Looking forward to the pictures. My granny always had a back porch or side porch on their house in rural areas. It usually was a lean to style with one wall being the house, and waist-high window and 1 door on the other walls.
In addition to an old fashioned mud room, there were always several plants. There was an old fashioned table, basin, and a bucket of water with a dipper.
You could not enter the house for supper, until you cleaned up at the basin. Before bedtime, you had to wash your feet in the basin too. LOL.
Sure wish I had one of those porches here.LOL.