When you think of your ideal outdoor space, what do you envision? Certainly an empty space doesn’t come to mind. Outdoor furnishings make your outdoor room a living breathing space full of function and beauty just like the contents of our interior rooms are the things that truly make our house a home.
The most important thing when designing a screen porch is determine exactly how you will use the room. With our interior rooms, we don’t have this flexibility. Our only option is to work with the space and layout that “comes with the house”. But your new screen porch can and should be designed completely to suit how you want to live.For example, are you planning on using your porch for dining, seating or both?
When we work with homeowners, once the homeowner determines the main use of their screened porch, we then discuss the furnishings that they wish to include. And we discuss this in detail. You’ll see why this is so important.
For example, deciding what shape and size you anticipate your outdoor dining table to be will determine the amount of space you need down to the square footage. Ample space for furniture pull-out room and creating enough space for good path and traffic flow is crucial to the enjoyment you will get out of using your space. Too much furniture, or furniture that is too big for your outdoor space will crowd the space and make it less livable and enjoyable. This is the reason that many times I walk the homeowners into their interior living rooms where we take measurements. This gives them an example of how much room they need for seating and eating.
Utilizing experience and some math, we can determine the minimal square footage you will need to accomplish your outdoor living goals.
Here’s an example. As a general rule of thumb a standard outdoor dining table encompasses an area 6 feet long and 42 inches wide. Each chair will add an additional two feet to this. Ample pull out room for each chair will add another two feet per chair. This adds up to a space that takes up a 12′ x 12′ area. In addition to dining tables, most homeowners want a place for seating as well, which will take up additional space. Once you add side tables and accompaniment pieces, you are looking at more space than most homeowners had anticipated for their furnishings.
One of our goals as an outdoor living structure expert is to provide you with an outdoor space that will fit your furniture as well as your lifestyle. The furnishings you choose aren’t the only factor that dictates the size of your screened porch. How it attaches to your home and proper placement is also a crucial factor of how large your area can be.
Having your furnishing ideas in mind before you meet with your contractor is very important. You don’t have to purchase prior to our consultation, but it’s great to have some specific ideas about how you want to use the room and what furniture you will add. For example, if you are thinking of adding a table that seats 4 but want 6 chairs, that will add a couple feet of needed space to accommodate the use of those chairs.
Contact Archadeck of Columbus to learn more about choosing the right size outdoor space to suit your needs. We can customize a screen porch design that will become your new family room. Call for a free consultation today (740) 879 – 3730 or email us at
westcolumbus@archadeck.net
See more examples of well-designed screen porches that offer plenty of function and beauty by visiting our screen porch and outdoor living photo galleries located on our website.
Columbus Decks, Porches and Patios by Archadeck of Columbus 