Tell me about your sunroom: Update

[Pea-n-Me]

I'd especially like to know what you have for floors and walls.

Would love to see pictures, too.

 

[liamsaunt]

I have a sunroom on the back of my house--it was built on top of an existing deck. Well the original deck was removed but the footprint is the same. The walls are completely glassed in/screened all around, except for the wall that is part of the house, which has the siding from the house on it. The entry to the house from the sunroom is via double doors that can be swung open to create a full wall opening to the living room. The floor is indoor/outdoor carpet in a neutral shade.

I really like the sunroom and use it alot. When the weather warms we plant it--right now it is filled with orchids, herbs, and palms. We have papasan chairs out there and a fountain. It's a relaxing place to sit and read a book.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

I can tell you about my parents' sunroom. The floors are half pergo and half tile (arounf the hot tub area). The wall are actually brick because it was built onto the existing back wall of our house. There's actually a window over the kitchen sink that looks out over the hot tub. It's kinda cool.

 

[cabmom]

We have 6 bay windows along the west view. It gets really hot around 5pm, which is lovely! The ceilings are done in knotty pine. The extension was built in 1984. My husband and I bought the house from my parents, I grew up in this house. Before my parents owned it my grandparents owned it. The house has been in the family for almost 50 yrs now and it will be 100 yrs old next year.

 

[shortbun]

I want to add one too. I've looked at prefab that you assemble once it gets there, all glass. I've gotten quote from a builder-expenseeeve!!!! OOO la la!
And my husband and I have discussed him building it. He's capable but has little time. I don't necessarily want a glass roof, just windows/screens all around and a couple of ceiling fans for really hot days. I've been thinking of rustic/reclaimed wood floors or tile. I'm thinking 15X25.

 

[DVCLiz]

My house had a "do it yourself" screen porch turned sunroom from a previous owner. After I had lived here a few years, I tore it all out and had a new addition built.

The room itself is about 24' by 24' - a big square. Along one side I have a small entry for a side door and a half bath, and a laundry room. I have double glass doors going out to the backyard along the back and another single door on the far side to the patio.

Only one wall -out the back - is windows, and they are pretty much floor to ceiling although not completely to the floor. With the double doors there are only a few strips of wall.

I put hardwood there and the walls are painted sheetrock.

We love the space and use it all the time. The room is large enough to have my big kitchen table in one area, a bar in one corner and a seating area with a loveseat and three chairs in another corner. It's great family space!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

These sound lovely. Thanks for sharing.

my husband and I have discussed him building it. He's capable but has little time.

This was our original plan as well, but we're in a hurricane zone so there are special considerations that are beyond our capabilities. We re-hired the contractor who built our in law addition and my DH is working with him. Turns out it's actually more affordable this way than some of the prefabs. It's taken a really long time to get all the permits and what not but we're finally ready to go and we still need to decide on some materials.

Does anyone have a flagstone floor? We're thinking about this as we'd like to have an "outdoor feel". Would it be too "bumpy"? Or difficult to keep clean? We also like the ceramic tile that looks like hardwood. (We have a pool so the floor will likely be wet at times with wet kids trudging through the house. We also like stained cork flooring but with the wetness, figure it might not be the best idea.)

The room will be off the kitchen with french type doors that will open to make a larger space for entertaining. It will have a slider to the deck and backyard. We'll be using it a lot in warmer months, as we did the screened porch that used to be there, and probably just when we have guests in colder months, though it will have heating duct work in place and an electric "wood stove" for heat if needed. (It gets full sun in the afternoon so I imagine it'll be warm most days.) Ceiling will be vaulted with a leafy Caribbean style fan. Furniture will be indoor-outdoor beige rattan style with leafy style green and beige cushions, a pub style glass table and high woven chairs, and an earthy fountain for [my] serenity.

We are probably going to go with knotty pine walls and ceiling (can you stain that?), but will consider other options (can't do floor to ceiling windows due to zoning). We like the manufactured "stone" we've seen on some of the HGTV shows, but not sure if it would work here (walls). If it matters, we're also redoing the family room which is not connected but will have some of the same elements as this room. (We're basically redoing our whole older house a little at a time. It gets overwhelming sometimes making all these decisions. )

Thoughts and ideas welcome.

