Every farmhouse needs a front porch & we built a beautiful white DIY front porch pergola for under $300 using some repurposed wood from our former backyard deck to add character to the front our house.
Sharing all the tips & tricks for how to add curb appeal by adding a DIY pergola to the flat front of our house with a tutorial on how we built our DIY front porch pergola & attached it to the front of our farmhouse with pictures included.
*post updated 5/22 after we gave our farmhouse an upgrade with new white siding & our DIY front porch pergola new PVC trim & finials…
Table of Contents
DIY White Front Porch Pergola to Add Curb Appeal to our Farmhouse
*this post contains affiliate links for more information check out my disclosure page here*
That time has come, when my kiddos head back to school a little taller, nervous, & definitely excited about the new school year.
As per our tradition, I have each of them stand for the first day of school pictures on our front porch.
The exciting thing about this year was that they are standing under our new front porch pergola.
Whoop! Whoop!
Our farmhouse has been screaming for a front porch pergola ever since we moved in!
While we have been making changes to the front of our farmhouse over the years like adding new lighting, rocking chairs, our pallet sign and new landscaping we still really wanted to add a front porch pergola to add more character & curb appeal to the flat front of our farmhouse.
Supplies & Tools Needed to Build a DIY Front Porch Pergola
- 2 by 10 Pressure Treated Boards
- 2 Porch Posts
- 2 Porch Post Brackets
- Screwdriver & screws
- Hammer & Nails
- Table saw
- Crown Molding
- (2) 1 by 8 PVC Boards
- Pin Nailer & nails
- 2 PVC Finials from Amazon (HERE)
- Primer & Paint
Our Flat Farmhouse Before our DIY Front Porch Pergola
Why we Chose a Pergola on the Front Porch rather than a Front Porch with a Roof
Why a front porch pergola?
Because it’s cheaper and easier than adding a covered front porch. 🙂
Bonus, you can have a pretty vine growing over it that adds even more color & curb appeal to the front of your house!
I don’t have a ton of step by step pictures from this project because Jason did most of the work and I forgot to remind him to take pics along the way.
Instructions for How to Build a DIY Front Porch Pergola
Taking down the Old Faux Porch Beam
The first thing we did was take down the faux beam that required the tall members of our family… def not Jason & I to duck down before going through our front door.
To read my 3 Reasons to take down faux beams in your house (see that HERE)
Replacing the Missing Siding on the Front Porch
He replaced the missing siding with some leftovers from the garage and used one side of the faux beam to cover the opening from where it had once been.
Securing the Pressure Treated Board to our House
Using pressure treated boards from the back deck we took apart, he mounted one to the house to attach the pergola to with exterior bolts.
Attaching the Front Porch Columns to the Front porch Pergola
We found some pre primed white porch posts at Lowes for $90 each and decided to use them to attach the other end of the pergola to.
Connecting the Columns to the House
Jason then added a pressure treated board across the front of our new DIY pergola connecting the two porch posts.
The porch posts were attached to our bluestone patio with post bases.
Jason drilled holes in the stone and screwed the posts into the brackets with masonry screws.
Cutting the Lattice Boards Down to the Right Size
Using a table saw Jason zipped down a few boards to go across the top of the posts for a vine to climb through.
Creating the Front Porch Pergola
We added a few more pressure treated boards going the opposite direction to create a lattice.
Jason faced our front porch pergola with 1 by 8 PVC boards & some PVC trim to make it look nice.
He also added crown & trim with PVC boards to give our front porch pergola a more beefy and finished look.
As a final finishing touch we add 2 finals left over from our previous arbor to the top of the two front porch pergola columns.
Lastly, we primed & painted the front porch posts.
Adding front porch planters to our DIY Front Porch Pergola!!! (HERE)
I couldn’t be happier with how our front porch pergola turned out and can’t wait to decorate it for the fall.
DIY Pergola for the Front of Our Farmhouse with New White Siding & Red Farmhouse Front Door
We recently added new gorgeous white siding to our farmhouse & gave our DIY front porch pergola an upgrade with more PVC trim & PVC finials.
The new white siding, white trim & red windows & doors adds so much character to our century old farmhouse.
