Screened Porch off great room dilemma... opinions please!
Our proposed houseplan (this is the rough draft) has a covered, screened porch off the Great Room.
The question is: will it make the house too dark? Are there viable options to negate this? Is the enjoyment of the porch worth the trade offs?
We want the porch because:
1) for extra entertaining space, an extension of the living areas. For this reason, we'd like to keep it centrally located.
2) we like where it is to have the access door from the master bedroom. eventually we may have a jacuzzi out there...
3) we want it screened because we're in Tennessee... which means a lot of bugs, and mosquitoes like to use me as a buffet. :)
The Great room will be a flat ceiling because I prefer that to vaults. Mostly likely will be coffered or something similar... something decorative.
Are sun tunnels/skylights or something of the sort a good option? In the great room? In the porch to help light flow to the great room?
I am including a picture of the location of the house and our plan. As you can see from the spot, its on a nice, open sunny hill (it'll have a walkout basement)- and the back of the house will face mostly East (slightly south-east).
Please help me decide what we should do!
Comments (22)
tibbrix
9 years agoRelated Discussions
Please Please help me decorate my great room...need to order furn
Comments (21)You asked: I hate it. The bottom one looks like someone took a traditional, wicker sofa and wrapped it in leather. Those very formal, old fashioned arms, and bun feet, don't go with the eclectic, casual style of the upholstery. The shape of the red sofas is much more appropriate, but it would be better in all leather. Leather is great with kids so long as they don't have sharp things in their pockets and can be trusted not to poke pencils into it. It cleans up with water and saddle soap. But it does stick to bare skin, and can get hot. It's nature's vinyl. Which is why they combine it with fabric. Bad move. Either be fabric or be leather. The weight and texture are too different and they rarely come out looking great, especially after some living happens. The red bench is cool! Less imposing than a sofa table (console), but with a lot of the same function. And it's folky and funky. My Aunt had the two sofas flanking the fireplace in her living room. It's a great conversation grouping, but not so much for TV watching. For that, especially for the kids who probably look at the screen more, you want a straight on view. You can do a big square, though. An L of couch and settee or second couch or loveseat, and a couple of small easy chairs that are easy to get around on the opposite side. You have your red chairs. I'm not sure if they're too big to allow people to walk by easily if you close up the square, but even so, you can always pull them over for company, and keep them by the piano for family time with running kids. Re Larry, have your other family members sit tested him? I totally agree about the shape. It's very tired. But that LOVE thing is important. Your family room couch should feel Ahhh to sit on. I'm sure it'll still be there though. Maybe you can find a similarly comfy couch in a more classic shape that will give you more breadth of possibilities. Comfort comes first, but it can be done with a little more style than poor Larry. ;-)...See MoreOpinions? Photoshop? Screened porch or deck?
Comments (11)Thanks for the input, Dedtired (which I am right now -- dead tired, LOL!), Les and Lynne_melb! Yes, the porch/deck will come off of the sliders where the tiny deck is now. As it stands now, it would have a gabled roof and the shed roof would just meld into it. Dedtired, thanks for the nice compliments! This is our dream house, and we really do love it. The views are really nice. I hadn't thought of skylights -- thank you! That might be something we will incorporate if we go the porch route since I am concerned about the potential lack of light in the family room (the three windows). The windows from the sunroom (in the turret) also bleed into that area, too, so that will help some, but still... Les, I hadn't even considered that kind of shape. That might look really nice. I'm a little concerned that it might up the price quite a bit, though, and we're on a pretty tight budget (which might be part of why I'm thinking of deck only). I can't really envision how the shed roof would tie in. I'll have to think about that. Lynne, yes, I would like to have a sheltered area from bugs, and we really did love our old screened porch. I think I'm hesitating because of the lack of light in the family room if we build the porch, and the cost would be so much less if we just went with a bi-level deck. Plus, I just would love to see what it would look like. Maybe if I saw it, I could fall in love with the idea again! I guess another thing that worries me is that I love the view from the family room & breakfast nook windows (lots of trees back by the creek), and I'm concerned that we'll be diminishing it by the porch obstructing part of the view (it will need to stick out about 3' more than the nook in order to be in proportion -- not long & narrow). Maybe once it's there, it won't be as bad as I'm afraid it might be. Thanks for helping me work through this!...See MorePictures, please? I'd love to see your finished screened porch!
Comments (4)Great post! I am looking to forward to seeing some ideas as well with regards to the screens, finish work etc as I am trying to finalize my plans as well. The link below has photos of my partially finished screened in deck. Ipe T&G floor, the posts and walls will be Ipe, soffit and ceiling is T&G fir, and the interior will be finished off with a ceiling fan and rope lighting around channel. http://wedman.smugmug.com/gallery/2116403/1/123007579 Ken...See MoreDo you have a screened porch? Recommendations please!
