Enjoy Your Home Naturally


Lifestyle West, April 1998
By Reed Graf

Sunrooms are back and they are in demand more than ever. People are putting them to use for all kinds of purposes, and you will find sunrooms filled with not only foliage but home office equipment, exercise equipment, even spa set-ups.

After linen closets, pantries, improved master bathrooms and kitchens, sunrooms are one design feature of homes that is becoming increasingly popular in American homes, and in particular, homes in colder climates such as Wisconsin.

Here in the Badger State, our one design feature of homes that is becoming increasingly popular in American homes, and in particular, homes in colder climates such as Wisconsin.

Here in the Badger State, our winters seem to take their time in metamorphisizing into warm spring days. In the meantime we used to have to just sit and wait for the glaciers to thaw. Sunrooms allow people to enjoy the sunny days without suffering through frigid temperatures.

Most of us think of our homes as whatever there is within our four walls. The outside world is simply that- separate and, out of reach and unenjoyable from the inside.

Sunrooms change that. You can extend your home dramatically and almost spiritually by including a sunroom in the design of a new construction home or by adding on onto your present home. Many more medical studies continue to point to the lack of sunshine as a cause of mood swings, near-depression and even Seasonal Affective Disorder {SAD} Bringing in more light into your home can positively affect you physically and emotionally. What sunshine we do have in winter perhaps can be best enjoyed in a well-designed sunroom. It just feels good, and there's nothing quite like morning sunlight to get your day off to a warm and cozy start.

"Sunrooms have evolved into quite the social place in homes," said architect Scott Humber at Lakeside Development Company in Mequon. The sunroom is no longer an afterthought in most new construction of Lakeside's upper-end homes [i.e., $500,000 and up].

"It used to be that screened porches would be encased in glass and that was your sunroom," he said, "or porches could be pushed out a little for a breakfast nook or dinette. The homeowner would add casement windows, and that was pretty much the extent of sunrooms in the old days."

"Now," Humber said, "the sunroom is rarely just a bump out behind the kitchen. Nowadays we are seeing a more formal English Conservatory look with French Doors and limestone floors. Today sunrooms have the feeling and the flavor of the old-fashioned beer gardens in Europe.

"The room is wrapped in glass, often rounded glass, for an almost greenhouse effect," Humber said. Throw in three or four chairs to an 18 foot by 14 foot sunroom, and you've got quite the cozy setup or even occasional dining.

"People might not eat every meal in there but it remains a special focal point. There's usually lots of greenery which lends to that warm, tropical feeling, and sometimes a separate furnace may be needed to keep the area heated properly."

The floors have received plenty of attention, Humber said, as many homeowners go with more slate, limestone and tumbled marble and less classic American tile floor. The natural stone is more in demand because it provides a more relaxed, earthy feel to the environment.

Sometimes that floor must be hydronically heated with hot water running through pipes in the floor, especially if the sunroom is used as a breakfast room or by barefooted inhabitants. Without the heated floor, Humber reported, some sunroom owners complain that their feet freeze, but otherwise the room was fine. In other cases there is so much heat that a well-placed ceiling fan can be helpful in spreading the warm air around.

It's also critical that the room face south and have a great view, Humber said. The sunroom is often taking the place of the formal dining room, and you'd obviously prefer a scenic view rather than a view of your neighbor's garage while enjoying your sunroom with friends.

Cheryl Barenz and husband Ron run Barenz Builders in Germantown. They, too, have seen a dramatic increase in the demand and construction of sunrooms in upper-end new construction homes.

"We are seeing customers ask for sunrooms in close to 90 percent of new construction homes," she said, "and in many cases the sunroom is serving as a great room replacing the family room or living room. "

The sunroom often has a different feel to it than does the traditional family room or living room. Sunrooms can be more dramatic and more relaxed and far less formal, and because of this laid back feel, sunrooms attract lots of attention and a lot of visitors.

"With plenty of glass and sunlight and colorful furniture," Barenz said, "it's the perfect way to brighten up long, cold Wisconsin winters. The room usually faces due south, is often connected to a separate great room, is sometimes off the master bedroom and used as a sitting room or can be off the dinette and will include french doors."

And because sunrooms are often used as gathering places, all kinds of things go into them: exercise equipment, a six-person spa, perhaps a separate sitting area, a couch or loveseat, a glass tabletop and even stereo equipment or entertainment center with a television for that person exercising.

"The most fun sunrooms," Barenz said, "are bright, cheery and make people think they're someplace else. Many have a tropical theme which can make you you're on an island somewhere."

And isn't that a pleasant thought in the dead of winter?

The trick is to be able to use the room year-round which is where screened windows come into play. With screened windows, breezes can be enjoyed with protection from those annoying bugs. The sunroom that also serves as screened porch in summer is very effective mean's of increasing one's overall living space.

Floors don't have to be heated in every instance, she said, but ceiling fans are usually needed to move the air around. Many sunrooms are built with the open concept with few conventional walls in sight. Barenz said by incorporating columns or pillars rather than walls lends an open feel and more flow to the sunroom space. Their Muirsada model, featured in the Parade of Homes, won first place.

David Rodrigues, builder/designer and owner of David & Goliath Builders in Pewaukee, said that the size of the sunroom is often affected by budget and income. Sunrooms can be totally separate rooms in upper-end homes but can be additions to existing rooms on high- to average price homes."

"All of the sunrooms we have done have been custom everything, including the windows, the patio doors, the skylights, everything. Homeowners have told us that they plan to use their sunroom as anything from a master bedroom sitting room, a kitchen dinette, a dining room to even a home office or den."