How to Decorate Sunrooms and Porches

Attached outdoor spaces that provide total or partial shelter should be considered an extension of the home's interior design. In most cases these areas embrace an entrance or serve to join two interior areas--a breezeway, for example. Traffic patterns figure importantly in overall furniture arrangements, as does the selection of furniture, durable fabrics, and other elements.

Document your ideas. Keep a folder full of your inspirations and any ideas you may have. Photograph the area you want to decorate from both inside the house and facing toward it from the outside. Keep clippings of similar spaces and furnishings, shades, and lighting that you like from magazines and product brochures; collect paint color chips and samples of fabric and flooring, too. Don't forget plantings, including window boxes and potted plants, and anything else influencing the design. Consider all the seasons the space is used. Will you want to add curtains to a sunroom for insulation come winter so that you can continue to use it longer into the cold weather? Will blinds or curtains add to a porch's comfort by blocking spring and fall winds?

Make a floor plan. Add special features unique to your space, such as notations indicating good and bad views. You will want to arrange furniture to take advantage of a good view or to face away from an ugly one.

Indicate the sun's exposure throughout the day, and note whether it should influence furniture placement. For example, you may need shades for the southern side of a porch, or you may want to group furniture to face fabulous sunsets in the west.

Make furniture templates. Make templates of the furniture you plan to use, as well as of other elements, that require clearance space, such as planters, window boxes, or blinds. Group them on the floor plan; try different configurations to see which is best.

Factor in traffic patterns. Indicate pathways to and from the house. Take into account the swing of each door because you cannot place furniture in those spaces. For sliding glass doors, indicate which side is the entrance.

Arrange furniture so that conversation areas are not interrupted by traffic to and from the house. For instance, a common problem is a porch with a central door and a stepped entrance directly opposite the door. Rather than arranging furniture in one big grouping, create smaller areas at each end of: the porch. Suggestions include a table with chairs on one side and a conversational grouping on the other. A table just outside the door can double as a buffet table. Plot any other traffic aisles, and make sure that you have not blocked passages to the cords for adjusting blinds or for watering plants.

©2009, Rhonda Morin. MyInteriorDecorator.com

Related Articles

Outdoor Decorating Ideas With Garden Planters For Your Yard
Yard deprivation does not mean you cannot surround yourself with beautiful plants. These outdoor decorating ideas with planters will give a beautiful garden anywhere.

Outdoor Decorating with Patios, Decks and Gazebo's
Free-standing outdoor spaces, such as gazebos or other garden structures, differ from sheltered spaces in several ways. Generally, they are not seen from the front of the house and are usually integrated with the landscape.

Choosing Decorative and Functional Furniture for Your Front Porch
urniture for outdoor use spans the designs made popular through the centuries. You can select benches similar to those used in Versailles, Adirondack chairs, antebellum wrought iron inspired by Victorian New Orleans, and myriad other choices.

How to Decorate Sunrooms & Porches
Attached outdoor spaces that provide total or partial shelter should be considered an extension of the home's interior design. In most cases these areas embrace an entrance or serve to join two interior areas--a breezeway, for example.

Outdoor Decorating
Savvy homeowners don't end their decorating at the door, they keep going to include the decks, porches, sunrooms, and patios that surround their homes.

Decorating the Deck and Patio
A deck may not count towards the square footage of your home, but it will help your home feel larger and expand your opportunities for entertaining.

Decorating Tips for Your Front Porch or Sunroom
Pillows, upholstery, slipcovers, shades and blinds, lighting, flooring, and rugs all make a sunroom or a porch lush and comfortable.

About Patios, Decks, and Gazebos, Part 2
The second in a series about decorating our outdoor living areas like patios, decks and gazebo's.

The Outdoor Family Room
A deck or patio is used most often as a fair-weather family room, decorate it like you do your indoor spaces.

The Outdoor Kitchen and Dining Area
Practical planning makes outdoor cooking efficient and more enjoyable, whether it is for the family or a host of guests.

About Landscaping, Part 1
No outdoor living space is completely successful until it is integrated with the surrounding landscape. Just as there are principles for designing interior spaces, there are also guidelines for exterior ones.

About Landscaping, Part 2
The second part in the series about how to increase your outdoor living space's beauty with landscaping.