The rusted charcoal grill sits in the corner of the deck. The grill is heavy. The grill is red with rust. It represents a meal that happened three years ago. The grill does not cook anymore. The grill stays on the deck. Next to the grill is a bag of potting soil. The bag is torn. The soil inside the bag is dry. The soil has turned into a gray powder.

This deck has the best view in the house. The deck faces the west. Every evening the deck receives the most light. The light is bright. The light is warm. But the deck is not for people. The deck is for the things that have no place inside the house.

The Courier’s Perspective

I am a medical equipment courier. I drive a van. I deliver oxygen tanks and dialysis machines. I deliver these things to people who cannot leave their beds. My job requires precision. I must type codes into security keypads. Today I typed a password wrong five times.

My fingers were cold. My brain was not focused. The keypad locked me out. I stood in the hallway for eleven minutes. I felt small. I felt like a mistake. When I got home, I wanted to sit outside. I wanted to see the light. I stepped onto my deck.

I stepped over a coiled garden hose. The hose is green. The hose is tangled. I stepped over a stack of plastic planters. The planters are empty. I sat in the one chair that is not covered in dust. I looked at the sunset. I realized that I was sitting in a storage unit. This storage unit has a very good view.

Treating the Patio Like a Junk Drawer

Most homeowners do this. We treat the deck like a junk drawer. We treat the patio like a garage with no roof. We pay for the square footage. We pay the mortgage. We pay the property tax on every inch of the lot. Then we give the best part of the lot to a broken bicycle.

We give the best part of the lot to a stack of firewood that is too wet to burn. This is a choice. We make this choice because we do not think the outside is a room. We think the outside is a utility zone. We think the inside is for living. We think the outside is for chores. There is no law that says this is true. We just act like it is true.

The Geometry of Discomfort

The problem is comfort. The deck is too hot in July. The deck is too cold in November. The deck has mosquitoes in August. We do not like the heat. We do not like the cold. We do not like the insects. Because we are not comfortable, we do not go outside.

Because we do not go outside, we do not care what the deck looks like. We start to leave things there. We leave the empty box from the new television. We leave the boots with the hole in the sole. We leave the items that we might need one day but do not need today. The space degrades. The wood turns gray. The space becomes a holding zone for things we cannot decide about.

When a space becomes a storage zone, it loses its dignity. You do not invite friends to sit in your attic. You do not drink coffee in your basement utility closet. But the deck is different. The deck is visible. The neighbors see the rusted grill. The neighbors see the tangled hose.

You see these things every time you look out the window. The view from the kitchen is blocked by the junk on the deck. This creates a mental weight. It is a tax on your eyes. You want to enjoy the sunset, but you see the gray soil in the torn bag. You want to breathe the air, but you see the broken bike.

The Price Doesn’t Change the Behavior

I have delivered equipment to houses that cost three million dollars. These houses have large decks. These decks are often empty or messy. The price of the house does not change the behavior. If the space is not comfortable, the space becomes a closet.

If the space is exposed to the wind and the rain, we treat it like the outdoors. We do not treat it like a home. We treat the home as the area behind the glass. We treat everything beyond the glass as the wild. We do not put nice furniture in the wild. We put plastic furniture in the wild. Plastic furniture is not comfortable. Plastic furniture breaks in the sun. When the furniture breaks, we leave it there. We add it to the pile.

Reclaiming Your Most Expensive Assets

We need to reclaim this real estate. This is the most expensive square footage you own. In a city like San Diego, every square foot has a high value. If your deck is 240 square feet, and you only use it to store a hose and a grill, you are wasting money.

You are paying for a room you do not use. You are paying for a room that makes you feel bad when you look at it. To change the behavior, you must change the environment. You must make the outside feel like the inside. You must remove the reasons why you stay indoors. You must remove the wind. You must remove the heat. You must remove the bugs.

The Barrier of Respect

One way to do this is to change the structure. A glass enclosure changes the psychology of the space. When you install Sunroom Kits, the deck is no longer a deck.

The deck becomes a sunroom. It becomes a solarium. It is now a part of the house. You can put a rug on the floor. You can put a sofa in the room. You can put a lamp on a table. You do not put a rusted grill in your living room. You do not put a tangled hose next to your sofa. When the space is enclosed, you treat it with respect. You keep it clean. You use it for sitting. You use it for reading. You use it for living.

The transition from utility to living is a physical shift. It requires a barrier. The glass is the barrier. The glass keeps the rain off the furniture. The glass keeps the dust off the floor. I see this in my work as a courier.

When I move a machine from a van to a hospital room, the machine changes. In the van, it is cargo. In the hospital, it is a tool for life. The environment dictates the value. Your deck is cargo right now. It is a pallet for junk. If you enclose it, it becomes a tool for life. It becomes a place where you can sit even when the wind is blowing at 22 miles per hour.

The Math of Imagination

I think about the 31% of people who say they are unhappy with their home’s layout. Most of these people want more space. They want a home office. They want a playroom. They want a quiet place to drink tea.

They often have this space already. They are just using it to store a bag of soil and a dead grill. They are looking for a new house when they should be looking at their own patio. They are willing to spend $500,000 on a larger mortgage, but they are not willing to spend $21,420 on a sunroom. This is a failure of imagination. It is a failure to see what is already there.

The Purpose of Protection

The light is the most important part. Natural light improves the mood. Natural light helps the body clock. When you sit in a glass room, you get the light. You get the view. But you do not get the cold. You do not get the noise of the traffic.

You are protected. This protection allows you to relax. You cannot relax when you are stepping over a hose. You cannot relax when you are looking at a stack of empty pots. Clutter is a sign of a space that has no purpose. When you give the space a purpose, the clutter disappears. You find a place for the grill in the garage. You put the hose in a box. You throw away the gray soil.

Opening the Door

I went back to the keypad on the door today. I typed the password slowly. I typed each digit with care. The door opened. I walked inside. I felt better because the system worked. Our homes should be systems that work.

The deck should not be a broken part of the system. It should not be the place where decisions go to die. It should be the place where we go to see the world without being punished by the weather. We treat the most beautiful part of the house as storage because we have not invited it to be part of the home.

It is time to open the door. It is time to clean the wood. It is time to put the glass in place. When the space is dignified, we become dignified in it. We stop being couriers of junk and start being residents of our own lives.