Did you know that adding living space to your home, can add up to 5.3% of value to your home? By adding up to 150 square feet of living space, you can add over $16,000 in value to the median home’s value.
If you’re looking to add to or even remodel your home, you might consider adding a four seasons room (sometimes referred to as a sunroom) to your wish list. This extension adds extra living space to your home and makes it a hub for relaxation, entertaining, and much more.
No matter where you live, a room like this will add value and important living space to your home. It makes the most of your indoor and outdoor space and is also a functional space you can use year-round.
Read on to learn about why you should consider adding a four seasons room to your home and some ideas of how a four seasons room can add functionality and fun to your home.
Is it a four seasons room or a sunroom?
Since people often define a four seasons room differently, let’s start with a common understanding of this type of space. It’s not uncommon for many people to refer to a four seasons room as a sunroom.
While a four seasons room could be a sunroom, the idea that most people have a sunroom is not a four seasons room.
A sunroom is typically an enclosed space that is not weather-secure. So, often a sunroom is just enclosed with screens.
A four seasons room is also an enclosed room, but one where the walls are built to include windows. As the name suggests, it’s a room that can be used for all four seasons because it also features heating and cooling and becomes a true extension of your existing home.
When you consider the cost of building a sunroom or four-season porch, you want to get the most out of the space. When you opt to add a four-season room to your home, you’re getting a space you can use year-round.
While a sunroom is usable when the weather isn’t too unbearably hot or cold, it is a weather-dependent space.
You can enjoy a cozy cup of coffee and a cozy blanket during a winter snowstorm the same way you can appreciate an afternoon iced tea or glass of wine in the middle of a warm summer afternoon. Yet, you’ll still feel like the room is also an extension of the outdoors.
If your home is like many others, there are plenty of times when you feel like you could use a little more space. Maybe you even want the extra space for a specific purpose.
Extra space allows you to reevaluate how you use your home and the spaces in it. It also allows you to decide whether you will designate the space for a specific purpose: relaxation, entertainment, play, or even dining.
A four-season room is one that you and your family will be naturally drawn to for the bright natural light and, at the same time, the coziness of the space. It also feels like you have all the comforts of being inside while still being near the outdoors.
When you consider a home renovation, you’re probably prepared for the planning, building, and even dreaming of what’s to come. Of course, you have the reality of the cost of any project too.
One thing that’s important to remember when you consider adding a four seasons room is the value it will add to your home. This happens in a practical dollars and cents way and in a more emotional way, too.
Of course, when you make the practical investment to add square footage to your home, you also add overall value to the home, too. When your home is bigger, with more square footage, it’s worth more.
Four Seasons rooms are also very inviting, no matter how you intend to use the space. If you have any plans to sell down the road, this is a space that potential buyers will be drawn to, like your own family will, too.
There’s something about a porch, enclosed or otherwise, that elicits feelings of coziness. Many people opt to play up this feeling by how they fill the space with furniture and accessories.
You might want a comfortable sofa and a big armchair that allows you to put up your feet. You can add comfortable pillows and throws to create a space your family will gravitate into.
If you want to use your four seasons room for entertaining or gathering, pay attention to the type of seating and how you arrange it. Make sure you have plenty of comfortable seating that allows for everyone to be a part of the group.
One of the nicest benefits of a four seasons room is feeling like you’re outside, without actually being outside. No weather or bugs to contend with. Instead, you can enjoy your four seasons room and the beauty of nature 365 days of the year.
You might love sitting on your patio, deck, or terrace. Yet, you know you also have to deal with issues of heat, cold, rain, and even insects on occasion.
In a four seasons room, you get a room wrapped in windows. You can have them open to get the fresh air or have them closed to appreciate the temperature control.
Either way, the windows all around allow you to feel like you’re part of the outdoors without putting up with the pesky parts of it.
There’s really nothing more frustrating than settling in with your morning coffee or evening glass of wine only to be buzzed by an annoying mosquito.
This is a space where you’ll want to relax and enjoy conversations with friends and family. The last thing you want to put up with is insects interrupting.
Being outside is also very difficult if you want to have any kind of food. Maybe you’re known for delectable charcuterie boards that lose all their appeal when flies are buzzing them.
A four seasons room eliminates being bothered by insects. It also takes away the worries that birds and the sun might cause damage to your furniture.
Not only does a four seasons room take away issues without outdoor pests, but it also eliminates dealing with weather, cold or hot.
You can sit in your four seasons room and enjoy the fresh breeze with the windows thrown open. Yet, you don’t lose usable access to the space on a rainy day. In fact, is there a better way to enjoy a rainy day than curled up in your four seasons room?
When the weather is truly inclement, again cold or hot, you have the advantage of heating and cooling to control the temperature.
The four seasons room offers bright outdoor light and fresh air if you want it, but you don’t lose the usable space if the weather isn’t perfect.
Many people find one of the nicest features of a four seasons room is the temperature control. This truly makes this room an open extension of your home.
If you have your air conditioning cooling your home, it can also cool this space, too.
For those who suffer from allergies or asthma, having a space that’s temperature-controlled allows them to enjoy the feeling of being outside without facing the suffering that comes with actually being outside.
There’s no reason to be overheated and sneezing, or losing access to the room when it’s cold or rainy.
Even if you opt not to run air or heat as you might in other parts of your home, many who add four seasons rooms also opt to include ceiling fans to keep the air circulating.
As you consider your planning for the space, you can work with your contractor to design your addition so, it cohesively works with your existing home.
There are so many options for how to use the four seasons room. Some four seasons room inspiring ideas include:
Of course, most people use their four seasons room as a place to relax. It might become your private sanctuary for a solo escape for relaxation. It might be the extra room you need for your kids and their friends to gather and have a movie night.
Four Seasons rooms are a wonderful place to serve a meal or entertain friends, too.
Now that you can see the many benefits of adding a four seasons room, you might be anxious to get started. There are several things to consider as you move forward with your addition.
You’ll need to hire a contractor who is well versed in both additions and creating the perfect four seasons room. You want to work with someone who has a firm grasp of both design and construction.
You want to add your four seasons room to your home and have it appear as though it has always been a part of your home. Style and design will matter to create the aesthetic you wish to achieve.
Adding a four seasons room (or sun room) to your existing home will be an investment in your house that you’ll never regret. You’re likely to find yourself in that space more often than in any other room in your house.
If you’re ready to start planning your room addition, we want to be a part of this exciting new room in your home. Contact us today so we can start a conversation about your new space.