By Herb Lagois
Sweet sunshine! Here I am, admiring it as it filters into our sunroom.
I’m realizing how wonderful and how important indoor-outdoor integration is. And I’m thinking about how many homes in Ottawa could benefit from this simple pleasure.
Our home, like most traditional homes, did not take advantage of the outdoors when it was built. It’s too bad, because there’s an important visual aspect to the way we view the outdoors in our everyday lives. It can impact not just our comfort but our moods, even our mental health. There’s the way a house feels no matter what the weather. Some houses are dark even when it’s sunny.
The sunshine factor
Here's a test of the sunshine factor in your environment: When you’re seated, do you strain to look over window sills? Do you look outside only to see a wall? What about getting to your backyard? Is it a challenge? Do you need to navigate around furniture and through spaces? What’s the door like to the outside? Are there steps? Are they solid and comfortable? Do you walk out to a comfortable, attractive porch or deck?
A problem of stuff
Do you have things that tend to gather and multiply at your door without a sensible place for them – things like boots and outdoor equipment, gardening tools, pet leashes, car keys, mail, school bags, and umbrellas?
Ours was like that. Our solution was to create a sunroom with floor-to-ceiling windows, vaulted ceilings and reflective flooring, a room that also addressed our storage needs. We now have better mudroom storage for all the “stuff” a family generates, so we don’t have to look at it all the time.
This is much more than a sunroom now. It’s also our family room because everyone gravitates here.
Three-season room design
Through good design, there is always great potential within existing spaces by opening them up, introducing natural light, and providing efficient outdoor access.
In our Ottawa climate, I like the idea of a three-season space, a space that offers a retreat during inclement weather or retreat for “shoulder” seasons (imagine a cozy fireplace). Of course, there are factors to consider: for instance, aesthetics, spatial planning, bylaws, septic for rural properties, landscaping, etc. Naturally, how much we invest needs to make sense too.
Holistic approach
Our experienced design professionals at Lagois Design∙Build∙Renovate take all this into consideration by using a holistic design approach. Holistic is a way of future-proofing your home so you can make changes later on without stepping backwards. This is why we place so much emphasis on design. I can’t stress how important it is to take the proper time for planning – for example, so you can live in place for years to come or have a home that is net zero (or as close as possible to it).
How did our new sunroom/family room addition turn out? Well, it was one of the best decisions we could have made. Like many of our homeowners we helped love where they live told me: “if only we had done this sooner!”
The outdoors is integrated into our home, and therefore into our daily lives. Even on cloudy days or the dark days of Fall, our home is airy, bright, and super comfortable.
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