 

[cabmom]

Yes, you can stain it. We just redid our mudroom and put pine slates on the wall. It is supposed to be complete today. The pantry will have dark doors on it as well.
Here are some photos:

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Your home looks looks lovely, cabmom. In the 4th picture, are those cabinet doors the same thing on the walls and are they stained? Thanks for posting. Enjoy your new space.

 

[npmommie]

Pea your room sounds like it will be really nice!
we also want to do a sunroom, we had someone come to give an estimate on one of those glass type rooms.........kind of expensive, and for the money, I think I would prefer stick built.
our problem is we want to put it where the existing deck is now, but then we will lose the deck because our septic starts right in front of the deck now, so we can't go out any further.........may have to extend the deck to the sides.

 

[momrek06]

I had to chuckle when I read the title of this thread, OP. Living in Southern California, every room in my home is a SUN room. I actually have to close the mini blinds during the day so my furniture won't all fade. I recently lost a beautiful comforter to a complete FADE. I now cover the comforters in my bedrooms with a blanket so it won't fade all my new comforters.

I like the pics posted. Lovely.

 

[cabmom]

Your home looks looks lovely, cabmom. In the 4th picture, are those cabinet doors the same thing on the walls and are they stained? Thanks for posting. Enjoy your new space.

Yes, it is pine slates stained dark.

Thank you!

 

[daisyduck123]

Floor: hardwood (only 2 weeks old now!).

Walls: all windows

 

[lukenick1]

My sunroom is stick built right on our existing deck. The door from the kitchen to the sunroom is a slider. We have knotty pine walls and ceiling and tile floor. We have windows going all around the room that are 3ft wide by 9ft tall. They are basically screens but we have storm glass windows we put in for the winter. We also have a wood burning stone fireplace out there so the room can be used year round. We have a resin wicker sofa and 2 chairs, and a small patio table with 4 chairs. I made sure to use outdoor patio furniture in there because when it rains hard, some of the rain does come in the room. In the summer it is basically open air with it being all screens. I also wanted to make sure the furniture could handle the humidity as well. We love our porch, we get to sit outside without the mosquitos

 

[lukenick1]

Here are some pics of our sunroom....

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Here are some pics of our sunroom....

Wow, great space! I think ours will be pretty similar (including the furniture!). I LOVE your fireplace in there. We've considered doing a gas stove but I have a gas fireplace in my living room which is only a few steps away (and a firepit in the yard) so I don't think I'd need to have one in the sunroom, but the builder keeps asking me about it. (He remembers a couple of doors I changed my mind last minute about in the in-law. In fact, he's coming over this morning to go over things before they start this week. I suppose we better make up our minds about the floor and walls soon.) The seating set I bought (on clearance last fall!) is very similar to yours. Thanks so much for posting. I like the way the pine looks on the walls. Beautiful.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Pea your room sounds like it will be really nice!
we also want to do a sunroom, we had someone come to give an estimate on one of those glass type rooms.........kind of expensive, and for the money, I think I would prefer stick built.
our problem is we want to put it where the existing deck is now, but then we will lose the deck because our septic starts right in front of the deck now, so we can't go out any further.........may have to extend the deck to the sides.

That sounds like a good idea. I hope you can do it.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I had to chuckle when I read the title of this thread, OP. Living in Southern California, every room in my home is a SUN room. I actually have to close the mini blinds during the day so my furniture won't all fade. I recently lost a beautiful comforter to a complete FADE. I now cover the comforters in my bedrooms with a blanket so it won't fade all my new comforters.

You are from MA, aren't you? I know, we don't have that problem - July and August are pretty much the only two months that are consistently hot.

But I did have a fading problem also, just from the sun. I had a company come in that put a film on my windows that helped a lot, and you can't notice the film itself. (In fact, I need to call him in again because we had to replace our picture window storm window last year when DS drove a golf ball into it. Thanks for reminding me.) Maybe give that a try?

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Floor: hardwood (only 2 weeks old now!).

Walls: all windows

Oooh, sounds nice.

Pictures?

 

[damren]

great thread! subbing