Houses with a front porch are definitely not a European standard. I can vouch for this!
In the region where in live, this is even very rare, although it happens sometimes. For instance, the house of the piano teacher of my little one has a front porch, a bit in the American way (and she is by no means American).
Making it a bit more personal, I have never considered how such an addition to the house could be used. Even after reading your blog, I am still questioning about how necessary a front porch could be. I would personally prefer a front terrace (like the one we are currently finalising in our place by the way ;) ).
After thinking a bit about it, and after reading your blog, it turns out that both a front porch or a front terrace could be considered to act as this bridge between private life and public life, to re-use the words you mentioned. Those are places in which visitors can be welcomed without having to make the house wide open. Maybe I am more American that it sounds (OK, maybe this comes from my North American wife ;) ).
By the way, I enjoyed your collages. The last one (i.e. the static version of the animated one shared at the beginning of the blog) is my preferred one.
The last was my favorite, also, @lemouth. My son and husband liked the GIF so I put that one on top.
I did read that porches are not the thing in Europe. Interesting. My Latin American friends (on Hive) explain that porches are quite popular in their area. Personally, I like a porch, but really crave privacy, so for me a back porch would be best.
You are putting a terrace in. How lovely for you and the kids. We're planning to move and are hoping we can afford to get a huge backyard with trees all around the border. I'll let you know by next year :))
I'm very pleased that you liked my collages. It think I was creating a place where I might like to be. Nothing to do with art.
Thank you so much for visiting and for your lovely comment.
I am looking forward to hear about your future moving. Having a backyard is really a nice plus (especially in times of lock-downs). Here, we are lucky to live in the countryside where land is still cheap (more or less, as price increased quite a bot over the last few years).