skip to main content
CYBER WEEK EXTENDED
0
Your shopping cart is empty.
Sign In
Join as a Pro
History of Houzz
GET IDEAS
PHOTOS
Kitchen & DiningKitchenDining RoomPantryGreat Room
Bed & BathBathroomPowder RoomBedroomStorage & ClosetBaby & Kids
OutdoorLandscapePatioDeckPoolPorchBalcony
LivingLiving RoomFamily RoomSunroomHome Theater
Small RoomsSmall BathroomsSmall KitchensSmall BedroomsSmall Living RoomsSmall Closets
More RoomsExteriorEntryHallHome OfficeStaircaseBasement
LaundryGarageShedGymHome BarPlayroomWine Cellar
MAGAZINE
Stories and GuidesRemodeling GuidesDecorating GuidesPopular StoriesBacksplash Cost GuideBathroom Remodel Cost GuidePool Cost GuideCost Guides
DISCUSSIONS
Get AdviceDesign DilemmasBefore & AfterPollsGardenweb
HOUZZ TV
HOUZZ RESEARCH
COMMUNITY
SHOP BY DEPARTMENT
KITCHEN & DINING
Kitchen & Dining FurnitureSinks & FaucetsKitchen AppliancesTabletopCabinets & StorageKnobs & PullsKitchen LightingTileCookware & BakewareTools & GadgetsView All
FURNITURE
Living RoomKitchen & DiningHome OfficeOutdoorBedroomStorageBathroomView All
BATH
Bathroom VanitiesShowersBathtubsBathroom LightingFaucetsBathroom SinksTileBath AccessoriesBath LinensMedicine CabinetsView All
DECOR
RugsMirrorsWall DecorDecorative AccentsArtworkPillows & ThrowsHoliday DecorView All
BEDROOM
Beds & HeadboardsBeddingDressersNightstandsBenchesBedroom DecorLampsCloset StorageFutonsChaisesView All
HOME IMPROVEMENT
HardwareTileBathroom FixturesKitchen FixturesHeating & CoolingBuilding MaterialsTools & EquipmentView All
LIVING
Coffee & Accent TablesRugsSofas & SectionalsArmchairs & Accent ChairsTV Stand & Media StorageHome DecorLampsArtworkBookcasesFireplaces & AccessoriesView All
OUTDOOR
Patio FurnitureOutdoor DecorOutdoor LightingPool & SpaLawn & GardenOutdoor StructuresOutdoor CookingView All
LIGHTING
ChandeliersPendant LightsFlush-MountsBathroom & VanityWall SconcesCeiling FansTable LampsFloor LampsKitchen & CabinetOutdoor LightingView All
MORE
Storage & OrganizationHome OfficeBaby & KidsHome BarCleaning & LaundryPet SuppliesHoliday DecorView All
Looking for the perfect gift? Send a Houzz Gift Card!
FIND PROFESSIONALS
DESIGN & REMODELING
Architects & Building DesignersDesign-Build FirmsGeneral ContractorsHome BuildersInterior DesignersKitchen & Bath DesignersKitchen & Bath RemodelersLandscape Architects & DesignersLandscape ContractorsSwimming Pool Builders
OUTDOOR & GARDEN
Landscape ArchitectsLandscape ContractorsSwimming Pool BuildersDeck & Patio BuildersStone, Pavers & ConcreteFence ContractorsDriveway InstallationHot Tub & Spa DealersGardeners
HOME IMPROVEMENT
Building SuppliesCabinets & CabinetryCarpet DealersDeck & Patio BuildersDoor DealersFireplacesGarage Door SalesHandymanHardwood Flooring DealersPaint & Wall CoveringsSiding & ExteriorsTile, Stone & CountertopsWindow Dealers
HOME SERVICES
Air Conditioning & HeatingElectriciansFurniture Repair & UpholsteryGarage Door RepairGardeners & Lawn CareHome StagersMoversPaintersPest ControlPlumbersRoofing & GuttersSpa & Pool MaintenanceTree Services
All ProfessionalsAll ServicesFor ProfessionalsAdvertise
SALE
ON SALE - UP TO 75% OFF
Bathroom VanitiesChandeliersBar StoolsPendant LightsRugsLiving Room ChairsDining Room FurnitureWall LightingCoffee TablesSide & End TablesHome Office FurnitureSofasBedroom FurnitureLampsMirrors
CYBER WEEK EXTENDED
Up to 70% Off
Ultimate Dining Room Sale 
Up to 75% Off
Ultimate Outdoor Sale 
Up to 60% Off
Ultimate Vanity Sale 
Up to 70% Off
Kitchen and Appliance Sale 
Porches
Porches
11 Ideas for Decorating Your Summer Porch
Top Ideabooks
11 Ideas for Decorating Your Summer Porch7 Ideas to Get You Back on the Front PorchGet the Hang of Hanging Flower BasketsExpert Talk: Porch Swings Sway Into Sweet Life
Appears in
Landscape Design
Decorating Guides
Decorating Guides
How to Decorate a Living Room: 11 Designer Tips
Top Ideabooks
How to Decorate a Living Room: 11 Designer TipsDecorating 101: How to Start a Decorating Project8 Things Interior Designers Want You to KnowDecorating Master Class: 10 Common Mistakes and How to Fix Them
Appears in
Latest From Houzz
See also
LightingColorOrganizingSmall SpacesFurnitureArtHouseplantsHolidaysDIY ProjectsAccessoriesWall TreatmentsDecorating StylesPatternGreen DecoratingEntertainingTastemakersBudget DecoratingRoom of the DayWorking With an Interior DesignerDecorating 101
Landscape Design
Landscape Design
Fire-Wise Landscapes Can Help Keep Your Home and Property Safe
Top Ideabooks
Fire-Wise Landscapes Can Help Keep Your Home and Property SafePatio of the Week: Sloped Yard Now an Entertainment Hub10 Fresh Ideas for Good-Looking Wood Fences7 Winter Cabins and Porches With Airy White Palettes
Appears in
Latest From Houzz
See also
PoolsOutbuildingsGarden StylesPorchesOutdoor AccessoriesDecksPatiosPathsInspiring GardensFences and GatesOutdoor ProjectsUrban GardensFront Yard IdeasBackyard IdeasSide Yard IdeasOutdoor KitchensIdeas for Sloped LotsPergolasLawn AlternativesPatio of the WeekPorch of the Week

