hee hee....my 3-seasons room has sort of evolved and taken on a life of it's own. When I first designed this house, there was going to be a deck off the diningroom, and a deck off the master, both at the back of the house. I was going to put a water garden between them. then I changed it to 2 screened porches. Then I changed it to one large screen porch, 47' long and 14' wide. Then I changed it to double-hung windows instead of screens (now it's turning into a 3 seasons room). It was supposed to be unheated...but we have since decided to add a nice fireplace and an window air-conditioner so it can be a 4-seasons room. Since it's heat and air are independent of the rest of the house, I can leave the windows open for most of the year and enjoy the sounds of nature, but I can easily close them and make the temperature comfortable on the hottest and coldest days. This room is going to be everyone's favorite beause of the view. There is a huge, double opening french door between the dining room and the sun room so for big family dinners we can just open the doors and make the two areas feel like one big area. I LOVE this design!!

annz - Thx for your input. Good to hear from someone who has had both "naked" & "grilled" windows. :) I think the "framing the view" point makes sense. One can see the view from different perspectives through the many grille "frames." Also, I think if we are on the porch when it is dark, we'd feel like we were in a "dark hole" without the grilles. I'm hoping the dimension & appearance the grilles provide will allow for a cozier feeling. Fingers crossed!

My wife had a window fashion business, I'm an engineer. I would sometimes get 'roped' into going on complicated sales calls - like 3 season porches. IMO - if not designed into the structure initially, most are white elephants. The addition of the porch makes the adjacent rooms dark. So the people use the sun room, don't use their living room, and many pile boxes of stuff in the living room. Then there is the HVAC problem. It's a bad idea - and in your case the roof will be problematic.

I think Windows on Washington is on the right track as usual. Monray is not cheap and this could probably be done for the same price or cheaper with a nice vinyl double hung With insulated glass and low-E . This would allow it to be a true 3 season porch in Mn. And the LowE would prevent overheating On warmer days, a little heater may even extend it year round. I would look at Larsons Higher end storms as well sonde they are pretty nice and typically much cheaper than Monray. The fact that Monray does custom sizes is nothing special as this is the norm with most window manufacturers.