Most professional design drawings these days are produced using computers and the well known software package “AutoCAD”. Despite this I was sure that I would be far better served by pen and paper. However I soon realised that I wanted to compare several different designs side by side. Each design had to be drawn accurately to scale and the differences between them were often only slight. The pencil and paper went back in the draw and I purchased a cheap CAD (computer aided design) software package "Total CAD", very cheaply from the EBay auctions site.
The software package "Total CAD" published by Focus Multimedia Ltd (UK) is a cut down version of “TurboCAD” by IMSI (International Microcomputer Software, Inc.), a relatively inexpensive competitor of AutoCAD. The software became a pleasure to use after only 2-3 hours of practice, at the end of my first practice session I had produced several to-scale line drawings ready to print and compare.
Although the house is not an art deco design I felt that adding elements of this design style to the porch would not be inappropriate as it is probably the design style that most people today associate with the 1930's. The term Art Deco was first used in the 1960's to describe the style that became popular after the 1925 Paris "Exposition des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes". The style, Popular into the 1930s made use of stepped forms, rounded corners, clean lines, and an unwritten rule of three. For more detailed info about the style try this Art Deco site.
After a lot of umming & arrhing I finally decided on the fairly conservative design shown below.
In the final few pages I will describe my fabrication of the porch (so far)
< Previous PAGE _______ NEXT PAGE >
To read the rantings of another porch enthusiast try this link. This time from the USA.