Comments (18)We had a screen porch when we moved in, one of the reasons for buying the house. I wish I had been able to spend a few days in the house before buying it for that reason, as it did increase the cost of the house compared to our neighbors, since it was "extra living space." We had a screen porch at the house we were leaving, so wanted one in our next house. Not all screen porches are created equally and be sure you have adequate circulation. The way our house was built/porch addition, the air was trapped and it was always hot. We used two floor fans and 2 ceiling fans and it was still hot and muggy (in the south). I had no idea there was that big difference in the location of porches and we ended up never using it, plus it blocked light to the interior which we so needed. A tornado one brisk spring did a great deal of damage to our porch, garden, roof, cars, etc. We decided when they tore the screen porch down, that we would not have a screen porch again at this house. I do love them when they work, but ours did not, so just make sure that all your weep holes and venting holes are not directed at you when you are outside, and that you have good air circulation. We added a pergola over what was our screen porch, left the concrete intact. We are able to have all-weather furniture and two swings and use it as often or more often than the cold screen porch in fall/winter, the hot screen porch in spring/summer. I do love screen porches but not all houses are located so that they work well. Just make sure of that before building. Having said all that,we built a small screen porch near our shop which is part of our house and we get great air circulation there and although it is not very large, only accommodates 4-5 people and the dog, we do enjoy it. I am saying, Just make sure the location of any screen porch has good air circulation and is not getting all the hot air from your attic in summer and cold air in winter....See More
holcombe3
9 years ago
lazy_gardens
9 years agoJSpann
9 years ago
bpath
9 years agoJSpann
9 years agozippity1
9 years agodadereni
9 years ago
live_wire_oak
9 years agoxc60
9 years agoOur last house had a large covered deck off the great room facing north in Alberta and the room was plenty bright all year. I think window size helps, ours were approximately 9 ft tall by 15 ft wide. I also prefer a covered deck or screened porch over direct sunlight in the great room, helps to prevent furniture fading...
Not a great pic, realtor took it and it had our old furniture. But it shows how light the room was. The light above the fireplace was on, it doesn't give off much light and the pot lights... were off.
Houseofsticks
9 years agojoyce_6333
9 years agolive_wire_oak
9 years agojoyce_6333
9 years agonini804
9 years agoHey! We have a covered terrace off of our family room. It faces east. I was petrified of the room being dark, so our builder suggested skylights even though he thought it would be fine without them. We had them installed, and I do think they make the porch more "sunshiny." :) However, I think several other factors contribute to our kitchen, breakfast room, great room being light-filled much moreso than the skylights. First, even though our ceiling in the kitchen/great room is a standard 10' ceiling (no vault) the foyer which leads into the family is 2 story. It has a large window at the top, and our double front doors are 3/4 glass. Sunlight pours into the great room in the afternoon from them. Also, the study and formal dining room have cased openings that open into the back of the house. Finally, we have large windows in the breakfast room, kitchen, and my little office. These are south facing windows (and west, my office has windows on 2 walls.) plus, 3 glass doors to terrace.
I think, looking at your plan, you'd be ok. Personally, I'd move that fireplace out of that corner and onto that left wall, then put in another set of doors or windows, but that is just a balance thing for me, probably not necessary for light. If you do get skylights, we haven't had any problem with them. The window cleaning company we use just charges them as another window. We could also easily access them ourselves from upstairs windows onto the porch roof. They really weren't that expensive, maybe $600 each? (or total, I can't remember, we have 2.) here are some pics:
Back of house, showing terrace and roof
Here is one skylight. Oh, and we painted the tongue and groove ceiling blue, which helps, too.
zone4newby
9 years agoJSpann
9 years agoLOTO
9 years agoOur Great Room, Bedroom, Kitchen area placement is very similar to yours but has the fireplace against what is your WIC/bathroom wall. Our plan called for a sliding door but we just went with 3 extra tall windows and also bumped out the breakfast nook 4' and our Great Room is plenty light and wouldn't change a thing.
LOTO
9 years ago
Beth Parsons
9 years agoOur floor plan is very similar to yours as well. We have a 14' deep porch on the back of our great room with 9' ceilings and while it isn't the brightest room in the house, it's not some dark dungeon, either. The back of the house faces west so the overhang is very welcome, especially in the hot Tennessee summers (we're in Mboro. :) We originally planned on screening this in but once we moved in, hubby decided he preferred it open. The bugs are only a big issue when we sit out there in the evening since the light draws them in.
This pic was taken with my cell and it makes the room darker than it is IRL.
xc60
9 years agoThank you so much JSpann, the floors are Kentwood Originals Maple Pioneer. They look much more red in photos then in real life and also have a handscraped appearance which we love and it hides any dents and scratches really well.
Here is a link that might be useful: Kentwood Flooring Link to Floors
JSpannOriginal Author