Indoor/Outdoor/Indoor Living Spaces: Sunroom, Deck, Mudroom, Kitchen

Original post, May 20, 2008:

One of the big selling points for me with the new house was the sunroom and the yard. The old hippie in me needs a place to walk around barefoot in the grass in the summertime, where I can plant flowers and vegetables and enjoy the warmth and sunshine outdoors. The sunroom reminds me of the porch at my grandparents' house on the lake, where we spent lots of time during the summer when I was growing up. This is a more finished version, with windows and a slate floor.

The sunroom is off the den. Here's the view when you first enter the room:




To the right is the doorway to go outside:




We also want to be able to entertain, and there's a great spot for a platform deck off the sunroom.



The doorway from which I took the picture is off the sun room. The doorway straight ahead leads to the garage. The doorway to the right is off the mudroom, which is separate from but adjacent to the kitchen.


Here's the mudroom, which may or may not get absorbed into the kitchen at some point:



There are hook-ups for a washer and dryer to the left, and a second sink AND dishwasher in the mudroom. For a woman who doesn't cook or entertain much now, these seem like extravagances. But something tells me we'll be happy to have them. It's the presence of these items that first allowed me to imagine taking down the wall and expanding the kitchen.



This is the wall that would be removed, were we to expand the kitchen. So the fridge would need a home. Here's the whole kitchen, currently. The fridge is behind the open door on the right (you can just see the door handle)




I think we could put the fridge where the stove is, and put the cooktop and ovens in an island in the middle. The kitchen really is small, and opening up the wall between the two spaces would really help that. But it's also a shallow space, so we'll see once we've spent some time there. With buying the house, getting married, and having a baby this year, a kitchen renovation is hardly at the top of the list.


Postscript 7/31/08: The Sunroom has become Aaron's studio, the deck has been postponed until next summer, the mudroom is full of empty cardboard boxes. But the kitchen is clean! Sort of. Got a few things to unpack in there, but it's looking good. Need to set up the eat-in area. We're throwing a housewarming party later in August, so we have a timeframe for getting it all together. And it's getting there.