I think you've answered most of your questions. Tile is the only flooring surface for a sunroom such as yours. It would take care of the problem of your husband's dirty shoes, the runover of the plants you want, your gardening dirt.

We have a sunroom off our living area. It's the door to the backyard and the dogs use and if we had carpet, ooh-la-la! Massive mess! We use woven wood shades on all the windows, without lining, but it sounds as if your room gets too much sun. I'm not familiar with solar shades.

And, definitely replace your table, maybe with one with drop sides. And, buy yourself a recliner!
Dee

Thank You for your input. I just measured the kitchen table and it is 36"x54" without table leaf. The leaf in in the original box in the closet. This table top is about 2" thick. The ends are shaped sort of like Octagon, if that makes sense. I am guessing the leaf is probably 24 in. wide if my memory serves me correctly.

I want a nice comfortable chair that would have an ottoman with it yet an ottaman would take up walking space in the room. We just gave away a 6 yrs. old Lazyboy recliner to Salvation Army this week because DH bought one of those that has a remote that helps him raise up easier..(he could get up on his own legs faster than using the remote in my opinion) He has a lot of physical and medical issues.

We get the morning sun until late afternoon and it does get hot in there, even in winters. We have had a ceiling fan/with light installed since living here. It helps with the cooling as well as circulation and lighting since there were no ceiling lights installed by builder in 1977. We have a floor lamp that we sometimes use in the evening if we feel we need more light. The TV is on a dark cherry tv stand in the sunroom. We live in a gated, Sr. Citizens community and most people use their sunroom instead of the living room. Most use wicker furniture in there or a small upholstery love seat and chairs. That's more or less what I'm thinking. White wicker loveseat and a chair/with ottman for me in wicker. I should take the measurements of the sunroom. This sunroom is right off the formal dining room. When we moved here, there was glass sliding doors between the two rooms but we removed them to open up the space. A lot of people have done that since they saw ours. The Original owner remodeled the kitchen about 10 yrs. ago and took down the half wall with spindles that opened the kitchen up and make it look larger but when you are having guest for dinner, they have to look right into your kitchen which is not very appealing to me if I was a guest. The way the kitchen cabinets were designed, there isn't room to even put up a wall without tearing out the cabinets. We just installed wall tile and Quart countertops with new stainless sink. DH insisted on granite but quartz was less expensive but by the time we got around to picking out tile, we had spent more than we wanted to but he wasn't giving in on his choice of countertop so I just picked out white subway tile and it is so blah looking. I hate it!

We have all Traditional dark cherry furniture in this house that we bought with us from a larger home. I am sick of dark furniture but we both grew up with non-matching hodgepodge furniture and we wanted things to match but the dark furniture in the smaller house, all on one level is a bit overbearing.

I never thought of a table with drop sides. Great idea! We could set it up on the wall where the sunroom door is located. There is a big window there, so wouldn't need light to read by and you wouldn't see the table as you are looking from the LR/DR area.

The glaring sun is a big problem not only in your eyes when my husband is in his recliner but also on the tv..you see the reflection of all the houses and trees outside on the tv screen, that is another reason for keeping the blinds closed. I thought about blinds or shades that roll from bottom to top of window. That way we could let light in but I don't think it would show the reflection on tv. We are not allowed to put awnings on outside of the house.

A table 24 in. in width with drop sides would allow DH to lift up one side if he wants to spread the newspaper out on the table to read and when the meal is finished; the leaf can be put back down, does that make sense? If we purchased white wicker furniture, one can always change cushions/pillow covers when the need or desire for a change comes on. A white table like you suggested would blend in with that white wicker, wouldn't it? The existing chairs have rollers on them, and the cushion is beige leather on them so that would blend okay with almost anything. We don't have but 4 dining room chairs, so when we have company, we pull the leather chairs from the kitchen set and use for the people setting at the ends of the table(also for overweight guest).

Another option for the windows would be to install shutters on the bottom half of the window and a valance on top part of window. I have valances over top of the miniblinds now. The shutters could be opened after the sun goes down to allow more light in. A less expensive way would be to put up cafe style curtains with valances at top which are outdated window treatments. We could always use tension type rods for those. No drilling holes, or installation of other hardware required.

The solar shades we saw in Arizona were operated by a remote or switch on the wall and the shades were sort of neutral shade of beige/silver and kind of looked like a mesh. My BIL said the Home Depot out there sold them in their stores and they are easy to install. I checked with our HD and they don't sell them here. Guess they are widely used because of the hot sun/hot tmeperatures in Arizona and they let in light but blocks the hot sun. Guess they are considered an energy saver too. Out there if you hang clothes outside on the line, they are dried in 15-30 minutes, even in the month of May.

We had porcelain tile installed as you walk in our front door, with a small inexpensive Walmart scatter rug that can be lifted when the cleaning lady mops that floor every other Monday. The tile was inexpensive and our son-in-law installed it for us. Even though he is now our ex-sil, I'd feel comfortable asking him to come and do the floor and pay him. Only trouble with the tile by front door is he used wrong type of grout and some of it has started to crumble. There is baseboard heat in every room in this house. My DH is afraid if we have tile in the sunroom, it will be cold in the winter. Well, you solve that by buying a nice area rug that will add warmth but anchor the room I tell him. Would a padding be necessary under an area rug over that tile floor?

