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When interior designer Greg Baudoin and his partner Greg Campbell, a floral designer, built a lakefront home in Snow Lake Shores, Miss. bought and renovated, they expected to use it as a weekend residence.
Covid changed that and allowed them to break away from their primary residence in Memphis. which is about an hour away, and spend most of their time in the two-bedroom stateroom with a 16-foot by 16-foot screened-in porch that they use as the master bedroom.
“We added casement windows with privacy screens so it can be an all-season porch and we can enjoy all year round,” said Mr. Baudoin, 57. They also insulated the area but sometimes rely on the warmth of the living room to use a wood-burning stove extra warmth when temperatures drop.
This is not a spartan sleeping veranda. There’s a vintage picnic table at the foot of the bed, and in the corner of the room there’s a family heirloom rocking chair filled with a mix of American and French antiques.
There is an entablature of clapboard that rests on the plank and slat cladding and forms the interior walls. The ceiling is painted a traditional sky blue with beadboard. “The color is a tradition in the south, mainly in the deep south where I come from, and has roots in early Creole culture,” Baudoin said.
Custom-made by Mr Baudoin and upholstered in fabric by Champalimaud of France, the bed has a head and footboard of equal height so that at different times of the year you can change the direction of your sleeping position to capture the change in seasonal views. “It’s like a daybed,” said Mr. Baudoin. “We call it ‘everyone wins the bed’ because no matter which direction you look, there is a good view at any time of the year.”
The use of fresh air rooms to relax has proven to be beneficial to health. Studies show that it can boost the immune system and reset the body’s circadian rhythm, which can be easily disrupted by stress and the blue light from electronics with screens.
“One of the treatments that can restore our basic circadian rhythm is bright early morning light like natural sunlight that occurs while sleeping outdoors or camping,” said Dr. Richard Friedenheim, the medical director of the Sleep Disorders Center for Abington Hospital – Jefferson Health in Abington, Pennsylvania.
Designers also praise the benefits of biophilic design. “Protected spaces appeal to all of our senses,” says Arthur Andersson of Andersson / Wise, an Austin, Texas architecture and design studio that has created similar spaces for residential customers across the country. “A sleeping porch designed to absorb the prevailing breezes, the path of the sun, and the sounds of nature has great power to regenerate and revitalize.”
For Michelle Fries, an interior designer from Minneapolis who specializes in the design of these intimate areas, verandas convey a special feeling of nostalgia for many and their ability to harmonize with nature make them unsung heroes of the rooms. “In the land of 10,000 lakes, this is one way to make the most of summer rainstorms,” she said.
Before the invention of air conditioning, verandas were ubiquitous, especially in the south and west. “A sleeping porch is not that different from a sun room or an enclosed porch,” said Richard Bubnowski, an architect at Point Pleasant Beach, NJ. The most important thing in the northeast is alignment with the sun, he said. “If you plan to use it for most of the year make sure it is exposed to the sun so that passive heating goes down in winter, and in midsummer you might want lots of trees around it for privacy and shade.”
In Gloucester, Massachusetts, a rustic pagoda-like pavilion made of reclaimed barn wood under a canopy of native black cherries and poplars holds yard in landscape architect Hilarie Holdsworth’s backyard.
Every spring, Ms. Holdsworth, 57, officially opens the 10 by 12 foot space, which was built in 2013, arranging a futon and piles of pillows for warm weather. “We jokingly call it the pillow palace,” said Mrs. Holdsworth. “It’s a great place to sleep when it’s piping hot.”
The screened hideout cost about $ 15,000 to build and will be used from mid-May through October. Its functionality is an asset, said Ms. Holdsworth, but its presence creates a wonderful eye-catcher in the garden, just like a pergola or masonry. “It’s a sculptural element in the gardens. You can’t always rely on plants only. “
During the pandemic, cave tents set up in the courtyard were also a welcome escape from familiar spaces and a reason to bring families together.
Betsy and Joe Parker of Des Moines, Iowa had considered the idea of a gazebo in their back yard, but when Covid arrived they focused on creating additional living space just steps from their three bedroom home.
At first they thought of building a tiny house out of a grain box, but the thought of the hot Iowa summers changed their minds. “We decided we would find little comfort in a steel building with no ventilation,” said Ms. Parker, 40, manager of an integrated marketing agency for nonprofits.
Internet research led them to a $ 700 four-season tent that was 16.5 feet in diameter and had a built-in vent pocket for the pipe of a small wood-burning stove, which they bought for about $ 200 to heat the tent.
They moved in from last October and spent about two nights a week outdoors until the seasonal cold obscured the stove’s capabilities. But as soon as March rolled around, they slept again in their open-air bedroom. “Sleeping outside has been a wonderful addition to our lives that we didn’t know we’d miss,” said Ms. Parker.
To create a level surface, they built a gravel foundation that they can use as a terrace in the future if they want to remove the tent. The surrounding landscaping was also redesigned last year, with new lighting, birdhouses, and hammocks that cost about $ 1,150. Now they are considering adding a small pond to their “oasis” in the backyard.
The inside of the tent is furnished with a double bed, chairs, a TV and a portable record player that replaced the stove in the summer. A porta potty has been added to the corner of the property for convenience and is useful for going to the bathroom in the middle of the night or for the occasional social gathering in the back yard.
Mr. Parker, 45 years old and operations manager at a finance company, said the benefits of sleeping outdoors had never crossed his mind until he noticed big changes in his calm. “I’m not a morning person. But since the lights come on slowly and progressively and the sounds of birds come naturally – I can’t get that kind of audiovisual wake up anywhere else.”
David Hertz, a Californian architect who specializes in designing and building sustainable and restorative spaces, has long been a believer in indoor and outdoor living. Last year he focused on a personal project: equipping a temporary group of tents on his 99 acre property in the Santa Monica Mountains of Malibu, California.
The camp, which Mr. Hertz and his wife Laura Doss-Hertz called “Farside”, consists of Lotus Belle canvas tents of various sizes, whose playful shapes mimic Hershey’s kisses.
The Canvas Residences are a quick fix for those looking for Instagram-ready glamping rooms for backyard retreats. The sizes range from cozy to colossal – the smallest offers space for a queen-size bed, the largest offers 700 square meters of interior space. Prices start at $ 1,250 and go up to $ 8,500.
The tents were specially staged for extended families and friends who want to escape to nature during the pandemic year, said Mr Hertz, 60, whose property borders a national recreation area that is home to an ecologically diverse variety of plants and animals, including nearly 400 species of birds.
Mr. Hertz and his wife, who is a photographer, often joined guests at the camp, which can accommodate up to eight people and is half a mile from the 1920s Adirondack-style hunting lodge they mainly call home. Within Farside, two stretch tents are combined to create a large outdoor living area furnished with Turkish carpets, Moroccan cushions, end tables and lanterns.
Electricity is not a problem for the campers, they plug the devices into mobile solar-powered battery chargers, which also supply the light sources of the tent with energy. Heated outdoor showers and self-contained porta potties are additional amenities for guests.
In addition to the seductive light permeability of the tent fabric, Mr. Hertz appreciates the evanescence and portability of tents – if you have enough space, you can move your position and your views.
Your favorite campsites were on full moon nights. “There’s something about the intimacy of the tent, like a boat gives you the feeling of protection, it feels like a cocoon in a way, and that’s really inviting.”
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