The Solarium

Our house is set up in a Philadelphia split style. This means that our 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms are set up in an unconventional way. When you walk in the front door there is a long hallway in front of you. On your right is our living room which opens right up into our dinning room and then opens up into the kitchen, pantry, and mud room. On your left when you walk in to our house is the third bedroom and a bit down the hall, the first bathroom. Just past the third bedroom is a staircase. If you take a left at the top of the stairs you will find the second bedroom and to the right is the master bedroom and another bathroom. It sounds a bit confusing when you write it out, but it actually flows very nicely.

When we moved in, most of our old furniture fit perfectly. We of course made the master into our bedroom and made the second bedroom into our guest room. The kitchen was all set up for us and fitting all of our dishes and pots and pans was easy. We bought a new living room set and dining room table pretty quickly. The only room that stumped us was the third bedroom, the one on the first floor.

We did not want to make the third bedroom into a bedroom and did not need a home office. We decided to put our old living room furniture and desk in that room and make a second living room or sitting room out of the space. We wound up with a very cozy room, but also a space that we rarely used...until now.

We moved into our house in the summer and it was HOT. We had 3 air conditioners, one for the main living room and dinning room, one for our bedroom, and one for the kitchen. With only 2 of us in the house, this was all that we needed. And so, as summer turned to fall we almost never used the 3rd bedroom.

But as winter rolled around with its insanely cold temperatures, we re-discovered the third bedroom. Our living room and dinning are great. They are open, have 7 windows between the two, and have a great flow. They also keep their heat really well, especially for an older home. However, even with our new energy efficient windows which have been freshly caulked, our main living areas can't hold a candle to the third bedroom.

The third bedroom is a good sized bedroom, possibly the largest in the house, but it is smaller than the open area created by the living room, dinning room, and kitchen having an open floor plan. It also has a door on it which helps to keep the heat in. There are only 2 windows in caparison to 7 and there are 2 heating sources in one small room. Add in a cozy couch, TV, and 2 computers and we are in heaven. Instead of not knowing what to do with our third bedroom, we know have a winter sitting room, or solarium. PERFECT!

Have I mentioned that we love our house?