Sunroom Ideas On A Budget

While spending time outdoors can be a lot of fun sometimes the mood calls for the great indoors. A sunroom is a great bonus to any homeowner that’s lucky enough to have one. But can you style a beautiful one without spending a fortune. Of course you can. This article is full of our best sunroom ideas on a budget.

Curled up with a good book and a large cup of coffee or playing board games with family and friends. What better place than in a room filled with comfy chairs and lots of sun. And it doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. You may have found this page by searching for sunroom ideas and that’s just what we’ll be discussing in the article below. We’ve designed dozens of sunrooms over the years and some of our favorite’s didn’t cost that much to do. With a few simple tips, and just a little time, effort and very little money you can turn your sunroom into something beautiful. With indoor/outdoor living on the rise it’s no surprise we’ve been seeing more and more fantastic transitional spaces. If you’re loving this trend or simply looking to give your home a refresh then you’ve come to the right place.

A sunroom is also called a sun porch or sun lounge. Generally built onto the side of a house. It allows you to enjoy the the views while being sheltered from rain, wind and other weather conditions. Sunrooms generally don’t have a TV or other home entertainment systems other than possibly a radio. They make the perfect room to just chill out and relax in. And since they don’t need a bunch of expensive gadgets, their pretty cheap to decorate on a budget.

Basic Sunroom Designs

There are a variety of sunroom designs to choose from if your building a brand new sunroom addition. For example, you can have a brick sunroom if you prefer a more rustic look. Exposed wood makes a sunroom feel warm and cozy. Or if you want to emphasize the views, you can build it out of glass. The roof can also be made of glass so you can admire the sky and enjoy the weather to its fullest. The one design element present in almost all sunrooms is glass. Lots of large windows seams to work best. After all it’s called a sun room for a reason. Without all the sun it’s really just another living room.

Ask any designer, and they’ll tell you the same thing. Stepping into a home should be an experience. If you’re not excited when you walk into a room for the first time then it’s time to shake things up a little. Don’t be afraid to take a risk once in a while. Use a little color. Without question, the pros know how to make a stylish impression.

Cheap Sunroom Design Ideas

Color

Making a sunroom addition an extension of your home is an important goal every homeowner should have. You don’t want it to feel disconnected. A sunroom is a place to hang out and relax, so every design choice should have that goal in mind. Sunrooms should have a calm, soothing effect for everyone who spends time in them. Selecting the right colors is a top priority. Not only with wall and molding colors but also with things like throw pillows, furniture, artwork, plants and accessories. Try to tie your sunroom style ideas in with the colors you already have in your home.

Use a neutral base in the room. Gray or white is a great place to start; you can layer with beautiful, bold colors in the spring and summer, and warmer tones for the fall and winter. Keep the colors light and bright. This helps too maintain a happy atmosphere. Bright rooms are happy spaces that have been proven to elevate your mood, which is the entire purpose of having the sunroom.

Furniture

When it comes to the very best sunroom design ideas, use furniture and accessories that look like interior pieces, save the wicker and wovens for outdoor spaces. Older style sunrooms used to be styled like an outdoor space. Similar to a screened in front porch, but not any more. Top designers agree a sunroom should be styled like having another living room. Use comfortable furniture perfect for spending hours lounging around on.

Sunrooms are great places to have comfortable seating upholstered in soft, plush fabrics.

Climate

Most people don’t want to give up the use of their sunroom when spring and summer are over. This is sometimes called a four seasons room. Sunrooms make great places for TV rooms and reading nooks in the colder months. But only if they have heat. My favorite sunroom idea is as simple as adding an electric heater or fireplace. Why build a sunroom addition you can only comfortably use half the year. Even in the summer and spring, night time can get chilly making the sunroom unusable.

We always recommend adding a heat and AC source in every sunroom we design and build.

Flooring

Flooring in a sunroom typically consists of concrete, wood, carpet or tile. Area rugs add texture and help designate spaces within a large sunroom. Intricate floor designs, such as mosaic tile or brick patterns, are best left uncovered. We try and make a sunroom just as nice or nicer as the rest of the house. It’s a special room, but it still needs to flow with the rest of the home as much as possible.

Plants

Because of all the natural light plants really thrive in sunrooms. They naturally filter the air and are the best way to bring the outdoors in. If you’re not really a plant person choose plants that are fairly low maintenance and produce colorful blooms year after year.

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

Your sunroom can be a place of joy and respite not only for you, but also for your family, friends, pets and plants.

Skylights

Skylights are a fantastic sunroom idea that not everyone takes advantage of. A lot of people think skylights leak, that’s true of older models but newer skylights made by Andersen or Velux are water tight in rain or snow. And newer models are operable by remote control, with the flick of a switch your skylights open letting in oodles of natural light and fresh air.

