Outdoor Living.....Indoors

Summertime draws us outdoors for so many varied activities and, especially here in the Midwest, we relish the few short months when we can really do a majority of our living outside. 

Not every day is conducive to outdoor living, however.  Each year, there are several days when it is much more comfortable to be inside with air conditioning, and soon enough the cold weather months will also have us seeking our climate-controlled spaces indoors.

If you're lucky, your home may be blessed with a sunroom that could provide the best of both worlds: the comfortable, airy feeling of relaxed outdoor living year-round, no matter what the weather is like outside. This week, we take a look at one such room.

Decorating a sunroom typically involves creating a space that's a bit more casual than other rooms of your house, however it's still very important to maintain a sense of flow and continuity from the rest of the home. 

In the room featured here, our client requested a transitionally-styled space, in keeping with the rest of her home, however needed to keep a few older furniture pieces which swing toward the traditional.  By selecting new elements with classic clean lines and simple tailoring, we were able to give her a very cohesive, updated look, while still keeping those special pieces from the past.

As with any decorating project, skillful use of the elements of color, pattern and texture help ensure a great outcome, and all three of those elements play vital roles in this room.

We've taken cues for our color scheme from the client's adjacent family room, in which chocolate brown and rich terra cotta are the predominant colors, and a deep, soft blue-green the accent color.

As that color scheme is translated in the new sunroom, lighter tints of the blue-green and terra cotta have taken center stage, with chocolate brown as our accent. These lighter tones allow us to have plenty of color interest, but maintain an open, airy feeling in the room. 

Pattern is important, but we don't want it to be overwhelming.  A visually soothing botanical print is perfect for the lounge chair and ottoman, and very importantly repeated as splashes on the sofa in the form of toss pillows.  Picking up our terra cotta color, a crisp stripe adds just a bit of punch there as well. 

Bringing visual warmth to the room is a nicely coordinated variety of wood tones.  From the rich coffee tone of the wicker, rattan and woven wood shades, to the lighter fruitwood finish on the coffee table and occasional chair, our eyes drink in warmth throughout the room.  And, the homeowner's wise choice of variegated hickory for her flooring provides just the right "glue" to hold all of those wood tones together. 

Next, texture is played out here in a variety of ways. By selecting a luscious chenille fabric for the sofa and an extra soft cut-pile area rug, we've set the stage for this to be a "kick off your shoes and relax awhile" kind of room.

Numerous plants not only bring a bit of the outdoors in, but also provide wonderful splashes of texture throughout, while wicker on the chairs and a rattan accent table inject just a bit of a tropical feeling to the room.  That feature is further enhanced with the woven woods on the upper windows.

Speaking of which, the way that you choose to treat the many windows in a sunroom can be critical to your room's function, as well as its look.

The beauty of a sunroom is, of course, the fabulous natural light that streams through your generous windows. That light, however, can also devour your energy budget, be very damaging to your furnishings, and can at times be uncomfortably glaring. You simply must utilize some type of energy-efficient light control treatment, but will want to select one which will 'disappear' when you don't need it. 

In this room, we opted for Hunter Douglas' Silhouette shadings.  Silhouettes provide the perfect combination of privacy and light control, softly diffused lighting when we want to see out but still cut the glare, and will completely disappear up into the headrail when unneeded.  Topping them off, our woven wood valances draw the eye up and across the room, add casual interest, color and texture, and still allow us to see through to the beautiful blue sky. 

All in all, this sunroom now provides the perfect spot to cool off after working in the garden, or to enjoy just a bit of a tropical feeling on a cold snowy day.  Our client says that it's become her new favorite spot in the house!

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FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY, Hunter Douglas is offering our clients $50-$100 rebates (*per unit) on Pirouette, Silhouette, and Luminette sheer window shadings! LET THE SUN SHINE IN. ON YOUR TERMS. Transform sunlight into a magnificent warm glow and pull it deep into a room without sacrificing privacy or your view of the outdoors!