A gallery of modern conservatories & sunroom makeover ideas, with this beginning image showing a beautiful modern conservatory of a luxury home with relaxing cane wicker style chairs and sofa and an amazing stunning beach outlook below. - A school giving instruction in one or more of the fine or dramatic arts; specifically, a school of music, or
- A greenhouse, usually attached to a dwelling, for growing and displaying plants.
And yet, when we tend to think of Conservatories in our homes, most of us don’t often think of them as being places where we host school teaching classes, or give music lessons. Nor do we generally think of them as greenhouses within our homes. Sure there may be some folk who do use their Conservatories as places to grow their indoor potted plants, but rarely do you see a home owner with large displays of plants within their conservatory.
The idea these days for our modern Conservatories and Sunrooms is that they are an attachment, or an extension to our homes that provide a sheltered sitting and relaxing area that also often has glass, or windows on all sides and even on the ceilings which makes them often resemble a glasshouse attached to a home. When these rooms are exposed to large amounts of sunlight, they often get very hot inside, and hence it can often be desirable to provide additional covering, in the form of awnings, blinds or shade covers to enable the incoming sunlight and consequent heat build up to be controlled or at least kept to an acceptable level.
Interior of modern home conservatory with tiled flooring, dining table and chairs, a small selection of potted plants and door leading from a brick house and one to the outside garden.
When looking for ideas for doing a sunroom makeover, or perhaps even adding a conservatory on to the end of your house, there are some important points to consider. For example as Anne Swithinbank, a celebrated member of the Gardeners’ Question Time team and author of The Conservatory Gardener, published in 1991 but still a standard work in its field today, suggests the following;
Lounge area in newly restored rebuilt house leading to a lovely tiled floor timber conservatory with seating and pot plants.
“You really do need to work out, in advance, whether your conservatory is a way of extending your living space, or extending your garden. You have to think carefully and honestly about how you want it to work. Are the people to slot around the plants, or the plants to slot around the people?”
This is an evening shot of a contemporary modern luxurious conservatory design with seating and plants
Whatever your answer is to that question of who or what is the purpose of your intended Conservatory, Anne adds some other additional interesting ideas to think about when either doing a makeover or thinking of a new build add-on.
Aluminum conservatory with tables, chairs & furniture and door leading to garden.
“Your answer will determine, first of all, what kind of flooring you are going to have. If your conservatory is primarily for plants, then carpets aren’t going to work; you’ll need a tiled floor, probably, perhaps with the odd drain.
Beautiful cantilevered stairway in an atrium conservatory with lots of plants.
“At the same time, too, you’ve got to think about levels of ventilation. What suits you may not suit the plants. On the other side of the coin, if you build in too many opening windows and vents, you could be making your house vulnerable to burglars, especially when you’re away.”
Ornate well decorated conservatory interior with tiled floor, sofa, chairs, tables and a garden outlook.
Therefore, building a modern Conservatory is more complicated than most advertising will lead you to believe, and the temperature really is the biggest issue of all. The last thing you need is a room that becomes and unbearable, unusable sauna in the summer, and an equally unbearable fridge freezer during the winter.
Dark wooden conservatory with table and chairs and a generous display of indoor potted plants
Conservatory extension to a family home with leather sofa and tiled floor
Timber framed conservatory set up with table, chairs and potted plants
Modern conservatory within a house setup as a dining area with table and chairs.
Modern sunroom conservatory extending into the garden with a featured brick wall.
Interior of a modern kitchen looking out onto a beautiful conservatory and garden
A sunny Conservatory room with transparent vaulted ceiling, wooden dining table and chairs, relaxed seating and a stainless steel barbecue for al-fresco dining