I think you could spend a ton of money to get the right look; expensive windows, ironwork, etc.--OR, just get the proportions of the windows right, not spend a lot, and still have it look fantastic. To my mind, good design is more important than expensive materials (tho I'd love to have both!) Make sure the knee wall is lower than you think it should be; you can see in lots of the pictures, they're just too high, and ugly. You want strong vertical elements. If the knee wall is too substantial, it overpowers the vertical elements of the windows, and you notice the wide horizontal band at the bottom too much.

When I do my conservatory, I hope to have the windows come down to 15-18" off the floor level. At 18", you've got the perfect height for seating ledge.

The po closed in my front porch, and the windows start 34" off the floor. It is off-balance, claustrophobic, and just looks wrong.

I am looking for something like that for my planned screen porch on the back of our farm house. Our little farmhouse is not nearly fancy enough for a conservatory and I have a little porch I'm adding into the kitchen as a year round seating area. Being in the country though, I want a screened porch to keep out the bugs, barn kitties, porcupines, racoons, etc (LOL) but I don't want it wet from rain, or full of snow in the winter!

I think if they develop a window that does what those front screen door do...it would be perfect for a glass screen porch with roll down screens on the top half, that are hidden when it's all glass. Don't you think someone would think of that?

BTW, if anyone has seen these, please let me know ASAP!

Thanks and I hope you find a good solution to your sunroom/porch :)

I like the roll up or roll aside screens. I tried to convince my DH to put them on the sliding glass doors in his sun room up north. The regular sliding screen panels were destroyed by the cats and squirrels, don't know about the raccoons. But down south I enclosed my carport for my parrots, and had to use hardware cloth 1/2" size on the interior of the regular screening, because of raccoons trying to get to a tasty meal of parrot meat. I did not have operable glass or Lexan anywhere in this enclosure though.

But roll-up screens is the way to go with windows or sliding doors you plan to open for ventilation.

Raccoons are a force to be reckoned with. I lost one of a pair of my birds to a coon, who pulled the poor baby through the cage bars bite by bite. It was awful, and the bird's mate was in shock after that. I now prepare for the worst that could happen and hope for the best.

I would consider a room with such an installation a THREE SEASON ROOM, since it is not very weatherized for the colder climates.

My solution is for a permanent 4 season install, and I'd do it with Lexan panels. So far we've enclosed our front porch, leaving the wood members as it looked when it was a screened porch, and the Lexan panels go ceiling to floor. Then on our back porch, which had been partially enclosed with the stucco siding of the rest of the house, but had screening up top, we used Lexan panels there too. Now this back porch is ready to incorporate into our kitchen, and it already has some cabinets on either side of our big fridge, and also a pie safe with dishes in it and the stacking laundry center too. Plus, the back door is a glass door with a blind in between the double glazing, so we can see the little wood deck off the back.

The Lexan panels are very sturdy (bullet proof) and also weather proof. I consider the space 4 season now, and with a small window a/c for the hottest weather, that is where my parrots now live, happily getting the sunlight which makes their feathers look so beautiful, and having a sense of participation with the environment.

One thing to remember if you are enclosing a porch, is that the floor has a big slope away from the house, and it must be levelled if it is enclosed...or the walls must take the slope into account.