Content for 13 years with the standard screen porch that was de rigueur in the floor plans for all condos built in her East Brainerd neighborhood, Joan Shadden began to toy with the idea of replacing her porch with a sunroom at the beginning of this year.

“So many days I couldn’t enjoy that porch when the weather was bad,” she said, “and we don’t have extremely cold winters here, so I thought a sunroom would be nice to sit in year-round.”

Ms. Shadden said she flipped through magazines considering different styles yet always came back to the curved glass of a Victorian conservatory. But she said once she saw that sleek curve on the sunroom fronting East Brainerd Road at Hullco Exterior’s office, she knew she’d made her choice.

Ms. Shadden’s new Victorian conservatory with bull nose is a dramatic glass octagonal with domed glass roof that allows the sun in from all angles. Although the curved sunroom is still somewhat new to Chattanooga, the style has been around quite a while in Florida and in Northern states, said Fred Whitson, Hullco design consultant.

“It’s called the bull nose because of where the angles all meet in the front and the hub at the roof,” Mr. Whitson said of the Four Seasons sunroom design. “It is for a unique customer because the cost factor is there. But when people put one of those on the back of their homes, everyone tends to be drawn to it.”

Mr. Whitson said the glass is an energy-efficient, patented design called Conservaglass.

“The roof glass is more tinted than the wall, which helps with shading, and the insulation factors are a lot higher,” Mr. Whitson said.

Older models of sunrooms were known to heat up as the day progressed, making them uncomfortably hot during mid to late afternoon.

“You still have to heat and cool the sunroom,” Mr. Whitson explained, “but with treated glass, the glass is designed to slow down the heating process to where you can keep it comfortable all day inside the room.”

Ms. Shadden has enhanced the open airy atmosphere of her sunroom with a seashore motif. She said the white wicker furniture she found with French blue and white upholstered cushions set the color palette. She chose a cool, marbled-beige tile for the floor because its color, she said, reminded her of sand.

When her contractor told her the sunroom’s addition was going to leave a foot-wide indentation where it connected to the condo’s living room, she suggested building shelves into that narrow space.

Now shells of various shapes and lighthouses fill those built-ins, accenting the sea motif. Finishing touches to the beach theme are blue-and-white-checked area rugs. Seashell and anchor shapes even dangle from the brass fan pulls.

The airy decor is anchored by a sturdy, inlaid mahogany sideboard beneath a large framed painting. Blue and white ginger jars complete the color scheme.

“I wanted a formal but comfortable look,” Ms. Shadden said. “I really added this room for me, just to enjoy my home, not for resale purposes.

“I come out here every morning to read my paper. On a moonlit night, I’ll come out and watch the stars, and I’ve found I like sitting out here during thunderstorms and watching the lightning flash.

“A sunroom just makes you feel like you are somewhere else besides your porch,” Ms. Shadden said.

Mr. Whitson said there are numerous glass-roof designs in sunrooms. He suggests consumers research designs, which drives the price of an addition, as well as how they plan to use their sunroom before consulting with professionals.

“One guy thought it would be neat to watch the stars from his bedroom, but his wife wasn’t too keen on that,” Mr. Whitson said.

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