The Touch of Style

The outside of the bungalow was already idyllic. A lush garden with an old stone fountain had been meticulously cultivated, and a porch running the length of the kitchen and the master bedroom just needed some furniture. "For a good part of the year, we live outside," Pam says. "In summer, it's shady because the clematis is everywhere and the wisteria hangs through the trellis like bells. In winter, it's sunny."

She and Haines turned their porch into living space by setting up a wrought-iron dining table under a globe chandelier at one end and a Moroccan rug at the other. Pam brought comfort outdoors with an old Moroccan daybed and ottoman she painted brown. She covered the cushions in a water- and sun-resistant Sunbrella fabric.

The easiness of the porch, she adds, reminds her of the outdoor Persian tearooms she frequented while growing up in Tehran, the Iranian capital she and her family left in 1979.