As spring inches closer to summer, it’s not uncommon for people to look past the cold with a degree of joy. Every season provides ample opportunities to enjoy the great outdoors, but the chance to enjoy the great outdoors with a summer-like flair during any type of weather or temperature calls for something else: a sunroom.

A sunroom affords homeowners a chance to marvel at changing seasonal landscapes without venturing out into it. Sometimes referred to as “all-season rooms,” sunrooms can make for a great retreat on quiet summer mornings or crisp autumn afternoons.

But a full all-season room might not be in everybody’s budget, and if that’s the case, Mike Littrell, a state-licensed contractor with Athens Handyman Service LLC, suggests that you can start more simply — with a screenroom — and build on from there.

Many homeowners will start with a screenroom and then save — even if that takes years — to build that space into a true all-season room that includes glass windows. The key, he said, is communicating with your contractor from the beginning.

“A screenroom is a good fit in that it can help the homeowner save money, but the contractor needs to know this first,” Littrell said. That way, he said, the room can be built to easily accommodate the later renovations.

For example, Littrell said, some homeowners want both a screen and window room. But one question is where to store the windows in the summer?

“You don’t want them in the garage where they’re going to get broken,” he said.

A good answer, Littrell said, is to have the contractor build a hiding space for them in the wall at the beginning of the project — something that is easily done if the contractor knows to do so when designing the room.

Other aspects to an ongoing screen-to-sun room project include involving other experts, Littrell said.

“Early in the process you might want to get a heating-cooling professional involved,” he said, to review the house’s current capacity to heat and cool and whether an all-season room would have additional needs — and also to ensure that room is built with optimal efficiency.

Once it’s builtBut whether you decide on a screenroom or a sunroom, either can be treated as blank canvasses, which makes decorating them more fun. A few tricks of the trade can help homeowners turn their blank canvasses into welcoming spaces to take in all that nature has to offer throughout the year.

Define the purpose. The experts at Better Homes & Gardens recommend homeowners decide how they want to use the sunroom before they begin decorating it. When the weather gets too chilly to dine outside, will the sunroom serve as an alternative dining space in the same way patios and decks do during the warm weather? Or do homeowners want to turn their sunrooms into reading rooms? Though it’s possible to make sunrooms multipurpose spaces, it may be hard to create a relaxing vibe in rooms that are too crowded with furnishings or too busy. Defining how the space will be used also makes it easier when shopping for furnishings.

And once the room is built, you’ll want to finish it with room-appropriate furnishings. Furnishing expert Alisa Thompson, store manager at Cullman Furniture Market, offers advice for both situations.

“If you’re furnishing a room that is even partially open to the elements, like a screened-in room, you’ll want to make sure the furniture you buy is made for the outdoors — it’ll say so — because the fabric and stuffing will be different from indoor furniture.”

But if you’re furnishing an enclosed all-season room, she said, the options are more open — with a few caveats.

“I suggest you go with a ‘sunbrella’ fabric,” Thompson said. “It’s fade resistant. You could also do outdoor furniture, but an enclosed room offers opportunities such as barrel chairs — chairs that swivel — because those offer maximum visibility for viewing the outdoors.”

As for the color scheme, Thompson always suggests “neutral colors — with pops of color, as with pillows.” That way, she said, the room furnishings can easily accommodate every season. “Those pillows can just be swapped out.”

Other considerations• Define when the room will be used. In addition to defining how the room will be used, homeowners should give ample consideration to when the room will be used. A year-round sunroom will need to be heated, while a three-season sunroom likely won’t require heating. Cooling might be a concern on hot summer afternoons, but many homeowners will likely spend such days outside anyway, so cooling the room may be as simple as installing a ceiling fan and ensuring windows can be opened to let fresh air in. Homeowners who want a year-round sunroom should install insulated glass to keep the room even warmer when the mercury dips.

• Determine your color pallet. The renovation experts at HGTV note that white walls and ceilings can maximize the warm illumination of the natural light that will be pouring in from the floor-to-ceiling windows. Better Homes & Gardens adds that brightly colored cushions, pillows and area rugs with similarly hued colors and patterns can add visual interest and texture to a sunroom.

• Make use of a view. Homeowners needn’t direct too much of their focus on decor if their sunrooms come with a view. Art on the walls and other decorative items around the room are less important if a sunroom affords a view of the ocean, a lake or dense woods that attract local wildlife. In rooms with a view, arrange furniture so residents and guests can comfortably look outward and take in all the surround landscape has to offer.

Sunrooms — and screenrooms — are a great place to take in nature no matter the weather. It’s just important, the experts say, to plan ahead.