The Ultimate Guide to Designing a Sunroom
Interior designers share how the multipurpose spaces can transcend climates, seasons, and styles
Like the sun-drenched tablescapes in Pierre Bonnard’s languorous paintings and the radiant domestic scenes of David Hockney, a well-considered sunroom can offer a peaceful retreat for relishing morning light and provide immersion in the outdoors while keeping the elements at bay. That idea anchored Benjamin Vandiver’s overhaul of an idyllic Sag Harbor, New York, cottage. When space constraints turned the family’s dining area into a playroom, the home’s narrow porch quietly absorbed daily rituals, from casual gatherings and remote work sessions to extended evenings spent entertaining. Vandiver responded with a custom dining table clad in emerald zellige tiles, vintage French oak chairs, and a Richard Mishaan chandelier. “When the porch functions as the heart of the home, it’s sweet in many ways,” Vandiver says, adding that his clients’ love of the space runs so deep that as another full renovation gets underway, the sunroom will stay the same. “It was the only part they didn’t want to change.”
Freeze Frame
In colder climates, sunrooms must work harder than their warm-weather counterparts. For a log cabin retreat on Lake Michigan’s windswept shoreline in Northpoint, Michigan, Jay Jeffers approached the lounge area as an all-seasons refuge calibrated to fluctuating temperatures. The homeowners requested a sanctuary for napping or reading through the afternoon, prompting Jeffers to select personality-driven furnishings that could withstand wear and tear. A 19th-century French Napoleon III daybed sets the tone, the coral hues of its cushions echoed in bobbin armchairs that naturally gel with the cabin’s early-1900s bones. Performance fabrics throughout mitigate precipitation, cold snaps, and wet swimsuits.
“Nothing too precious,” Jeffers recalls of the brief, noting that the house, built for Hollis Baker of the Baker Furniture family, already carried an easygoing spirit. That balance between classical reference and practical comfort shapes interiors by Jeffers more broadly, including those featured in his forthcoming book, Modern Classic: Tailored Homes, Timeless Style (Gibbs Smith). In this space, removable windows allow in summer breezes or seal the sitting area against winter cold. “Wrap yourself in a cashmere blanket,” he says, “and it’s a year-round room.”
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Looking Glass
“Sunrooms help extend the seasons here in Switzerland,” states Erlenbach-based designer Ina Rinderknecht. A glass-enclosed wintergarten, often affixed to a single-family home, captures daylight and maintains ties to the outdoors during long, overcast alpine winters. When renovating a palatial villa perched above Lake Zurich in picturesque Küsnacht, she transformed one of three such structures into a glasshouse dining room with the airy, cultivated ambience of an arboretum.
Rinderknecht outfitted the room with woven indoor-outdoor seating and flexible tables that shift seamlessly from everyday activities to larger occasions, complemented by rattan pendants and petrol-green glass tables that echo the resplendent landscape beyond. The room’s adaptability enables the clients to meet any moment with ease, whether hosting guests or settling in for a quiet afternoon. “Don’t limit yourself to the idea that sunrooms are just a seasonal thing,” she adds. “Treat them as a full room, whether a smoker’s lounge or a fondue chalet.” The result creates a venue for what Rinderknecht describes as “the good life,” even when the weather turns unpredictable.
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Flow State
For homes in California, sunrooms emerge from a distinctly West Coast indoor-outdoor way of life. That ethos informed a Venice Beach residence by Montalba Architects, where the living room sits between two gardens and opens fully through floor-to-ceiling glass doors, recasting it as a breezeway when conditions allow. Two clean-lined sofas facing each other establish a seating area, which provides a sense of enclosure, even as the walls slide away. “Simple things like the seating and rug have a big impact on that,” explains architect David Montalba.
When designing glass-lined rooms, lighting demands as much finesse as furniture or layout. Montalba warns that poorly planned exterior illumination can undermine the mood. “If exterior lighting isn’t done well, it can feel like you’re in
a mirrored room at night,” he says. Thoughtful illumination of gardens and surrounding plantings prevents interior reflections from closing in, allowing the room to remain outward-looking long after sunset. Across climates and contexts, the most successful sunrooms prove their value by staying in constant use.
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A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2026 Spring Issue in the section “Bright Side.” Subscribe to the magazine.