When Liz and Kevin Carpenter decided to renovate their back patio and add a sunroom onto their home, the renovation couldn’t have come any sooner.
“Our outdoor space was in dire need of a rehab,” Liz says. “Our house was built in the mid-’60s, and we had an old concrete patio that was crumbling, and it just needed replaced.”
The Carpenters worked with The Cleary Company to execute the vision. Choosing to partner with them was a no-brainer; this renovation was the fourth project the Carpenters had done with The Cleary Company. Luckily that also meant there weren’t any major surprises during the process, Liz says – save for one.
“The big surprise was the pandemic, because they broke ground in February of 2020,” she says, “and then, it was the unknown of, ‘Oh my gosh, am I about to have this big mud pit in my back yard?’ But, you know, things went on.”
Things indeed went on, and the renovation was complete in early summer 2020. The only delays in the process were due to supply chain shortages, says Liz.
The outdoor remodel includes the sunroom addition on the back of the house, a new patio space and a pergola.
“It’s always been a dream of my husband’s and mine to add a sunroom on to the back of the kitchen,” Liz says. “It’s south-facing and gets a lot of sun, so it’s the perfect space for one.”
Liz says she and Kevin have used the sunroom every month since it’s been built.
“Even in the winter,” she adds. “We’d be out there with the fireplace going. It’s very well built, so it holds the heat really well. We got it up to 80 degrees out there when there’d be snow out back!”
Adding a fireplace to the sunroom was a stroke of genius by the Carpenters, which is what enables them to use the room year-round.
“I did the Pinterest research before we decided to do this,” Liz says, “and so we kind of had a vision that we wanted a stone-type fireplace to be the centerpiece of the room.”
And while the fireplace is the standout feature of the renovation, Liz says there are too many excellent aspects to choose just one favorite.
“It’s wonderful to sit out there and just feel like you’re in nature even though you’re indoors, because you’re surrounded by windows and you can see the birds and the trees,” she says. “We love the pergola, especially at night. It lights up and it’s really, really pretty at night. And it’s nice to have a patio. I feel like there’s so much more living space in my house with the patio and the sunroom.”
As for the rest of the family, it’s clear the sunroom is a top contender for favorite part of the renovation.
“My son would go out there in the middle of the blazing 90-degree heat, and just sit down there with the windows open,” says Liz. “He loves to sit out there and watch TV.”
Even the family dog, Mango, gets to enjoy the addition.
“(She) loves it, too, because those windows – she can just see everything in the back yard, and she just patrols and watches the squirrels,” Liz says.
At the end of the day, the remodel couldn’t have come at a better time.
“It’s just another nice living space in the house,” Liz says. “You know, a change of scenery from being home all the time. It’s just nice to not be surrounded by the same four walls.”
Sarah Robinson is an editor. Feedback welcome at srobinson@cityscenemediagroup.com.