To find more information about our white siding (go HERE), red farmhouse door & exterior lights (HERE), antique bell (HERE) & copper bay window (HERE)…
We moved our front porch planters closer to our front door & I recently added a sweet autumn clematis vine (just like the one growing on our DIY arbor HERE) to grow on our DIY front porch pergola & add more greenery to the front of our farmhouse.
We plan on adding more DIY lattice (like this one HERE) to help the beautiful vine grow up & over our DIY front porch pergola.
I will update this post in the future with some more pictures once we finish our DIY lattice wall for our new flowering vine.
I hope this inspires you & answers all your questions about how to create a DIY front porch pergola for the front of your home!
by Tara Lehman
Don’t forget to pin & save how to add a DIY front porch pergola to your favorite DIY projects board on Pinterest!
Some more DIY Projects you might enjoy
will you eventually paint/stain the treated cross beams of the pergola? We just replaced ours in April/May and are awaiting the “age” process and then will stain. The first time we didn’t use pressure treated crossbeams and after many years of NC winters, snow, rain, and humidity they rotted. This time we used our brains and bought pressure treated 2×4’s. The house looks wonderful and I can’t wait to see what you do for fall.
Thanks so much for stopping by to see our front porch pergola Susan! We haven’t decided whether or not to stain it and are leaning towards letting it go. We still need to decide what vine we plant first. If we go with ivy or a climbing hydrangea we might just leave it as is so as not to have to sand and re-stain it every few years :).
OOOOh, it will look divine with a vine (see what I did there?)…but then again, it’s pretty cool right now. Know you are loving it.
Ha, I totally agree Lynn! This pergola does need a vine :).
This is an amazing project! Bravo!!!
Thank you Janine! We really couldn’t be happier with how our front porch pergola turned out!
You guys did such a fabulous job on your pergola!! I bet there will be lots of fun times had out there!
Thank you Sam! Our front porch pergola is our new favorite spot for our morning coffee :).
Wow, that really sets off the porch now and makes it a grand welcoming space for visitors. I bet you’ll spend a ton of time out there now, just beautiful.
Thanks so much for your sweet comments and for stopping by to see our front porch pergola Toni!
Oh wow, I love this transformation! Your porch looks so beautiful now! Great work, I’m so impressed!
Thanks so much Carolann! We are truly enjoying our newest outdoor room 🙂
That looks awesome, Tara! So charming and looks like it should’ve been with the home all along. 🙂
I completely agree Yuni! Every farmhouse needs a front porch 🙂
Just beautiful. So much curb appeal and what a charming space to hang out in!
Thank you so much Kim! We are really excited with how our front porch pergola turned out 🙂
Thank you for posting your project! I have a very similar set-up, but my pergola will only be 4′ deep. Like you, I have a lot of the materials left over from other projects. I am going to wrap my posts in vinyl, though. I have been pouring over pictures of pergolas for months- and when i found yours I was so excited. I had not seen one framed – it is much more “front of the house” looking than most. I can’t wait to get started! Thank’s again for posting this! I’ll come back and post the picture of mine when I get done.
Thanks so much for stopping by to check out my DIY front porch pergola Linda! Best of luck on your pergola project & I do hope you come back to share pics of yours!!!
We finished the pergola! It turned out amazing. I added lattice to one side to provide shade for our front door. I wish I could post a picure, but I can’t see how to do it. Thank you again for posting your inspiring project.
Yay, that is awesome Linda! I am so glad you guys were able to add a DIY front porch pergola to your home & I will try & find the pinned picture you shared! Love the idea of adding lattice to side for shade too.
I couldn’t add a picture here, so I added one to the pin!
Hello, do you have any written instructions or outline of the front porch pergola? I see that there is as a short list of wood used, but what size is each, such as the post look to be 6×6 inch, the front face board is 1×8 pvc, the thatch design looks to use 2×2 inch atop, 6x6inch that have been notched out to level the top so it looks like it is ‘ puzzled ‘ together , not stacked like a common pergola design. Even sketches would be helpful. I have a few drawings of my project, I can send you to share, I only have a circular saw, not a table saw, but the lumber yard could do some of the cutting. Thank you.
Thanks for checking out our front porch pergola Renee! I don’t have any written instructions other than this blog post. You are correct about the sizes of the wood and posts we used. Best of luck creating a pergola for your home!