9 Cozy Sunrooms and Porches for Warming Up in Cold Weather

Warm blankets, roaring fires and winter weatherproofing make these indoor-outdoor spaces toasty as temperatures drop

Lauren Dunec Hoang
Lauren Dunec HoangNov 17, 2019
Houzz Contributor. Landscape designer, a former garden editor for Sunset Magazine and in-house designer for Sunset's Editorial Test Garden. Her garden designs have been featured in the Sunset Western Garden Book of Landscaping, Sunset Western Garden Book of Easy-Care Plantings (cover), Inhabitat, and POPSUGAR.
More
Screened porches and sunrooms may see the most use in warm-weather months, but they can also help extend enjoyment of indoor-outdoor living as fall and winter arrive. Depending on your climate and the room’s weatherproofing, sunrooms and screened porches featuring heat sources, cozy furniture and protection from the elements can be warm, inviting extensions of the home. If you’re lucky enough to have a covered porch or sunroom — or are thinking about adding one — take a look at these ideas for making these spaces feel extra cozy this time of year.
Walker Babka Architecture
1. Plaids and a Roaring Fire

You can’t go wrong with the classics to bring more coziness to an indoor-outdoor room: cushy pillows to soften seats, throw blankets at the ready and a heat source to turn up the temperature on chilly days. For this three-season sunroom by Walker Babka Architecture in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, the screened wall panels can be swapped for glass as the season turns. Plaids, fluffy sheepskins and a roaring fire invite anyone to snuggle with a good book on a cold day.