Some skylight models even come with remote control blinds. Hit a button and the blinds roll out giving you a break from the beating sun.

Sunroom Ideas On A Budget: Natural Light

Our absolute best sunroom idea is the simplest. Use lots of natural light. The sun shines and the light comes in, all you need are windows. That’s basically all a sunroom is after all, any room with lots of windows will do. Skylights amplify the effect quite a bit but they’re not a necessity.

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. Natural light is beneficial to your health and elevates the mood. Throw in some plants and reap even more healthy benefits.

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

Screened Porch Converted Into A Sunroom

It doesn’t take much to build a beautiful sunroom. This design used to be a screened porch on top of a Trex deck. Adding in some glass, trim work, wood ceilings and a gallon or two of white paint created the room. The decor was kept very simple. A small table for 6 and an area rug with a few table plants are all you really need. It’s the perfect room to sit and eat breakfast or sip some morning tea.

If you convert a screened porch that’s over a deck into a sunroom make sure to seal the bottom. Bugs can easily get in through the deck board gaps.

This is such a great, and cheap, way to build a sunroom because so many homes already have a screened porch. Doing the conversion costs practically nothing. And this simple table and area rug can be bought for $100 bucks.

Cheap Sunroom Decor Ideas

It didn’t cost much money, time or effort to style this sunroom. Some of the best sunroom ideas are all about simplicity. The idea of the room is to be a comfortable place to relax and enjoy that beautiful view without a lot of distractions.

This simple wicker set of patio furniture, area rug and coffee table can be bought for less than $200 bucks.

White Sunroom Idea With Simple Furnishings

Here is another example of a beautiful sunroom idea that only requires some very simple white wicker chairs and blue and white striped cushions. I just love it. The room is so light and bright. Your mood would improve just sitting in it. Lots of windows lets in that wonderful natural light. This was originally an old front porch. But with a little TLC and lots of white paint you can create something fantastic. And with very little money.

The furniture and decor you see here can easily be purchased for under $200 bucks.

Beautiful Sunrooms With Cheap Furniture

It doesn’t take much money to design a beautiful sunroom. That’s why one of our favorite budget sunroom ideas, and come to think of it, one of our favorite sunroom ideas period, is the use of simple furnishings. A sunroom doesn’t have to be elaborate. Some simple wicker chairs, a coffee table and comfortable cushions are all you need for a fantastic sunroom.

Personally I like a really plush couch to lounge in while surfing the web on my tablet but that’s just me. You can buy a cheap sofa for $200 bucks and wicker furniture for another hundred or so. It really doesn’t take a lot of money to design a great sunroom since high end expensive stuff like a big screen TV don’t generally go in them.

Sunrooms With Classic Style

This is exactly why the classics never go out of style. Easily checks the box for sunroom ideas on a budget. Wicker furniture doesn’t cost much. Keep the paint light and bright. Classic white trim with white walls and ceiling. The trim work can be expensive if your not handy but you don’t really need. This sunroom would be just as nice with sheetrocked walls and a nice 6″ base trim. You could have this same look in your sunroom look for under $500 bucks.

Traditional Sunroom Design

While it’s great to spend more time in the outdoors, sometimes the mood calls for a lazy day curled up with a good book and a cup of tea. And what better place to do that in than a room filled with lots sunshine and comfy chairs? A traditional sunroom design can be the perfect place to just relax. They eliminate the noise and distraction of video games, computers, phones and tvs. With indoor/outdoor living spaces and nature inspired design on the rise, it’s no wonder we’ve been seeing more and more clients requesting new sunrooms. It can be hard to escape the hustle and bustle of every day life but a dedicated sunroom might just be the answer.

Be Funky With Your Sunroom

This is one of my personal favorite sunrooms. And definitely classifies as sunroom ideas on a budget. Love the natural wood floors with gray walls and white trim. All the basics here are done perfectly. But what obviously makes this room stand out are the perfect use of bold colors. Love the plants. I think every sunroom, or home for that matter, should have pants. Plants have so many benefits we can’t go into here, but for the sake of this article the most important benefit is, their cheap. You could have this entire look in your sunroom for under $400 bucks.

Sunrooms With Red Brick

A rustic feel works perfectly in a sunroom. Even if the rest of the home doesn’t have a rustic vibe this look will still work. The brick is beautiful but if you don’t have a brick wall in your house don’t worry about it. The plants are always great, the more the better. The wood burning stove is a perfect touch that gets even better when lit on a cold winters night. But for me this look works so well because of the natural elements and color palette. You could recreate the beauty of this room for under $500 bucks without the bricks and stove and it would be just as nice. Focus on the white trim complimented by the natural colors and plants, you can’t go wrong.

