When Bill and Beth renovated their bungalow, they did so with the intent of creating a strong connection between the in and outdoors, and their sleeping porch is one of the best examples. It sits just off their modestly-sized master bedroom, and has many of the simple comforts of a regular room: loungeable mattress, light bedding, semi-privacy/shade screen facing the neighbors, and a ceiling fan. They spend more than half the nights of each year on the sleeping porch, which looks over their luscious garden and backyard that Beth has designed using all native plants. The sleeping porch's covering is part of their green roof system, and below the porch sits a bubbling retention pond that collects water run off from the back of their sloping yard before channeling it to the rain garden on the side of their house.
Open air sleeping porches have always been on my dream house list, but after seeing Bill and Beth's I have an even deeper love for them, especially after hearing form Bill that they have never been bothered by mosquitoes since their porch is on the second story and mosquitoes are mostly however just above ground level.
To check out the rest of their amazing home, visit their house tour.
To learn more about Helicon Works, Bill and Beth's green building collaborative, visit their website.
(Images: 1: Helicon Works, 2-7: Leah Moss)
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What a blissful idea. Would have loved to have access to a cozy outdoor porch like this during our heat records lately... (air conditioning is a rarity in Seattle)
Love it. Although I would probably insist on screens.
wow... love this gorgeous idea, and how could you not smile waking up to that view!? For any mosquito problems you could just hang mosquito nets where the bamboo shades are.
This is utterly inspiring, makes me want to drag my mattress outside right now! No mozzies here, but the last time I did I woke covered in dew... I suppose that is why real sleeping porches are covered.
We had a bed out on our porch in Gibsons, BC on the Sunshine Coast with a view of the bay and Keats Island. We slept there all summer and it was sublime.
The footprint is just big enough for a mattress, no wasted space. The touches are so tropical without having to decorate with palm leaf things. Calm, serene and understated. So Zen. Whoa. Inspired I am.
This is great but wonder how they deal with insects without screens. Also want to comment that where I live, and is probably the case for many if not most....it would be a huge deal to get a structure like that approved by the bureaucratic establishment that oversees home construction. Just a comment from someone who's been there.
A friend of mine's parents have a screened porch with a hanging bed! On our last visit there, it was all any of us could do not to just nap the whole day away out there =)
I'd be looking for a way to hang mosquito netting. That yard is beautiful, but the shade and plants would be mosquito hell for me.
I don't get it? Do people really whittle their lives away by napping?
I'd been dreaming of an outdoor living space...but now I may change that to sleeping!!!
CortneyR to answer your question, Yes, they do:) and it is amazing!
Reminds me of my childhood Indian summer. Sleeping on the roof (we have flat ones back home, perfect for parties, plays, naps, you say it.) with mosquito nets.
I think its a beautiful room. On these past really hot days, I've taken to sleeping in my tent, in my backyard, without the rain fly, even though I'm 25 and WAY to old for backyard camping. My backyards fully fenced in so no one knows I'm out there besides the cat. My husband thinks I'm nuts but its just too hot inside sometimes. My dream house will have a sleeping porch (with mosquito netting if necessary).