Create a Sunroom That Complements Your Home and Household

A sunroom addition is a terrific way to add value to your home while enhancing your enjoyment of your living space. A sunroom or four season room provides room to entertain or simply enjoy the seasonal views while protected behind screens and window panes. You can create a design that blends your home structure with your outdoor landscape while matching your preferred aesthetic. You can tailor your design to your climate so that it allows for optimum temperature control, storage features, and plenty of space for household gatherings. Use this guide to help you plan for your sunroom or four season room addition. With this type of home investment, you can actually increase the value of your house and get the extra room you need.

What Is an All-Season Room?

Whether you call it a sunroom, 4 season room, or all-season room, it amounts to much the same thing–an room that has more windows than other parts of the home so that it blends better with the outdoor space. Many homes have screened porches or three-season rooms, but an all-season room is exactly what it seems to be–a room that can be enjoyed all year long. These rooms tend to be more expensive home improvements than simply screening in a porch or three season rooms because they typically require insulation and integration with the home’s HVAC system. However, they also tend to add more value to the home, making them a great investment in your property. 

Benefits of a Sunroom

Building a sunroom affords homeowners many benefits. First, it can provide homeowners with some return on their investment; however, the amount of return will naturally vary on many factors. Generally, adding more space to a home in the form of a sunroom will allow property owners to recoup at least half their investment costs at sale time. Of course, many people have no intention of selling after this type of improvement, but they have the peace of mind of knowing that their new addition will add to the value of their property. 

Aside from home value increase, a new sunroom addition provides an entire room’s worth of space that can be devoted to virtually anything the homeowner has in mind. You can create a large or small addition in accordance with your needs. Because sunrooms feature more windows than other areas of the house, they allow for more natural light. This makes them perfect for sitting and enjoying the outdoor scenery. While the windows provide visual appeal, they can actually help homeowners reduce air conditioning use during the warm season as they allow more air to circulate into and through the space. 

Sunrooms are incredibly versatile, which is why they have such a strong appeal among homeowners looking to add more space to their home structure. Although we’ll talk about specific sunroom styles in a just a bit, sunrooms can be used for a wide range of purposes such as:

• Entertainment space 
• Holiday gatherings
• Play area for kids
• Conservatory / garden room
• Crafting area (sewing, painting, etc….)
• Reading space
• Place for game playing
• Home office
• Workout / yoga space
• Breakfast niche
• Media center
• Music room

You can design your sunroom as a multi-purpose space or with a singular purpose in mind. You can also include additional features in your sunroom that will further enhance home value. For instance, an additional bathroom, closet, or built-ins can enhance your sunroom addition. 

What Are the Costs Associated with a Sunroom Addition?

The average cost of a sunroom ranges from $100 to $350 per square foot. This translates to an average total construction price tag of between $20,000 and $80,000–on average. Of course, there are going to be many variables depending on the materials you choose, the firm you hire to perform the construction, and any special features you might want to add. Pricing is also impacted by the types of windows you choose. High-end, energy efficient windows or certain window styles can increase cost of your home addition. Using prefabricated designs as opposed to custom can help you cut down the cost of your project. 

Sunroom Styles

Sunroom styles run the design gamut. You can create a no-frills open floor plan space or something that’s perfectly tailored to your room’s intended purpose. Many homeowners will simply extend the style of their home into the sunroom’s design to ensure a harmonious overall look to their home. Otherwise, consider some of the following sunroom styles that you can customize to your preferences:

• Farmhouse family room
• Garden pavilion dining space
• Zen sanctuary
• Hacienda / Southwestern-style room
• Victorian solarium
• Rustic woods retreat
• Man cave game room
• Industrial-chic bar room
• Traditional library 
• Upscale cabana
• Mid-century modern living room
• Tropical oasis
• Classical conservatory
• French country dining area
• Cottage-style sewing room

You can opt for an ultra modern or vintage-inspired design complemented by your own choice of furnishings, window treatments, paints, finishes, etc…

First Steps

When tackling a sunroom addition, you’ll first want to consider your budget as that’s going to inform many aspects of your design plan. You’ll also need to consider your property space and where you want to construct the new addition onto your home. You may need to make changes to the landscape or repair part of your foundation in order to build. One of the most important early steps is to find a construction firm that has a great reputation and experience building sunroom additions. The firm you choose should have demonstrable design experience and the expertise needed to complete your project to your specifications–and in accordance with your timeframe for construction and budget. 

Creating a Plan

After choosing an experienced construction firm, you can work with their designers to develop a plan for your sunroom. The more detail you can provide them, the better. Be sure to describe how you want to use the space. Your construction firm will likely have lots of ideas that you can weigh. For instance, you might want to incorporate hidden storage so that you can make the most of the addition’s floor space. By installing two levels, you can actually build storage space right into the floor.

Your plan will closely mirror your budget and timeframe for construction. All major aspects of the plan should be mapped out and include:

• Square footage and floor plan
• Framing / walls
• Foundation
• Roofing
• Heating / cooling elements or integration with existing HVAC system
• Electricity 
• Windows
• Flooring
• Paints and finishes
• Built-in features
• Entry ways
• Additional special features (i.e. bathrooms, window seats, fireplace, ceiling fans, etc…)

A plan is your road map to successful project completion. You’ll want your design plan to be as detailed and thoroughly researched as possible to guard against any cost surprises or complications. An experienced construction firm will be able to help you create a design and also provide you with a timeline for each aspect of the job. 

Selecting Materials

Homeowners have lots of choices when it comes to materials selection. For instance, you can opt for materials that are in perfect keeping with your home’s current construction materials. You can develop an eco-friendly space filled with sustainable materials. The materials you choose are going to greatly impact the cost of your renovation. Of course, better-quality materials will underscore your addition’s durability and impact how much value the addition may add to your home. 

Today, many homeowners are opting for vinyl framing material over more expensive materials like wood and aluminum because it is more affordable but also offers insulating properties and requires no maintenance. You’ll have lots of flooring options, of course, that include hardwood, bamboo, tile, concrete, vinyl, and laminate to name a few. 

Window selection is going to require some careful forethought. Do you want to install floor to ceiling windows? How do you want the windows to open? What types of window maintenance features are you looking for? Finally, it’s important to consider energy efficiency and your particular climate when making your final window selection. An experienced construction firm will be able to assist you as you make your choices for windows and other materials needed for your sunroom addition. 

Summary

A new sunroom or four season room addition can add style and aesthetic appeal to your home, but it can also enhance your home’s functionality. Your sunroom can do double duty as a great room, providing plenty of space to enjoy holiday gatherings, birthday parties, or friends’ sleepovers. Homeowners can customize their design to suit their purpose. 

Scrogg’s Construction Services has experience and expertise building sunrooms, three season rooms, and other home additions. They can help you plan a design and construction plan for your sunroom that’s in keeping with your style and budget. They have a team of contractors who can tackle every aspect of the sunroom’s design and construction. 

Contact Scrogg’s Construction Services to talk about your sunroom ideas. We have a portfolio of completed projects that we can share with you. We’ll help you develop a plan that suits your needs and budget and then we’ll help you source all the materials for the job. We can create a sunroom that exceeds your expectations in terms of style and durability. We look forward to bringing your sunroom design vision to life.