Adding a porch or sunroom? Find an architect or home builder on Houzz in your area
Winkelman Architecture
2. Sophisticated Woodsy Cabin

Let this lofty screened-in dining room by Winkelman Architecture in Portland, Maine, inspire your cold-weather decorating style. Pair barn pendant lights with a trestle table for a warm, rural-inspired look. (Seasonal cut branches as a centerpiece finish the look.) Nestling the table in the corner with bench seating conserves floor space and creates the feeling of a snug nook.

A clever architectural design allows the large windows to fold up and allow warm breezes to pass through the screened panels.
City Homes, LLC
3. Plush Sunroom

If the design of your sunroom or covered porch ensures a dry, warm space over winter, consider choosing furnishings and decor that are just as high-quality as what you’d choose for inside the house. Upholstered couches and armchairs, plush pillows, textiles and soft lighting all make this Minneapolis sunroom by City Homes feel like a true extension of the home — one with a front-row seat to the changing seasons.
Innovative Construction Inc.
4. Luxe Farmhouse

The extra-deep overhang of this porch built by Innovative Construction in Roswell, Georgia, provides shelter from the elements and enables use of the porch for the majority of the year. Outdoor furnishings made of durable materials like wood, synthetic rattan and outdoor fabric can withstand some exposure to the elements. Anchoring the seating around a fireplace at the far end and using a warm-colored wood for the ceiling and dining table helps make the porch feel cozier and balance the cool stone floor.
MSiegel Design
5. Airy Screened Porch

Even a modest-sized screened porch can act as a three-season or four-season bonus room, depending on your climate and porch design. This light and airy screened porch designed by MSiegel Design in Little Rock, Arkansas, is surrounded by panels of screen, which could be swapped in fall for glass to turn it into a four-season room. The gauzy curtains help capture late fall light, soften the space and provide privacy. The extra-narrow beer garden-style outdoor table and benches smartly conserve space.
David Heide Design Studio
6. Three-Season Sunroom

Instead of adding a screened porch to the exterior of their 1922 home in St. Paul, Minnesota, homeowners David Heide and Michael Crull opted for a screened-in pavilion. The pavilion, designed by David Heide Design Studio, afforded them better views of the garden and more flexibility for use. The design uses screen panels with canvas awnings that can be rolled down when the garden room is not in use.

Although the structure isn’t intended for use through Minnesota winters, the building could be updated to be cold-weather appropriate, if the owners wished it, by swapping the screen for glass panels and adding a space heater. The styling inside — complete with softly glowing lamps and comfortable furniture — already feels warm and inviting for the cold season.
Our Town Plans
7. Twinkle Lights

If you already have a screened porch and are looking for a quick and easy update to make it feel cozy and festive for the darker season, try hanging string lights along the porch’s perimeter. The copper string lights used in this porch by Our Town Plans outside a cabin in Pine Mountain, Georgia, look particularly decorative and cast an alluring glow.
Windhill Builders
8. Heat Sources and Comfortable Furniture

Although this expansive covered porch built by Windhill Builders outside a home in Ipswich, Massachusetts, is primarily used in spring and summer, ceiling-mounted electric heaters allow the homeowners to extend their enjoyment of the space. Ceiling-mounted, wall-mounted and freestanding outdoor heaters allow you to place heat just where you need it.
Spring Island
9. Easy Indoor-Outdoor Flow

The best way to encourage use of your covered porch or sunroom, even when the weather turns cooler, is to create an easy transition between the space and the home that doesn’t require going outside. French-style double doors open from the living room of this home in Spring Island, South Carolina, out into the enclosed indoor-outdoor dining room. The space feels warm, thanks to a colorful woven rug, twig lights in the corner, lanterns on the wall, string lights on the eaves and rustic wooden furniture, befitting the woodsy setting.
Innovative Construction Inc.
Tell us: Do you have a covered porch or sunroom? How do you make it feel cozy for the fall and winter seasons? Share in the Comments.

