Hot summer days with an outdoor sleeping porch is a match made in heaven. Some of the homes that I like the most have beautiful screened-in rooms that have dining tables and ample space for a bed. What better place to sleep on a sweltering night? Sleeping porches were very popular at the turn of the last century. Teddy Roosevelt was a big proponent, and many advocated it because of the fresh air.

A combined interest in sleeping outdoors and saving energy on air conditioning might inspire you, too, to want to have the equivalent of a sleeping porch. But what to do if one doesn’t have such a room? As much as it is on my wish list, it will be a few years. Also, I am not keen on sleeping in a tent in my backyard. The biggest reason is that I never sense “fresh air” in the tent because I always smell the finished fabric. And, I never find them extremely cooling; I’d much rather have big wide screens for air to waft through. Enter the portable aluminum gazebo with screen sides.

Certainly you can have a wooden one installed for thousands and even tens of thousands of dollars, and have an outdoor room for good, but a few hundred dollars you can establish a portable sleeping porch for hot nights.

Don’t you just love the Internet? A few searches away you can find just the ticket. After some time establishing my search terms, and finally using the words “portable aluminum gazebo mosquito netting,” key to finding gazebos in the price range of a few hundred dollars, I found some very reasonably priced outdoor rooms with screens! Search around using these keywords, and find exactly what suits your needs. I plan to put a solid tarp on the ground, and to sleep on camping mattresses or cots. At less hot times, I might put a picnic table inside and have an outdoor meal there, with friends.

Annie Bond is the executive editor of Care2’s Healthy & Green Living as well as the author of many books including Home Enlightenment (Rodale Press, 2005).