The perfect sun porch is a little piece of heaven attached to your home. Sun porches come in numerous shapes and sizes, but the one thing that they all have in common is the abundance of natural lighting they provide. Your sun porch can serve any purpose you see fit, whether it’s an extra room of your house, an office, a living space, or maybe even an indoor/outdoor entertainment space if you incorporate retractable screen doors.
There are endless options and ways to design your space, and while of course, we can recommend what you include, at the end of the day, the perfect sun porch setup depends on personal preference. Below, we highlight how you can create a sun porch setup that is perfect for you.
Bring the Outdoors In
You should be trying to bring the outdoors into your sun porch as much as possible. Embrace the natural light your sun porch gets and make it the center point of the room. You want to make it as easy as possible for natural light to make its way into your sun porch setup. If you’re interested in adding drapery, go for light-colored drapes and ensure your curtains are hoisted during the day.
Another way to bring the outdoors into your sun porch is by adding greenery. Plants and flowers offer you a way to decorate your space while bringing in an abundance of nature. Plants have also been documented as being helpful to humans when added to indoor spaces. They’re known to add a sense of calm and purify the oxygen indoors, and long-term exposure can even lower blood pressure, relieve anxiety, and help alleviate depression. A sun porch is a perfect room for your plants to survive as well, as they’ll get ample sunlight.
Furnish Your Sun Porch, But Don’t Over Decorate
When it comes to furnishing your sunporch, keep it as simple as possible. The perfect sun porch has just what you need. You don’t want to clutter the space with huge chaise lounges, loads of chairs, or chunky tables. Keeping it simple doesn’t mean you can’t dabble in different design techniques. Your sunporch can be as artsy or elegant as you want, just don’t stuff too much into it to make it feel that way. Make smart choices, pick furniture that reflects the mood of the room. You want it to feel full, but not over-stuffed.
Add Mirrors
Mirrors are an asset to any sun porch setup. Mirrors placed in the correct places in a room can make a space feel much bigger than it is. You could take a mirror and place it on a wall of your sun porch that doesn’t have windows and accentuate the natural light that’s coming in from the windows across from it. You can also use mirrors to give the illusion of your room being surrounded by nature if you place them across from your plants. It can prevent you from having one darker side of the sun porch, and create even lighting throughout the space.
Add A Fresh, Light Coat of Paint
A neutral color scheme tends to be the best choice for a sun porch. You can expand upon the natural light your sun porch gets by painting the room a light color, such as an eggshell white or light sand color.
Going with a neutral color scheme helps keep your sun porch bright and airy. It allows you to embrace all that natural beauty outside and expand upon it within your sun porch, as natural light helps reveal color’s undertones. If you love color and want to incorporate it within your sunroom, think about accenting your window frames or having a statement wall that’s painted a different color than the rest.
Mix Up Textures
Texture adds a lot to a room, but unless you’re a professional decorator you may be a little nervous about mixing different textures. Some examples of different textures you could add to your sun porch are stone, glass, metal, wood, and leather. Think about how using various textures can help complement your sun porch and the natural light it gets.
The way natural light bounces off different textures varies, so you can create gorgeous combinations when pairing the right ones together. Consult with an interior designer if you’re interested in adding some varying textures to your sun porch but don’t know how to get started.