Pergola or Porch?

Would like to have opinions please. We have an area in back of the house that's not right by the pool....it's outside of the fence and arbor and it's a nice level area right by one of the flowerbeds. It faces north (the back of the house faces north), but would get sun from the west during the late afternoon.

For a couple of years now, we've been talking about building something out back of the house. I would dearly love to have a screened-in porch/room, not only because of bugs (not fond of bugs ), but I also think the cats would love to spend time with us there. DH is looking more at building a pergola. It's easier to build and not as expensive. I don't think I'd really be happy with a pergola. For one thing, you don't get the shade from a pergola and when it rains, well, you're still going to get wet.

Keep in mind that I love to entertain. I love having people in for dinner and I think we'd enjoy having suppers in the room instead of staying in the house all the time. I'm looking for something with a bricked floor, a structure with good screening (b/c of the cats and I like the idea of putting a few wide and well-padded shelves along the sides of the structure for them to be comfortable; the shelves have to be wide enough for kitty butts!), a fan in the ceiling, etc. Nothing real fancy, nothing huge, big enough for a nice table and chairs, maybe a couple of lounge chairs as well, perfect for flopping down with a book. Just a nice, comfortable place to spend some time in the summer. Strictly a summer-type room, not all-season. And we'd do the work ourselves.

Either way, we'd landscape around it to try to make it look nice.

We have a wooden picnic table that is under the trees and we've been finding ourselves having suppers outside now. And when the tiki bar (remember the tiki bar?) is moved into the pool area later on this summer, we'll be able to sit there with supper, too. We have to move the pool fence to make room for the bar, clean the area out and remove the plants and shrubs to another location, then brick the floor. Then we can bring the tiki bar inside the fence.

Which do you think you would use more often? A pergola or a screened-in structure? Or nothing?

Thanks for the links! I never thought to check for images for porches.

Something like this one is what I'm thinking: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...ed=0CEMQ9QEwAQ

But a little simpler so that we could do the work ourselves. With kitty shelves. And yes, electricity, so that we could have a ceiling fan and be able to use some lighting. Perhaps a small fridge plugged in for drinks and such. I really think a screened room would be more useful.

Thanks! I'm sure a porch would be better overall, too. But I need to convince the DH! (I know that, once it's finished and we're using it, he'll be pleased. But it's trying to convince him to see it that way. )

Nice, Susan! That looks so nice! You know, when you talked about a conservatory, I always thought you were talking about a greenhouse and I thought that was really cool!