It was one of those ordinary little moments that somehow didn’t feel ordinary at all.

I remember thinking:

This. More of this.

More open doors.
More kids outside.
More neighbors becoming friends.
More good conversations.
More laughter.
More staying awhile.
More room for one more chair.

And somewhere in all of that, the idea for Open Porch Co. started taking shape.

But then I realized something.

The porch wasn’t new to my story at all.

When I started looking back, I realized that porches have quietly been the backdrop to some of my favorite memories my entire life.

My childhood home had an enormous deck and a screened-in porch where I spent summer days while my parents entertained friends.

There was the wraparound porch at a family friend’s house that, to this day, is still iconic in my mind because of how much time I spent there growing up.

Then there was the lake house my husband rented when we first started dating, with its big front porch where we spent summer nights with friends—playing trivia, laughing, partying and generally living our best college lives. 😂

Different houses. Different seasons of life. Different people.

But the same feeling.

People gathering. Staying awhile. Making memories without necessarily realizing they were making them.

And now here we are, on our own little porch, watching the kids run up and down the street and neighbors stop to talk.

Maybe I wasn’t trying to create something new after all.

Maybe I was finally putting a name to something I’ve loved my whole life.

So, what is Open Porch Co.?

Yes, we make things.

Apparel. Hats. Drinkware. Gifts. Custom creations. Things that make you laugh, start a conversation, stir up a little nostalgia or make you think, “I know exactly who I need to give this to.”

But I hope Open Porch Co. always feels like more than a store.

I hope it’s a reminder.

To slow down once in a while.

To invite someone over even when the house isn’t perfect.

To wave first.

To let the kids play a little longer.

To laugh at the ridiculous stuff.

To have the conversation.

To pull up another chair.

To notice the good stuff happening right in front of us while it’s happening.

Because I’ve learned that the moments we remember most aren’t usually the perfectly planned ones.

They’re the ordinary nights when nobody was quite ready to go home.

They’re the stories we’ve told a hundred times.

They’re the people who made a place feel like home.

They’re the moments we didn’t realize would become memories until they already had.

And somehow, for me, so many of them started in the same place.

The porch.

So whether you’re here to find something that makes you laugh, something that takes you back, something meaningful to give someone you love, or something custom we can dream up together...

Welcome, neighbor. 🤍

Pull up a chair. Stay awhile.

The best memories start on the porch.