What to do with a converted back porch

[Anonymous]

Moved into a Cape Cod recently. Attached to the kitchen there's a small room that clearly used to be a back porch but is now enclosed to be part of the house. (I say "clearly" because the floor is sloped, and I hear that's how porches are built.)

Currently the room has disgustingly dirty carpet and is pretty much not usable. I'm trying to brainstorm ways to fix it up to make it a workable space. The catch of course is that I don't have much money to spend. A few thousand at most.

If I tore up the carpet what kind of flooring would you suggest I put it? Is it a waste to put down new flooring in a room that's slanted anyway?

[Anonymous]

No answers, but we have something similar, except that our floor isn't sloped. Do you know if the room is insulated/heated? Ours is not and one thing we didn't realize when we moved in is that it is FREEZING in the winter. Just something to think about, since you mention you just moved in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No answers, but we have something similar, except that our floor isn't sloped. Do you know if the room is insulated/heated? Ours is not and one thing we didn't realize when we moved in is that it is FREEZING in the winter. Just something to think about, since you mention you just moved in.

Thanks for the tip. I have no idea. I hope it's insulated, though, since it opens right into the kitchen. There's no door that can be closed.

[Anonymous]

Paint, remove the carpet and replace with a cheap carpet (indoor/outdoor), vinyl flooring or laminate. Easy DIY.

[Anonymous]

Have you visited Young House Love? Even if you don't DIY (which is most of what the site is about) there is a lot of info about design, etc. They just opened up their sunroom to make an indoor/outdoor space.

[Anonymous]

We have the same kind of enclosed porch - we use it as a playroom and keep most of the kids' toys out there. It has insulation in the walls, but is not connected to the AC or heat in the house (no vents). There are French doors between it and the main house and in spring, summer and fall we leave those open. In the winter we put a space heater in it, which seems to work well.

[Anonymous]

PP here - we installed wall-to-wall indoor/outdoor carpeting, but in retrospect keeping the concrete floor, painting it a nice color, then buying a nice indoor/outdoor rug would have been more practical. We have two kids and a dog though.