Sunroom Ideas On A Budget

Sunrooms are an addition to the home with lots of large windows to let in as much natural light as possible. Hence the name, sun-room. The sunrooms we build here at Gambrick also include skylights, floor-to-ceiling walls of glass, and even entire glass roofs. When a sunroom has glass walls and a glass roof, they’re called solariums, green-houses, Flordia rooms, or conservatories.

A sunroom is usually connected to the side or back of the house, but it can also be attached to the front as well. Where you build your sunroom should depend on several factors, such as privacy, the location of the sun, or the location of a porch or patio that you want to turn into a sunroom.

In the northern hemisphere, it’s most common for sunrooms to be built on the southern or eastern side of a home because that’s where they get the most consistent sunshine throughout the day. East-facing sunrooms are ideal for viewing the sunrise and receiving bright morning sun. They’ll also be protected from the harsh afternoon sun.

Sunrooms can get expensive because of all the windows, but there are some tips you can use to keep costs down. I’ve been a NJ sunroom contractor for over 25 years and can tell you firsthand how out-of-control build costs can get. You should always have a budget in mind for both the build, and finishing touches like landscaping and hardscaping, and decor.

Here are some great tips for keeping sunroom costs under control before and during construction.

1. Convert an Existing Space into a Sunroom

It doesn’t take much money to build a beautiful sunroom if the floor is already there. This is often called a porch enclosure. If you already have an open porch, convert it into a sunroom by adding windows and a skylight or two. Porches make great sunrooms, especially if they’re on the side or back of the house and face the sun.

Sunrooms can also be built on an existing patio or deck. This can save you over 20% on the total cost to build the sunroom because your foundation and floor framing are already done.

Keep in mind that building a sunroom on an existing structure will limit your design, but you’ll save money on land preparation, clearing, footings, and framing the floor.

If you add insulation, heating, electricity, and fully enclose the space, it could be considered a four-season sunroom. These meet the minimum requirements for living space and may count towards your home’s square footage.

If you’re lucky, an existing space may already have access to your home’s wiring and heating system, two of the costliest expenses when building a four-season sunroom.

2. Build a Three-Season Sunroom

A three season sunroom is an addition without heat, so it’s best used in Summer, Spring, and Fall, but not Winter. By eliminating heating, the room doesn’t count as square footage and you don’t have to pay for a heating system. This saves you money on expensive heating work and on taxes.

A three-season room is separated from the home by a dividing wall and insulated door.

A four-season sunroom requires insulation, electrical work, and heating to keep the room warm in Winter. Since they’re climate controlled, they can be counted as living space and integrated into the home’s floor plan, but they’re a lot more expensive.

If you build a three-season room, I recommend insulating it even though it’s not required. Insulation helps keep the room cool in Summer, and you can warm the room with portable space heater in Winter if you want to.

Three-season sunrooms can cost 40% less than a four-season sunroom depending on what systems you eliminate.And if you insulated it, you can convert it to a four-season room later simply by adding heat.

3. Keep the Room Small

I’ve designed and built over 250 sunrooms in my 25 year career, and some of my favorites were very small. A sunroom doesn’t have to be large to be effective. They’re really all about natural light and the view. Bringing the outdoors inside doesn’t take lots of expensive square footage to do.

As is the case with all construction projects, the size of the build affects the price. Building a sunroom costs between $150 and $300 per square foot on average.

With some skill and creativity, you can create a fantastic space as small as 100 square feet that has enough room for a sofa, small table, chairs, and plants. Everything you need for a stunning sunroom addition built on a tight budget.

4. Use DIY Finishes

A sunroom design really comes together once you start designing the interior of the room. Using lots of DIY options can save thousands on the total cost of the addition. This is potentially where can save the most money on a sunroom if you’re on a budget.

Like most home additions, think about:

• Flooring
• Drapes
• Wall colors
• Fans
• Lighting options
• Furnishings
• Area rugs
• Pictures and other personal touches

Early on in the design process, make a list of finishes you can handle on your own and which are best left to the professionals. For example, floating floors, paint, and trim are things a homeowner can easily DIY after the room is built and don’t affect the rooms construction.

