All Calgary Sunroom owners know that while having a sunroom is a great addition to your home at any time of year, they truly come into their own during the summer months. The big windows let all that glorious sunshine and act as insulators meaning that you can sit in the room all day and all evening in perfect warmth without needing to turn the heat on. Your summer sunroom gives you the perfect place to relax out of the midday heat and to avoid the endless bugs and winds that can interrupt the otherwise blissful summer days across the entire season.
Get Your Sunroom Ready For Summer
You can, of course, just give your sunroom a little spring cleaning to get it ready for lots of use over the summer months, but it’s more fun if you pick some sunroom decorating ideas that really highlight the season. Try some of these quick upgrades this summer to reinvigorate your sunroom and capture the best of the season:
- Go green – adding plants and flowers to your existing sunroom set up is the perfect way to celebrate summer in your sunroom. The natural insulation provided by the glazed glass means that tropical plants will grow well as they will be sheltered from the wind and occasional rain showers. Consider finding flowers that track the sun throughout the day for a spectacular visual effect for your guests.
- Change the artwork – as with any room in your house, changing the artwork in your sunroom can completely change its appearance. For summer, you should hang pictures that either show beach or sunny pictures, or more abstract art that picks out the yellows, blues and greens that will be visible through your windows. Another easy upgrade for the summer is to install a large mirror (preferably in an ornate frame) on the external wall of your home. This will reflect all the sunlight back into the room, making everything seem bigger and brighter.
- Indoor hammocks – while it may sound like a major change to your living space, buying an indoor hammock (or two) will take very little extra space while give you a complete change in perspective. You can find ones that will anchor into the external wall of your home or that come with their own stands, and once the initial structure is set up you have your pick of floral patterns or beach themed fabrics to complete the summer look in your sunroom.
Summer in Calgary only seems to last for a few months, so it works well to have storage set up for your different seasonal decorations. This will allow you to create your summer haven over the course of a weekend each year, as well as helping you make subtle changes to your designs each season.
Change The Purpose, Change The Design
If you’re looking for a bigger upgrade, think about completely changing the purpose of your sunroom. While most people use their sunroom space as an extra (or adults only!) living space or a beautiful summer dining room, you can change how you use your new space to inspire your interior design choices with these unique sunroom uses:
- Home office – the big windows in your sunroom give you plenty of motivational views and natural sunlight, both of which have been proven to improve work productivity and mood. If you’re someone who either works from home or has the opportunity for hybrid work, then turning your sunroom into a home office is a great way to bring some work life balance. You can close the door at the end of the day, and shut out the noises of the house while you’re at work. In terms of decoration, you’ll want to keep it business casual with neutral tones for the wall paint and plenty of space for whiteboard work and a pin board for important documents. Lighting will be a key component if you spend a lot of time on video calls as you’ll want to make sure you present yourself in the best way possible.
- Home gym – another popular use for your sunroom during the summer months is to convert it into a home gym to work out. The global pandemic has made it so you can get a home gym set up that will cover just about any type of work out, from a wi-fi enable exercise bike to a full yoga experience. It’s a good idea to plan on a small flat screen TV on the wall as you’re decorating so that you can broadcast your favourite shows to watch, some motivational tunes or workout videos to copy without having to worry about a tablet or a phone getting in the way. In terms of decoration, you’ll want to think about either big and bright motivational colours, or more calmer and softer colours if you’re going to use it for yoga and meditation.
- Guest room – finally, everyone seems to come out of the woodwork as the warmer weather hits Calgary, and you’ll find more and more people want to come and visit your new sunroom. Turning your space into a guest bedroom gives you the opportunity to host more people and to get more use out of your sunroom all summer long. As you decorate for a guest room, you’ll want to pay careful attention to your soft furnishings, such as trying to match colours, textures and patterns between the bedding, rugs and curtains. If you want to try and create a guest room that doubles as extra living space during the day, a fold out sofa bed will be your best bet, as well as end tables that can double up as bedside tables at night.