More on Houzz
Get more porch inspiration
Find a home pro near you
Comments (47)
See 44 more comments
  • bethiniowa

    I wish people would simply share pictures of their own rooms, and the scolds could refrain from berating everyone else for choices that are very common. Such a drag, and ruining the comments sections so often....


    Here's my lovely sunroom (our wood burning stove is in a different room, and this one has electric baseboard heaters -- which I'm sure are terribly inefficient or something, but they only come on during the coldest nights, because I leave the sunroom door open to our house -- which I should probably feel guilty about too for some reason or other that someone will delight in telling me about). Not! I love and enjoy this room, despite what any scolds/haters might say, and I advise others to do the same with their own delightful rooms. :-)


    Sunroom Front Porch Enclosure 2016 · More Info


  • Dana Veach

    @P M... The small home I share with my sister is heated almost entirely with a wood burning stove...from necessity, not for purposes of aesthetic ambience.

  • Dana Veach

    I should have added that we chose a woodstove model that is government rated for maximum energy efficiency and emission control. We also only burn wood that is harvested from our own property or at the request of other property owners in order to clear dead wood or other unwanted trees from their properties, so we are not rapidly depleting anyone's forest. Please attempt to be a bit more informed and tolerant of choices that must be made by others who must, for one reason or another, live a lifestyle that is different from your own.

