Outdoor patio/screened room - what do you love & hate?

We have a 3 season room, different than what you're describing. Every person I spoke to prior to us adding this to our home said that they wished theirs was larger. So, our room is a good size. We have a lot of space and seating in ours.

Just wondering....if you don't want the bugs why not screen the whole area? If bugs are an issue I'm guessing you won't use what isn't screened in.

I love my screened porch and highly recommend a ceiling fan.

Pretty much what everyone else said.  We used to have a screened-in porch (it has since come into disrepair and is on our loooong list of things to work on) and we loved it.  We also had the concrete floor.

One of the things I liked was that the screens were only halfway up.  It definitely helped keep out the water, splashing mud when it rained and random grass clippings.  It also allowed for a little ledge where I was able to put votives all around the 3 sides.  It was so pretty at nite w/all those candles glowing.

Things I hated were that whoever built it didn't use the right wood and it all rotted.  I'm guessing pressure treated is the way to go?  I also wish we had more lights & outlets and when we rebuild, we will be addressing that issue.  And like everyone else said, make it as big as your space/budget will allow.  Trust me - you can never have too big a porch!

I hate that I don't have one! I'd go out onto my patio a lot more if the mosquitoes would leave me alone!

We love ours. Let me second the ceiling fan and extra outlets. I work out there on nice days and it's nice to have a plug for my computer.

Pay the extra money for decent outdoor furniture -- Pier One stuff broke down from the weather in a few years. Lloyd Flanders is going on 18 years now and is in perfect condition (I've replaced the cushions.)

My screened porch is my absolute favorite spot in the house and I've never regretted putting it in.

If you have a wood floor, skip the oil-based porch paint. Ours is too slippery when it's wet. I should have left it alone.

Our screens were DIY, and we're perfectly capable of replacing them if the neighbor's dog runs through...

Hope this isn't too big.  I also did the screen under the deck boards to keep out bugs.  We have a ceiling fan and several outlets along with a cable hookup so we can watch TV out there.  One thing DH did was to make our screens in panels.  If one gets damaged all he has to do is pop it out and repair or replace.

you can't tell from the photo but it's a big room.  I have a table that seats 6 along with a portable buffet type thing and a seating group in one corner.

I'm having a hard time envisioning what you mean by not totally screened....will one of the sides be open/not screened and won't that defeat the purpose?

I always thought screened in porches were very 1970s, but I like the examples posted here. Minnesota Mom, I love the colors in yours and Linda S, your house is gorgeous and I love your cute little doggies!

We have a screen porch that we love. It is exposed on three sides, to the north, west and east and we get great breezes that way. Ours has the wood decking floor and we have the whole bottom of that screened. The actual screen portions are made of screen doors; they were originally wood doors but we replaced them about three years ago with vinyl door panels. We have the screens that are top to bottom open screen, with just some bars across the middle, and we like the added air flow/breeze rather than having partial screened walls. We have a ceiling fan with a light made for outdoors and we have the fan and light on dimmers so we can control both. We do have an outlet on the porch. If I were doing it again I'd have had them put another on the other side of the door into the house (door is in the middle of the wall), but it wouldn't be that difficult to have one put in now. We have fairly wide overhangs around the porch, which gives a little more protection from rain and sun. We just got a new sun shade and installed that on the part of the west wall where the early evening sun can be glaring if you're facing it. We have an aggregate patio to the west and that's where our grill and more outdoor seating are.

Some things I love: we can hose down the whole porch when needed, we can replace just one door panel if we need to (we bought an extra when we redid the panels), we can sit out there when it's raining or when the bugs are bad. With the fan it's comfortable even if there isn't a breeze.

We just had neighbors over last Friday. When they were arriving it was raining very lightly. Once they were on the porch, it was fine to be sitting outdoors. We had 13 people on it, and it was a little tight, but we could have squeezed in another. The outside dimensions of our porch are 14' by 14'.

One thing we did when we got new porch furniture last year was get two smaller, 30" round, tables instead of one bigger one. This gives us more options for arranging the furniture, it's big enough for the two of us to eat at one when we grill and it makes it easier to have nearby tables for drinks and food when we have a bigger group and need to bring out more seating. We got the Telescope Casual brand and have been very happy with it. I'm sitting on our porch now and it's a beautiful day with a great breeze!

I totally agree with the ceiling fan suggestions and an outlet or two out there.
Here's my board that I used for ideas when we built ours:
Pinterest Board

Patter, I love the brick supports for your deck & porch. Pretty!

Agh, thanks! The screen-in porch is much bigger than it looks because it goes back, and you can't see that in the photo.

We have a stone floor on our screen porch; obviously with stone or concrete you need to have a drain for water runoff. I agree that a ceiling fan is a huge plus. Our screen porch also has a fireplace with an outdoor TV hanging above it - it's my absolute favorite spot to watch football games.