Another Classic Sunroom Idea

This room is fantastic. If your looking for sunroom ideas on a budget then you can have the best parts of the room without the expensive stuff you really don’t need. No way can you recreate that ceiling and inset columns, crown molding on a budget. But who cares. That’s not what makes the room so great. Tan walls against the white trim and ceiling is a perfect combination. The use of color in the room is amazing. Natural elements everywhere. Lots of plants. And my favorite thing is how they added interesting design elements throughout the room that all seamlessly flow together. With the amount of stuff in the room prices add up even if your shopping on a tight budget but you could reproduce the best parts of this room for around $650 bucks.

Rustic Sunroom Designs

There are plenty of ways to decorate a beautiful sunroom. But the focus of your design, whatever the style, should be to create a room that comfortable and inviting. A sunroom is meant to be a quite place to sit down and relax. With thoughtful layout, pretty fabrics, comfy furniture, and just the right accents you can create a fantastic sunroom without spending a lot of money.

Although you can add much more greenery here because it’d thrive in the amount of sunlight simple green plants generally work best with the rustic theme. Wicker furniture is perfect along with the real wood coffee table and patterned throw rug. Simple tiled floors with real wood trim. The room’s design looks fabulous and doesn’t cost a fortune. You could easily reproduce this look in your sunroom for under $500 bucks.

A Light and Bright Sunroom Design

Ok, I know what your thinking. How can this sunroom be done on a budget. Well, honestly, it can’t. It’s an expensive room to build because of that ceiling. But remember we’re trying to recreate the look of a spectacular room for a heck of a lot less.

What makes this room stand out is just how bright it is. The white walls and ceiling with white trim and floors along with the white chairs and chandelier. This is a really amazing room but it’s really all about the white. An all white room with lots of natural elements and plants is truly beautiful and can be recreated for less that $500 bucks. I mean think about it. This room is nothing but plants and white.

Luckily white paint and plants are pretty cheap. The floors will be tough to do on a budget but get creative, you can do it.

Black And White Sunroom Design

This room is all about contrast. Using design elements that seam to oppose each other light white against black is a great way to make a statement. Black and whites together tends to create a more modern, contemporary, almost sterile feel. It’s a look a really love though and can definitely be done if your looking for sunroom ideas on a budget. Black wicker furniture isn’t expensive. This is a room you could recreate for under $300 bucks.

Indoor / Outdoor Sunroom Design

Installing a 12′ folding door by Marvin may not qualify as a budget sunroom idea but the purpose of the door does. An indoor / outdoor feel can be accomplished on just about any budget. Even a simple screen door can do fine. Some of our favorite sunrooms are simple screen porches on an old farm house.

The ability to open the door letting in tons of fresh air and natural light is all you really need.

Other than the doors and skylights, this room is simply furnished with plush, super comfortable sofa, wood coffee table and built in bench seating. The seating is actually the foundation wall which has been finished off with some cushions and a wooden table. The room looks great with inside furnishings coming in at under $500 bucks.

Monochromatic Sunroom Design

This sunroom is spectacular. No way we could build this one on a budget. Those arched windows cost a bundle. The coffered ceiling is just as expensive if not more. But do we really need those things to recreate the look of this magnificent room. The answer is No. You really don’t. This room is all about the monochromatic color scheme. It’s all about blue. Don’t be afraid to take risks with interior design.

The designer of this room took a huge risk and it paid off in an equally huge way. And most importantly for us a monochromatic color scheme can be recreated perfectly on a tight budget. This design absolutely qualifies for a sunroom ideas on a budget article. It’s all about the color. You could create this room for under $500 bucks. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be blue. I’ve seen this design done in yellow, orange and greens. And they all looked great.

Here’s a tip though. Keep the overall colors on the pale, softer side if you want a relaxing room. Keep in mind it’s not just about the color, but maybe more importantly, the tone.

Sunroom Ideas On A Budget Picture Gallery

Summary: Sunroom Ideas On A Budget

The very best sunroom ideas tend to be very simple and don’t cost a fortune.

Artificial lighting isn’t as important in a sunroom as all that natural light. Lots of windows and simple furnishings are all you really need. But don’t forget to add in some high hats or other form of lighting. Just because it’s a sunroom doesn’t mean you can’t use it at night. And even though some of the best sunroom ideas are cheap, they’re are some really fantastic designs that cost a bundle. A sunroom is a great addition to just about any home and if your lucky to have one then keep in mind that styling it doesn’t have to cost a fortune.

If you have any questions or comments e-mail us any time. We’d love to hear from you.