“I go to Nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put together.” – John Burroughs

On the back of her tiny 1920s house in south Arkansas, my grandmother had a sleeping porch. It was screened in to keep bugs and other critters out, while letting cool breezes in, with heavy canvas blinds to roll down against rain. Piles of quilts on the big iron bed kept sleepers warm through the relatively temperate winter nights.

Except during the hottest summertime, the sleeping porch was the most coveted bedroom in the house.

Those are the two basic requirements for a sleeping porch: a porch/deck/balcony, set up with a semi-permanent (or at least seasonal) place for sleeping. Screens, blinds, and everything else are optional.

Bedding down on a sleeping porch is like camping, but not.

It is magical.

“With a comfortable bed and a sufficiency of blankets no place can equal the out-of-doors in affording refreshing sleep, in any season of the year.” – Woman’s Weekly Supplement, 1923

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My dad and his brothers were born in that house. It was years before they got electricity, and decades before they got air conditioning. For them, the sleeping porch was a year-round bedroom, as was common at the time.

Above: Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, author of The Yearling, and Cross Creek, slept and worked on this porch in Florida from the late 1920s through the early 1940s.

“I do not understand how anyone can live without some small place of enchantment to turn to.” ― Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

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I’ve happily lived with/slept on several sleeping porches since my childhood, and still do every chance I get. I sleep so well when I’m closer to the natural world. In terms of self-care, sleep and nature are favorite easy go-tos for me (and millions of other people). Combine the two for a double dose of self-care.

Sleeping porches may be less common than they once were, but they’re not unheard of. Look at these lovely spaces:

Take a look at my Pinterest board for even more magical sleeping porches!

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Sleeping porch alternatives

No room for a bed? Try a hammock – they’re made for sleeping outdoors!

But what if you don’t even have a porch (or deck, or balcony) at all? You can easily design your current bedroom to capture the look and feel of a sleeping porch. You probably have most or all of what you’ll need; it’s likely to be more a case of taking things away than adding. If you don’t have what you need to create this look, check your local thrift stores (and my affiliate link down below!), and follow these simple guidelines:

• Keep it (relatively) simple.
• Use bamboo or matchstick blinds on the windows, layers of white + colorful bedding on the bed (white vintage bedspread + colorful woven throw, or colorful vintage quilt + neutral, textured throw, etc) , a rug that wouldn’t seem out of place on an actual porch.
• Reinforce the mood with wind chimes, simple decor, plants.
• Remember that a sleeping porch is a place for sleeping and relaxing only, not a dressing room, so stow your makeup/jewelry/vanity elsewhere. Hide the tv and computer.
• Put up a pallet accent wall, or paint a wall to look like stucco, or the outside of your house.
• When weather, air quality, and security permit, sleep with your windows open! Bonus: sleeping with a window or door open may lead to better sleep.
• Here’s an ideas board full of inspiration. (Affiliate link, see full disclosure here.)
• Check out my Pinterest board of sleeping porch inspired bedrooms.

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Just because…

This “napping shack” in the Vermont woods is perfection. Click through for pictures of it in all seasons, and a video on how to build your own!

Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

Have you ever spent the night on a sleeping porch? Would you, if you had the chance? Tell me your sleeping porch dreams!

xo