I would help out by doing as many finishing touches as you can, this an save thousands on a sunroom build. But I wouldn’t get involved in electrical, heating and cooling, structural work, plumbing, or installing any windows or doors.

5. Spend Time Planning

I’ve been a builder for over 25 years and can tell you firsthand, the number one mistake homeowners make is not spending enough time in the planning stage. Planning is where you can save big on a sunroom build.

Planning the construction and finishing details of your sunroom far in advance is the best way to keep costs under control. Contact at least three local sunroom contractors near you to compare costs, timelines, and contract details.

Research lots of photos and create a look-book of the sunroom you want to build so you and your contractor are always on the same page. Mistakes or having to redo things is a great way to waste money.

Once you finalize the structural design, focus on finishes like flooring, windows, colors, and furniture options that can save you money. Take your time and look for closeouts or clearance items, sine the room is small, it’s very easy to find single items on sale that will work great in the room.

6. Buy Finishes On Sale

My favorite way to save money when building a sunroom is buying items when they’re on sale. Since a sunroom is so small, you can find incredible deals on closeouts in small quantities, which is perfect for a small room. I’ve found flooring 90% at stores like Home Depot, Lowes, and Floor & Decor.

Shop for closeouts or discontinued items like ceilings fans, sconces, rugs, flooring, and paint.

7. Furniture

If your furnishing a sunroom on a budget, it’s important to choose furniture that’s cheap and fits the aesthetic, but be afraid to take some risks.A sunroom is separate from the rest of the home, it’s a unique space, so furnish with things you may not use in the rest of the home.

Some of our clients furnish their sunrooms with simple wicker tables and chairs. Outdoor furniture can be very comfortable and very cheap compared to interior tables and chairs.

Before you start buying, think through how you want to use the space. Will the sunroom be an office, a place to lounge and read, will you grow lots of plants, or exercise in it.

Let both price and usability guide you when selecting furniture.

You’ll save yourself a lot of money by thinking these questions through so you don’t have to make changes later.

Lightly used furniture is a great way to save money, especially if you’re handy and know how to reupholster. I love buying old wooden furniture and restoring it, probably because I’m a woodworker. Pair some antiques with new cushions and you’ve got furniture that’s better than new for over 50% less.

8. Area Rugs

Area rugs are a fantastic way to save money on sunroom finishes. This is especially true if you built your sunroom on an old porch, patio, or deck. The right rug can define a space and cover up old floors.

Even if you have really nice floors, it’s a good idea to cozy up the room and anchor the furniture with an area rug.

I recommend using a natural fiber rug if you use your sunroom as an indoor/outdoor room. Natural fibers can handle the wear and tear of dirt and moisture better than synthetic fibers, and are easy to clean.

A jute rug pairs well with plants, can get dirty, are fairly cheap, and don’t fade when exposed to lots of sunlight, so they’re perfect for a sunroom design on a budget.

9. Plants

Because of all the natural light, plants really thrive in sunrooms. They help filter the air and are the best way to bring the outdoors in. But if you’re not really a plant person, choose plants that are fairly low maintenance and produce colorful blooms year after year. Cactus, succulents and other desert plants are my favorite because they don’t require much care.

Lilies are a great choice for adding greenery to your sunroom. They grow tall, fill space in corners and balance larger furniture pieces.

As an alternative, you can also add a few faux plants to green up the space too. Faux plants can be mixed with real plants to make the room seem more lush, and if you mix them in properly you can’t tell the difference.

The great thing about plants is that they’re very cheap and continue to brighten up the room year after year as long as you water them regularly.

10. Garden Rooms or Atriums

If you want a full solarium but don’t want to spend the enormous amount of money it takes to build one properly, opt for a garden room or strium instead. They’re simpler versions of a solarium that cost a lot less to build.

Garden rooms are smaller spaces with less ventilation that create a humid greenhouse affect that’s ideal for plants. The design is simpler and less finished compared to other style sunrooms.

Atriums are also fairly cheap because they often involve only transforming the ceiling of a room into windows instead of the surrounding walls.

11. Natural Light

One of the cheapest sunroom ideas you can use on a budget is also the simplest, use lots of natural light. The sun shines and the light comes in, all you need are windows placed in the right location to maximize the light. This is where careful planning can help.

