My ranch-style home sunroom tour will give you all of the inspiration you need for your sunroom, whether you’re considering a sunroom addition, remodeling an older sunroom, or simply redecorating.
My plant-filled ranch-style home sunroom tour!
Hi all! It’s been about 8 months since our sunroom project finished up. And I’m finally to a place where I feel ready to share it. It’s been slow-going in our new house…but all in all, I think we’ve made some great progress in the year we’ve been here!
Here are a few home-related projects I’ve shared about the new house (in roughly about the order I published the posts):
- Peel and Stick Subway Tile Backsplash Review
- How to Plant a Garden From Scratch
- DIY Fireplace Mantel Shelf
- How to Paint a Stone Fireplace
- DIY Above the Door Plant Shelf
- Modern Buffet-Style Cubby Storage Plans
But we’re talking about the sunroom today. This is an older, single-story home that you might call a ranch or a rambler home where you live. It was built in 1962. And it’s a petite little house. We wanted to add a bit more space, especially since I work from home.
So here are a few before picture of what we were working with. The first picture below is our kitchen/dining space as it was right before we moved in. The goal was to put the sunroom on the other side of those sliding glass doors—the back of the house.
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Why choose a sunroom?
I want to talk about why we chose the room we chose. We did a lot of research and got many quotes. Ultimately, I struggled with whether to go with a traditional four-season sunroom or a window-heavy addition to the home.
What are the differences? Well, a traditional four-season sunroom is more of a plug-and-play situation. They have a ton of windows, and their frames are usually aluminum or vinyl. They also come in three-season rooms that aren’t as well insulated for winter use. But we knew we wanted year-round use.
Truthfully, we only considered the four-season sunroom because we thought it would be cheaper than an addition. Construction costs are through the roof where we are. However, a 12×15 sunroom came in just under $70k. And that didn’t include the floors, which we’d have to buy and install ourselves.
Oh—we would have also needed to use external french doors for the area between the original house and the sunroom. I have to assume that is because of the poor insulation and wasn’t too crazy about that.
So we got a few quotes on a window-heavy room addition. This would be a traditional stick-built addition that was framed out in lumber, insulated…all that stuff. Ultimately that is what we chose because the quotes we got were for less than the vinyl sunroom, but for a 15×15 room that would be delivered completely finished.
Foundation for the sunroom…
Regardless of whether we’d chosen the traditional sunroom or a window-heavy addition, we’d need a foundation poured. That would mean digging up the existing poured concrete patio, pouring footers, and then pouring the 15×15 foundation.
And then the structure…
And once the foundation was poured, the team got to work a couple weeks later on the actual structure. Here are a few pictures of that process. Keep in mind that the timespan over the next batch of photos might look quick, but it took many weeks.
This was frustrating because it was summer and the backyard was kind of a construction zone. But we knew it would be worth it in the end, and the team was super courteous of our space.
For the area where we originally had sliding glass doors, we put in french doors with side lights. We definitely wanted to be able to close the doors while still letting light in. I work from home and need to be able to close myself off from the rest of the house.
Finishing up and moving in…
It was starting to look like a finished room one the vinyl plank flooring went in and the painting was done. So I started considering my furniture choices for the room. I knew I wanted to keep the desk I’ve had for a while, and I went to Facebook Marketplace to browse some bargains.
I ended up getting a lovely peacock wicker throne chair with a table for the room as my first purchase. It’s so cute! I love using it for shooting some of my plant care videos.
And then I moved in!
The day the project manager told me I could move in, I didn’t waste any time! I put all of my stuff in…stuff I had had crammed into the living or dining areas, in our room, or in the unfinished basement.
I hung my guitar, mounted my Ikea Lack plant shelving from the old house, and threw in a rug we already had. I also got a rattan loveseat, chair, and coffee table from an estate sale that I put in here.
And a few other things I already had from the old house, including my DIY Plant Stand Using Scrap Wood, my My Click & Grow Garden shelving, and my DIY Cat Tree From Real Branches.
And, honestly…the next three photos are kind of how it stayed for a few months. I knew it was far from finished, but I was SO enjoying having more space for my plants and having a private place to work. We were heading into fall, and having all of the window was incredible.