  • Related Stories
    Your Guide to Perfect Bathroom Vanity Lighting
    Bathroom DesignYour Guide to Perfect Bathroom Vanity Lighting
    By David Warfel
    Follow this lighting expert’s list of 9 do’s and don’ts to select the best light fixtures for your bathroom vanity
    Full Story47
    Houzz Tour: Modern Rustic Style for a Pacific Northwest Family
    Modern HomesHouzz Tour: Modern Rustic Style for a Pacific Northwest Family
    By Becky Harris
    Generations enjoy this special summer-camp-style compound in Washington’s San Juan Islands
    Full Story41
    9 Cozy Nooks, Daybeds and Corners for Reading
    Decorating Guides9 Cozy Nooks, Daybeds and Corners for Reading
    By Becky Harris
    These snug spots may make you want to put on fuzzy socks and hunker down with a good book
    Full Story33
    Houzz Tour: Cheery Refresh for a 1925 Bungalow
    Before and AftersHouzz Tour: Cheery Refresh for a 1925 Bungalow
    By Becky Harris
    Virginia downsizers preserve the original charm of their new home while renovating it to fit their needs
    Full Story99
    Are Colorful Kitchen Appliances the Next Big Trend?
    Colorful KitchensAre Colorful Kitchen Appliances the Next Big Trend?
    By Jennifer Ott
    Move over, black, white and stainless steel — appliances in a variety of bright colors are starting to sizzle
    Full Story229
    Trending Now: Ideas From the Most Popular Exteriors
    ExteriorsTrending Now: Ideas From the Most Popular Exteriors
    By Becky Harris
    Houzz users’ favorite photos in early 2018 include a wide range of styles and smart design concepts
    Full Story41
    12 Enclosure Ideas for Trash Bins, Compost Piles and AC Units
    Landscape Design12 Enclosure Ideas for Trash Bins, Compost Piles and AC Units
    By Lauren Dunec Hoang
    Enhance your home’s curb appeal and keep bins organized with one of these design-forward, problem-solving ideas
    Full Story26
    My Houzz: Christmas Traditions in an 1850s New York Farmhouse
    My HouzzMy Houzz: Christmas Traditions in an 1850s New York Farmhouse
    By Rikki Snyder
    Fresh greens, plaid patterns and cheerful holiday touches give this glassware artist’s home a warm and festive feel
    Full Story62
    10 Essentials for a Welcoming Front Porch
    Exteriors10 Essentials for a Welcoming Front Porch
    By Laura Gaskill
    Make your porch a comfortable place for relaxing and greeting guests with a few well-chosen pieces
    Full Story57
    10 Stylish Screened-In Porches
    10 Stylish Screened-In Porches
    By Becky Harris
    These porches combine the best elements of indoor and outdoor rooms
    Full Story69
    Trending: The Most Popular New Sunroom Photos in Summer 2018
    Trending NowTrending: The Most Popular New Sunroom Photos in Summer 2018
    By Becky Harris
    Blurring the lines between indoors and out, these rooms offer comfort and natural light in winter and year-round
    Full Story39
    9 Features That Are Popular in Closets Now
    Decorating Guides9 Features That Are Popular in Closets Now
    By Gwendolyn Purdom
    Design pros and popular Houzz photos highlight the looks that homeowners are loving in closets
    Full Story59
    15 Essentials for the Baker’s Kitchen
    Life15 Essentials for the Baker’s Kitchen
    By Laura Gaskill
    You can turn out delicious treats with ease when you own these utensils, tools and pans
    Full Story88
    Step Outside to the 10 Most Popular Patios of 2019 So Far
    PatiosStep Outside to the 10 Most Popular Patios of 2019 So Far
    By Lauren Dunec Hoang
    Let the most-saved patio photos of the year inspire you to extend your living space to the great outdoors
    Full Story28
    12 Stylish Powder Rooms People Couldn’t Get Enough of in 2018
    Bathroom Design12 Stylish Powder Rooms People Couldn’t Get Enough of in 2018
    By Becky Harris
    These small spaces went big with luxe materials, bold patterns, intricate millwork and more
    Full Story43
    Shop Related Categories
    Sofas & Sectionals
    Sofas & Sectionals
    Watering & Irrigation
    Watering & Irrigation
    Gardening Tools
    Gardening Tools
    Outdoor Decor
    Outdoor Decor
    Outdoor Pots & Planters
    Outdoor Pots & Planters
    Garden Statues & Yard Art
    Garden Statues & Yard Art
    Sponsored
    My Kitchen And Bath
    34 Reviews
    Loudoun County's Leading Kitchen and Bath Remodeler Since 1994
    People who liked this story also liked
    Your Guide to Perfect Bathroom Vanity Lighting
    Your Guide to Perfect Bathroom Vanity LightingFull Story
    Houzz Tour: Modern Rustic Style for a Pacific Northwest Family
    Houzz Tour: Modern Rustic Style for a Pacific Northwest FamilyFull Story
    9 Cozy Nooks, Daybeds and Corners for Reading
    9 Cozy Nooks, Daybeds and Corners for ReadingFull Story
    Houzz Tour: Cheery Refresh for a 1925 Bungalow
    Houzz Tour: Cheery Refresh for a 1925 BungalowFull Story
    Are Colorful Kitchen Appliances the Next Big Trend?
    Are Colorful Kitchen Appliances the Next Big Trend?Full Story
    Trending Now: Ideas From the Most Popular Exteriors
    Trending Now: Ideas From the Most Popular ExteriorsFull Story
    12 Enclosure Ideas for Trash Bins, Compost Piles and AC Units
    12 Enclosure Ideas for Trash Bins, Compost Piles and AC UnitsFull Story
    My Houzz: Christmas Traditions in an 1850s New York Farmhouse
    My Houzz: Christmas Traditions in an 1850s New York FarmhouseFull Story
    10 Essentials for a Welcoming Front Porch
    10 Essentials for a Welcoming Front PorchFull Story
    10 Stylish Screened-In Porches
    10 Stylish Screened-In PorchesFull Story
    Sponsored
    Chantilly Closet Design
    2 Reviews
    Loudoun County's Premier Home Organizers & Closet Designers
    • United States
    • ABOUT
    • CAREERS
    • MOBILE APPS
    • PROFESSIONALS
    • BUTTONS
    • ADVERTISE
    • SELL
    • Terms & Privacy
    • © 2019 Houzz Inc.