… As opposed to a room where the sun don’t shine? Ya, you can take that as you will.. :).

So now that we’ve gotten that crude humor out of the way (every good article needs a touch of inappropriateness, don't you agree?) can I tell you something strange about myself? I don’t really like natural light inside… It really freaked my mom out when I was growing up that I wanted to get blinds that would block out most of the sun from coming into my room and also wanted everything in my bedroom to be red (IN A CLASSY WAY!).. Neither ever happened, and it was "blamed" on budget issues, but if you ask me, it sounds more like a convenient excuse than a real reason... The whole not liking light thing had my mom worried in that way that moms do though (needlessly) as I suspect she wondered if was into some kind of vampirish voodoo.

This would have been my dream room back then.  Not terrible by any means, right? — This would have been my dream room back then. Not terrible by any means, right?

This obviously has ample light but.. will you look at that "window seat/hammock"?  #diversiontactics — This obviously has ample light but.. will you look at that "window seat/hammock"? #diversiontactics

I’m growing out of it slowly, and am moving away from my red-mania fetish in my decorating preferences although I am currently living in a bedroom situation that is completely devoid of natural light due to a headboard covering the only window in the room and I can't say I'm particularly unhappy about it. Long story. For another time.

Anyway, I found this picture of a sunroom a few years ago and to this day, it has remained one of my favorite rooms in the entire world (among the ones I’ve seen, of course).

Ok obviously minus the Hawaiian print accents from 1999.

In thinking about why I like this room so much, I will divulge probably the most ludicrous thing that has been said on this blog to date: It reminds me of "Spice World" (the Spice Girls original movie).. which still makes me happy? Is that scary? Scary Spice? Lolzz

So, finding good photos for this post was hard (I feel like I say that a lot, sorry) but the reason being for this, is that the type of room I’m trying to show you eager readers is often described using several different qualifiers: A sunroom, a conservatory, or an atrium. (I’ve decided not to open the door to greenhouses in this post as that would just be overwhelming). I also tried to keep it mostly to residential examples, with a few worthy exceptions.

Halfway through my journey of gathering photos, however, I learned that there actually IS a difference between these names. An article broke down the differences, of which I will "enlighten" (get it?) you to below:

SUNROOM

A term used more in the U.S. and Canada
More of an extension of your living space, a sunroom is included in the house architecture, has a roof, and is essentially like any other room except for the fact that it has a lot of windows
A sunroom can be heated in colder seasons and cooled during warmer seasons, allowing it to be used year round
Usually built along the side or in back of the house

CONSERVATORY

A term used more in the U.K.
Has a completely glass roof and glass walls, giving inhabitants a complete view of their surroundings. It is suggested that a conservatory face South so it receives as much natural light as possible
Can only be used during mild weather seasons due to lack of heating/cooling capabilities. Conservatories are also easily prone to dirt and grime from the elements and hard to clean
Typically surrounded by greenery

So there you have it! Although, I decided, in spite of this information, to keep all of my findings in anyway and make this post just a breadbasket collection of all things sunroom, atrium, and conservatory. Deal with it. AND, I've decided to make a little quiz to further engage you/see if you're actually reading all of the nonsense that I write. (The answers, as decided by me, will be given for each room below, characterized by an S or a C denoting whether the room is a Sunroom or Conservatory.. Because that wasn't self-explanatory at all.. :)