The first change was updating the rug…
Overall, the room felt way to “beachy” to me. I knew the ivory faux cowhide rug I’d thrown in there was temporary, and I needed to find something bigger. Below are three samples. Ultimately I chose the darker floral rug.
I like this rug a lot. It’s very comfy.I will say that the actual rugs seems more teal than the sample I’d gotten, which looked black. I don’t know if I’ll keep this rug here forever. Might move it somewhere else in the house as I figure things out. But for now, it’s the sunroom rug.
The second change was ditching some rattan…
I knew I had gone way too heavy on the rattan. It was giving very strong coastal grandma vibes, but not the kind I like. I really wanted to do something that was a bit bigger and more comfortable than the rattan loveseat I’d grabbed, too.
So I sold that on Facebook and replaced it with a gorgeous Joybird Denna Chaise. I was really torn on ordering this piece because I looked everywhere for a retailer that had better reviews than Joybird.
But I had a great experience, and since this was exactly what I wanted for the space, I took the risk and ordered it. I LOVE the piece (the cats and my husband do, too). Here is My Joybird Sofa Review post if you’re curious.
The third change was painting the far wall…
Another way I wanted to “de-beach” this room was by painting the far wall a deep color. I ended up going with Ben Moore’s Essex Green, which is absolutely perfect. It looks black at some points of the day depending on how strong the sun is.
I also added a DIY Tree Branch Plant Hanger by sanding and staining a branch, hanging it from the ceiling, and loading it up with plants. This spot is the best spot in the house, so I wanted to maximize my hanging space for plants!
The fourth thing I did was add privacy film…
But I didn’t add it for privacy. As we headed into spring, I quickly realized that the sun would soon be streaming into the top transom windows along the green wall. It made the glare on my computer absolutely unbearable.
And as the days got brighter and longer, I also noticed some mild scorching on some of my plants hanging here. So I grabbed the same mosaic privacy window film I used on our side door and applied that.
This stuff is super easy to use. See this Instagram Reel I did about it for more. All you have to do is cut it down to size and apply it with water. It can even create rainbow patterns on some bright days. 🙂
And that’s basically where we are now!
And after these three changes, that’s basically where we are now. I am not sold that this is the final form. I still think it’s too rattan/wicker heavy and am considering replacing either the rattan chair or coffee table. We’ll see what cool stuff I can find in estate sales and whatnot.
As I mentioned, I also might want to replace the rug with something even bigger and darker. I’m in no rush for this. I’ll probably move this rug to the bedroom if I do find something else I like better for the sunroom.
And, finally, I am not sold that the side walls don’t also need painted. Everyone I’ve mentioned this to thinks they should stay white, so I don’t want to rush the decision. It’s all about taking is slow and making the right decisions…until I change my mind 😉
Sources for the room:
Most of the stuff is thrifted, DIY, or from an estate auction. So it’s hard to source a lot of it. Let me know if you have specific questions, and I’ll let you know what info I have. In the meantime, here’s what I purchased new:
- Joybird Denna Chaise
- Rifle Paper Co. x Loloi, Mughal Garden Black
- Ikea Lack tiered shelving
- Chilistran plant stand
- Mosaic window film
- Click and Grow Smart Garden
- Peacock chair, round wicker table, rattan plant stand—Facebook Marketplace
- Calla Lily lamp—Midmod Mommy
- Hanging stained glass lamp—my grandmother made it
- Cube nested tables, rattan chair, coffee table—estate auctions
- Tree branch plant hanger, gray plant stand, tree branch cat tree—all DIYs
The outside…
You might be wondering what the outside of the sunroom looks like. The sunroom is just the first part of my plans for the back of the house! Here’s where the sunroom addition left us.
We had the original window wells replaced and a stamped concrete patio poured last fall. This spring, it’s full steam ahead putting in garden beds and landscaping. I’m hoping to have updates on that sometime mid-summer!
Pin my ranch-style home sunroom tour!
Brittany is a seasoned DIY home and garden expert, running a creative brand since 2014 that inspires others with approachable plant care guides, woodworking tutorials, and decor projects. She is a certified project manager and has completed extensive coursework in the art and science of growing your own plants. Her work has been recognized by major publications, and she routinely collaborates with fellow DIY industry leaders—but her favorite thing to do is inspire you!
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