DH has the tv playing from when he wakes up till when he goes to bed. Sometimes when he is sleeping during the day in his recliner, I turn all the noise off or mute the sound for my own sanity. When he is watching his favorite TV shows in the evenings, I come into the home office and get on my computer or go into my bedroom and read a magazine or book or go to bed or call friends or family or go visit one of the a widows/neighbor/friends a few houses away in our court.

To install a tile floor, I would assume a subfloor of plywood would need to be laid down? Since I wasn't here when the carpeting was installed, have no idea what is under there but thin padding probably. A seller doesn't go to the expense to put in the best when you are selling the house! In our other houses we owned, we always had a different color for each room and this is the same color throughout the house and I love that look so much better. We have said when the carpet wears out we will consider having hardwood floors installed. I do not like laminate flooring(Pergo)Had it in our kitchen that we just left in 2005 and hated it. Found it harder to keep clean than sheet flooring.

Thanks for all your ideas. I've written myself some notes in a composition book. Maybe I'll hit either the library and see if I can find some sunroom books or B&N book store.

Feel free to post if you come up with anymore suggestions.

For a comfy chair that is smaller you may want to consider a Dutalier rocker with rocking foot rest. I have 3 of them in my sunporch and everyone loves them. They are ergonomically correct for the back which is why they're so comfy. Very often you can find them on Craigslist. I bought 3 from Ebay and then found another on CL for only 10 dollars. The lady just wanted it out of the house. It was white with cream covers so it worked well. I sit in mine for hours in total comfort.

You won't need plywood for a tile floor. They will put down a mud floor first and then tile over it.

I agree an area rug would help with warmth. You can do a radiant floor, but that will cost you. If you did have a lot of sun, it should not get so cold, but I don't know what climate you are in.

I think the regular bamboo type blinds will cut down on the sun, but won't block it for the problem of reflecting on the tv. A lot of light gets through. You need something with a strong liner or listed as sun blocking. The solar shades would definitely do the trick.

Did you check out the sunrooms on houzz.com? I don't know if you've ever been on that website, but it's great for ideas. If you sign up there, you can save the pictures you like. I just searched for "sunroom", but you might want to search for wicker furniture in other rooms and see what comes up.

Here is a link that might be useful: [Ideas for a sunroom.[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/sunroom-ideas-phbr0-bp~t_12300)

If you're looking for wicker, haunt craigslist and search for "Henry Link" or another better-brand of wicker. Our sunroom furniture, a wing chair and ottoman, rocker, sofa, and tables, is Henry Link and they all are extremely comfortable. Don't get the big box wicker, which is just cushions on top of wicker. You need to have support built into the seating pieces if you're using it a lot.

I see great-quality wicker all the time (usually in 80s huge florals), from people downsizing. I had covers made for my sofa and rocker for less than $200, so you could have a great set for not a lot of money. Less, if you sew.

BTW, I can sympathize with you for your need of quiet. My DH retired a year and a half ago and I thought I would do something illegal to him with his early morning television, when I had always just had quiet. He's adjusted, though, and now we just sit in the sunroom in the am and talk. But, it's also why we're installing a barn door to the one wing of our home, so one of us can shut off the other, just to get away alone. That's hard in an open plan and the bonus room is the grandkids and the basement room has no daylight.

Good luck.
Dee

Pippi: I would just love to have a sunroom as your described. How lucky you are.

Here's another option for flooring. I personally hate ceramic tile with grout, but that's just me. I've never had a ceramic tile floor that the grout didn't crack, stain, or just plain drive me nuts trying to keep it clean. So when we built our new home, we put Armstrong Luxury Vinyl Tile in the mudroom and laundry room. This stuff is indestructible, and looks amazing. It's also installed as a floating floor so can be easily changed in the future. It can be installed with or without grout. We opted for no grout, and are very happy with the result. We chose a pattern that looks just like slate. In fact, many people have commented that they love our slate floors. They can't believe it's vinyl.

Also wanted to mention the solar shades I recently got for our great room. It has an entire wall of glass, and the sun made TV viewing difficult especially in the summer when the sun is so high. I ordered the solar shades from Penneys. They block out 95% of UV rays, yet you can see through them. It was a perfect solution for us. When they are rolled up, you don't even notice them. The shades cost about $175 each, and I needed four of them. So less than $800 for the whole wall. Not sure of the brand, but it was Phase II or something like that. I wanted the darker color, and this was the only brand that had what I was looking for.

Here is a link that might be useful: Armstrong Luxury Tile

Gosh, thanks for all the good ideas. I want something that will be easy to care for and looks good. Will have to do some research and go to tile stores,etc.

You can also have window tinting installed on the inside of your windows. Our neighbors did that. They had a big window in their bedroom, on the east side of the house and the sun woke them up too early. They had their entire house done and are pleased with it.

I forgot about Houzz and have been browsing since I read your posting. Should I should change that to browsing and drooling?
Never did get through all the sunporch photos, got sidetracked to other rooms of the house. My ADD showing up!

I love to hear that someone else is drooling over houzz! I am addicted and get sidetracked all the time! One project has now turned into at least 3! I thought you might enjoy these articles on designing sunrooms. You may get some ideas and inspiration for your upcoming project!

http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/7929/list/Sunrooms--Bringing-the-Outdoors-In
for the winter months:
https://www.houzz.com/magazine/warm-up-a-sunroom-year-round-stsetivw-vs~758069

Here is a link that might be useful: Sunrooms Ideabook