When building a sunroom, place it in a location that gets the most direct sunlight for the longest period of time. Notice how the sun moves over your home, take note of where shadows are, then build your sunroom in the optimal location.

Natural light is a great way to heat a room by day, especially if you have masonry floors that retain heat like concrete or brick. Even in the winter months, a well insulated sunroom can stay relatively warm during the day without the use of a heater. This can save even more money on energy costs.

And the best thing about natural light is, it’s absolutely free.

12. Prefab Sunroom Kits

I don’t typically recommend installing a sunroom kits because we don’t build them here at Gambrick, but they’re a great option if you’re on a tight budget. Sunroom kits are basically aluminum frames with glass panels. They don’t use traditional windows and doors or framing, so they’re a lot cheaper than a custom built sunroom addition.

Prefab sunroom kits can cost over 75% less than building a sunroom addition. And some prefab kits are even relatively DIY-friendly depending on their size and how they connect to your home.If you’re handy and have basic tools, you can save a ton on installation costs by building it yourself.

The kits come in large pre-constructed pieces that screw together in a specific sequence. The walls are easy but some skill is involved weh erected the roof.

13. Save Money on HVAC

If you choose to build a four-season room, you could spend tens of thousands for the heating system alone. Some less-expensive options include extending your existing duct-work or baseboard heating system into the room, if it can handle the additional square footage, or installing a mini-split HVAC just for the new sunroom.

A ductless mini-split system is a great way to heat and cool a sunroom on a budget. They mount to the wall and work by remote control, or can be wired to a thermostat. Generally one mini-split provides both heat and A.C. which is a big savings vs. installing separate systems.

If you have a three, season room, installing a mini-split is a great way to convert it into a four-season room. However, the three-season room must also be properly sealed and insulated.

You can go even cheaper in your three-season room by heating it with a simple a space heater, as long as you have an outlet to plug it into.

14. Save Money With Financing Options

Once you have a budget in mind for the room, consider a variety of financing options and look for the best deal. For example, if you use a HELOC loan against the equity of your home, interest rates will be a lot lower than using credit cards or a personal loan. Short term loans that aren’t secured by an asset usually have a much higher interest rate.

You can also go with a construction loan that can then be folded into your existing mortgage. The great thing about many construction loans is that they’re interest only until construction is completed.

Whatever option you choose, make sure to shop around and get the best financing rate possible. This could mean taking some time to improve your credit score, or paying down some debt to get a better rate.

15. Monochromatic Sunroom Design

This sunroom is spectacular. No way we could build this one on a budget. Those arched windows cost a bundle and the coffered ceiling is just as expensive. But the monochromatic color scheme is the focus. This room is all about the color blue.

To save money on painting, stick with a single color for the room, or shades of the same color. I usually budget about $5,000 to paint every new sunroom we build. This covers both paint and labor. A simpler color scheme not only saves on the cost of paint, but also on labor expenses because there’s less time spent cutting in, doing touch ups, and switching colors.

Summary: Sunroom Ideas On A Budget

Sunrooms are an addition to the home with lots of large windows to let in as much natural light as possible. Hence the name, sun-room. The sunrooms we build here at Gambrick also include skylights, floor-to-ceiling walls of glass, and even entire glass roofs. When a sunroom has glass walls and a glass roof, they’re called solariums, green-houses, Flordia rooms, or conservatories.

A sunroomcan be connected to the side, back, or front of the house. Where you build your sunroom depends on several factors, such as privacy, the location of the sun, or the location of a porch or patio that you want to turn into a sunroom.

In the north it’s most common for sunrooms to be built on the southern or eastern side of a home. This where they get the most consistent sunshine throughout the day. East-facing sunrooms are ideal for viewing the sunrise and receiving bright morning sun. They’re also protected from the harsh afternoon sun.

Sunrooms can get expensive because of all the windows. But there are some tips you can use to keep costs down. I’ve been a NJ sunroom contractor for over 25 years and can tell you firsthand how out-of-control build costs can get. You should always have a budget in mind for both the build, and finishing touches like landscaping and hardscaping, and decor.

If you have any questions or comments email or leave a comment down below.