The veranda is ... Options and design ideas

A house with a veranda is not only an additional area, but also an opportunity to use it effectively. These cottages look much more interesting and cozy, because, depending on which chosen veranda project, it can be equipped with a living room, conservatory or library, saving the useful area of the main building.

Types of verandas

Quite often, people who are not versed in construction, confuse two such concepts as a terrace and veranda, believing that they are identical. In fact, these are completely different structures, and if the first one can be attached to an already completed building, then the second one should immediately enter the project of the house.

The veranda is a small annex to the house, which has a common foundation with it, whereas the terrace is a structure on an elevated base, only adjacent to it. There is a possibility of building a veranda after the building is put into operation, but you will have to pay for the registration of documents and a separate project for it, which will not be expensive.

There are two types of extensions:

• Closed porch, the target direction of which is the use of additional space as an integral part of the main building. Usually they are equipped with rest rooms or a dining room, a winter garden or a fireplace room.
• Open extensions serve as a resting place in the warm season and are just an addition to the house and decoration, but do not relieve the load of its useful area.

Modern technologies and materials make it possible to turn any verandas into a real architectural masterpiece. This is especially true for enclosed enclosures, since the ways of glazing allow them to experiment with different styles.

Materials for verandas

Even at a stage when the veranda project is only being considered, it is necessary to decide what function in the house it will perform. If it becomes a place to collect the whole family exclusively in the warm season, then you can create an economy option in the Australian style. It consists of a stone base and a wooden roof, laid in the form of boards with gaps. The distance between them allows the sun's rays to illuminate the entire space inside it. As a rule, the center of this annex is the BBQ or barbecue area, around which tables and garden furniture are concentrated. It is clear that on a rainy day such a veranda is damp under the windows, so it is good only in regions where the sun prevails. Probably, therefore, in areas with short and cool summers they are not popular.

Closed porch is a more expensive project, allowing to create a real architectural masterpiece. As practice shows, in regions with a temperate or warm climate, a combined appearance of annexes is often used, when in the summer the window frames are removed, and in winter they return to their places again. In these verandas you can often find fireplaces that create a warm atmosphere and warm you when the window is drifting.

It is important to know: a closed veranda is an opportunity to carry an auxiliary room outside the main building, for example a hallway or a greenhouse, so using materials such as stone and glass, though influencing the pressure on the foundation, opens a lot of opportunities for design experiments.

Closed extensions

The main materials for the veranda closed are stone, brick, wood and glass. Especially impressive look extensions with glazing from the base to the ceiling. In regions where the sun prevails for most of the year, many private traders even make a glass roof.

It is important to know: the veranda is a part of the house, therefore it must be built in a common spirit. Even if it was not originally in the project, you should follow a combination of materials and architectural style, then the house really will look elegant.

Exterior design of the veranda

As a rule, an open veranda is an occasion to surround your house with vegetation. This is how the owners of private houses and dachas decorate their outbuildings. Curly or eternally green plants especially in their honor. Such a natural shading creates not only a cosiness, but also an ornament of the facade of the building.

Another thing is the verandas of a closed type. Here there is where to go fancy. The combination of different materials, such as wood, stone and glass, or exterior decoration with decorative plaster is far from being all the options that you can externally decorate an extension.

Vinyl siding has been very popular recently thanks to its affordability and ease of installation. This is a special polymer material for the decoration of buildings, which is not afraid of dampness, temperature drops, fungus or fire, but it can simulate a tree or a lining.

It is important to know that for a veranda to look spectacular and for a long time served as a pleasant place to rest, you need to use materials that are not subject to external influence, durable and environmentally friendly for its exterior design.

Interior decoration options

As a rule, natural materials such as stone, wood or glass are used for interior decoration of verandas. For a floor covering the best option will be either a laminate or ceramic tiles.

Flowers and ornamental plants are used in the interior decoration of outbuildings, as often as in the outer. If the veranda is closed, then its attributes like fireplace, window tulle, upholstered furniture and other accessories are the opportunity for every owner to show his taste and talent as a designer.

Examples of using verandas

As a rule, the value of additional space in a private house can not be overestimated. Unfortunately, many owners of cottages see in the veranda only a place where you can hang a hammock, put a brazier and drink beer after work.

In fact, what is a veranda, understand not all. This is an opportunity:

• Take out of the house such premises as a dining room, a cinema room or a winter garden.
• An open veranda allows you to enjoy nature, be outdoors and feel part of the ecosystem.
• Closed porch creates a separate microclimate outside the walls of the house. Modern technologies allow to build extensions of any size, on most types of soils and use the best building materials for this.

Statistics say that the most popular today is the wooden veranda. In fact, given the fact that this is an environmentally friendly material, it is also an opportunity to maintain health, maintain energy at the right level and seek inspiration in nature.