If there’s anything new that can be done to improve a home and make it more comfortable, it’s a screened-in porch. Simply put, screened-in porches take the classic American porch and add a layer of retractable screens around it.This simple installation can completely change how the porch looks and how it can be enjoyed.
From being a simple outdoor area, a screened-in porch becomes a sort of compromise between the indoors and the outdoors – people can still rest in the area and enjoy some benefits from being outside such as the breeze and the connection to nature, without the searing sunlight and annoying insects. If you are interested in getting a screened-in porch for yourself, here are some ways that a screened-in porch can change your home.
How a Screened In Porch Can Change Your Home
Increase Home Value
One of the easiest ways a screened-in porch can improve your home is by increasing its value. A screened-in porch is unique from your typical porch. Not only does it set your home apart from others in the area, but a screened-in porch essentially adds a new functional space to the home.
There are limitations to what you can do with a porch. However, your options increase with a screened-in porch. One way to think of a screened-in porch is basically a different room in the house with a set of permeable walls that lets you see and feel nature around you. Because of the screens surrounding the porch, the screened-in porch becomes this indoor space that gives you more confidence in placing items to enjoy – items that you may not have been comfortable placing in an open porch.
Another easy way screened-in porches can increase the value of your home is when you are living in an area that gets sun a lot of the time. People want to enjoy the fresh air by hanging out and resting in their porches. However, the sun can get too strong sometimes which forces people back inside for shelter. With screens surrounding the porch, sunlight is partially blocked which gives the space a cooler feel.
More Space
It cannot be emphasized enough that turning your old porch into a screened-in porch will literally give you more space. It might be an unfamiliar concept since you’re not actually increasing your home’s floor area – you’re basically just adding another set of walls to an existing part of your house.
By putting this barrier that partially separates the porch from the outside world, your perception of your porch will completely change. It is no longer an outdoor porch – it becomes a sort of indoor space. Many people literally consider their screened-in porches as their second living room simply because of how the screens change the atmosphere for the area.
Another way people are making use of their screened-in porch is by making it into a secondary kitchen. In this manner, screened-in porches are great options for people who love to cook outside – especially barbecue.
Many people can attest that cooking outside is a truly different experience compared to cooking in the kitchen. Cooking can be hard enough without having to deal with the heat and the bugs. Fortunately, a secondary kitchen in a screened-in porch is a great option because the breeze and the trees make it feel like cooking outdoors without the negative parts.
People can even leave kitchen equipment in their screened-in porches because of the added protection due to the screens.
Entertaining Guests
Screened-in porches are great to host your guests. It is especially perfect for people who want to relax somewhere cool and peaceful in the presence of great friends.
Screened-in porches will offer your home a great new space to entertain guests. Being an entirely new room on its own, a screened-in porch can be a number of things. A table, some chairs, and some candles will make the screened-in porch a great place to have dinner. With the cool evening breeze and the soft candlelight, dinner on a screened-in porch will be a beautiful affair. The screens will ensure that debris and insects can’t find their way in and disrupt the evening.
If you want to have a meal inside the house, that’s perfectly fine. You can move the party out on the screened-in porch for drinks then. It’s just great to have a whole new space where you can bring your guests.
Conclusion
If you’re already considering a screened-in porch, then perhaps it’s time for you to make a decision soon. Screened-in porches are great ways to completely change your home without resorting to a full costly renovation. By simply adding screen walls around the porch, you get a new room to enjoy in your house without having to break the bank.