18 Sunroom Decorating Ideas for a Bright, Relaxing Space

Consider how you plan to use your sunroom before you begin decorating the space. The room can serve as an extra living area, a light-filled dining space, or a quiet spot for relaxing. Outfit the area with sunroom furniture that suits your desired purpose, such as a table and bench seating for casual dining or a hanging rattan chair that serves as a comfy reading nook. If you plan to use your sunroom at night, consider mounting string lights overhead for a cozy glow.

Sunrooms offer an opportunity to extend your living and entertaining space, so make sure it's a comfortable area that you and your guests will enjoy spending time in. For cozy sunroom furniture, consider a large upholstered sectional that provides several seats and facilitates casual conversation. Make your sunroom feel more inviting by decorating with plush throw pillows, potted plants, and a coffee table laden with books.

A sunroom is a perfect place to play with bright colors and patterns. Start with a few simple pieces of furniture that will work with a variety of styles and color schemes. To add visual interest and texture, layer in a collection of similarly hued colors and patterns through upholstered cushions, pillows, area rugs, and other accents. As an added benefit, if you tire of a color or pattern, using it on a pillow, throw, or rug makes it simple to swap out.

Flooded with natural light from large sliding doors and transom windows, this sunroom breaks down the barriers between inside and outside. Even so, its modern farmhouse design vibe keeps with the rest of the home. A comfy gray sofa, leather chairs, and wood coffee table pick up on neutral colors and materials used elsewhere.

Draw inspiration for sunroom decorating ideas from the design style and color scheme present throughout the rest of your home. For a modern sunroom, for example, choose sleek furnishings made from contemporary materials such as blonde wood and painted metal. Keep the color palette constrained to neutral shades of cream, gray, and black with a few subtle pops of color mixed in.

This bright and airy sunroom demonstrates a savvy mix of patterns and colors. Upholstered rattan chairs offer a counterpoint to the white slipcovered sofa, which is decorated with an eclectic grouping of textured pillows. Underfoot, a geometric area rug splashes bold color across dark painted floors.

If your sunroom is fully protected from the elements, you can easily include indoor-only items, such as lamps, stereos, and TVs. In fact, installing the latter two can help draw family and friends to more outdoor-focused areas at nighttime, allowing you to max out sunroom hours. Here, an eclectic mix of black and white patterns adds visual punch to the gray walls and window treatments.

Many sunrooms have multiple points of entry. If some of those are used less often, it's OK to steal some space for a divided zone of activity. Here, most of the sunroom is given to living space, but a small, classical-style table and chairs offer a shady spot for outdoor eating.

This home's sunroom has two entryways, one of which was rarely used, but it lacks wall space either for placement of a sofa or artwork. In an inventive adaptation of windows, the homeowners co-opted one of the sunroom doors in order to hang artwork and orient the furniture. The cushion on a narrow storage bench picks up the pattern in the graphic throw.

The typical furniture for many corners in sunrooms is a table and maybe a chair. But to take advantage of every square inch, particularly in smaller spaces, consider adding a stand-alone or built-in corner bench. Outfitted with cushions and decorative pillows, these cabinets also provide extra storage. Fabrics tie together the turquoise, yellow, and orange color scheme.

Long and fairly narrow, this sunroom could have easily become a mishmash of furniture and materials. Instead, the homeowner divided it nearly in half, creating living and dining zones in this tropical-influenced space. Dark stain and a repeating use of wicker help to coordinate the furniture and textural wallpaper, while patterned pillows add pretty pops of color.

For more traditionally styled homes, a casual sunroom might feel out of place. Instead, it's best to continue the same vibe in finishes and fixtures. With large banks of windows, this sunroom is awash in light. Classic furniture lines and patterns, as well as decorative accents including the chandelier, maintain the formal feel.

Sunrooms are often oriented inward around comfortable seating areas, dining spaces, or other living arrangements. But if you have a view, you might want to rethink that convention. Take this sunroom, for example: Its furniture arrangement makes sure that the homeowners can bask in the striking, uninterrupted sightline. Simple accents, including a few pillows, a decorative rug, and a nautical-themed statue, keep distractions to a minimum.

Hardy elements, such as the slate floor and exterior shingles, seamlessly connect this interior space to the outside of the home. To add pretty color interest, the homeowners dressed up the dark wicker furniture with similar hues of bright colors such as turquoise, orange, and yellow. The lively colors contrast the darker elements and help create a cozy, inviting space.

While most homeowners rely on mirrors for very practical reasons (to see their reflections), they also serve a crucial secondary purpose: to bounce light around a room, eliminating shadows. Although sunrooms usually benefit from an abundance of light, corners, in particular, might appear dark. Here, the white color scheme keeps the sunroom bright during the day; at night, the mirror bounces off light from the lamp to make the space appear larger and brighter. Pretty details on the mirror and console table add visual interest to this small sunroom.

Many sunrooms resemble finished interior rooms more than outdoor structures. This one is a nice melding of the two design impulses, with a vaulted, open ceiling and unfinished walls accented by homey touches, including pretty window treatments and a contemporary sectional sofa. To add practical storage, consider baskets (which also serve as decorating accents) under furniture.

Although most sunrooms are centered around seating, a pretty piece of furniture such as a chest or dresser can be a great design focal point, too. Here, a dramatic chest offers hardworking storage and a jumping-off point for the eclectic room arrangement. Graphic painted flooring, an Oriental rug, and island-inspired rattan seating turn this sunroom into an at-home escape.

In less temperate climates, some sunrooms might only be used in warmer-weather seasons, particularly if windows are simply screened. That means you'll have to ensure that fabric, furniture, and accents can withstand any moisture, wind, or sun. The wicker furniture used here will stand up well against weather, and the graphic pattern of the sunroom's floor offers inspiration for the patterns on pillows and rug.