From a leaking roof and puddles on the floor to a bright and cheerful sun room and one of my favorite places to curl up with a book. What a difference a renovation makes! We replaced the windows, refinished the floors, and gave it a fresh coat of paint (and a blue ceiling). Today, the sun room serves lots of duties including kids homework station, office, and tv hangout.
We can even close the two sets of french doors and the kids can cause a rukus with their friends while The Hubs and I obliviously sip cocktails in another room while commenting on what well behaved children we have!
Before Sun Room Reno
Leaking roof, damaged floors, broken windows ...
A small rustic desk (twists and unfolds to become a larger table which is great for parties) and big comfy chair make up the first area. This chair started out life covered in plaid in the living room of my first house, was recovered and moved up to the nursery when I had the girls, then it moved to my daughter's room in our next house and now into the sun room. My that chair certainly gets around!
Next to the comfy chair is a
vintage typewriter table with wooden wheels. This was a recent score buried in the garage at yet another estate sale. I cleaned off the cobwebs and walked around the house with it trying to find the perfect spot. Great for holding magazines and a glass of vino (or two...)!
I have a few mid century lamps and one of my favorite drip pottery lamps sits on the desk. It was a $5 flea market find years ago (I added the shade) but I see them selling for much more today. I heart this 60's black globe and I found a home for theheavy old glass ashtray (for loose stuff, not cigs) that I got at the
VNA rummage sale.
Ta Da! Sun Room After
A nice sunny spot for reading and writing
On my desk - old black globe and silver pitcher and a drip glaze lamp from the 60's. Used as a side table, a vintage typewriter stand on casters
Heavy ashtray will be filled with clips, beautiful embroidery on the ottoman and an old wooden shoe last sits on a pile of magazines
The center of the room is for tv watching and has a sofabed and an old black metal coal bin that I found at a flea market in Ohio. It's great for storing the kids' crafting supplies. A
blue metal bin holds the girls music. On the other side of the sofa sits my 50's kitchy green flamenco dancer lamp with original shade. He's proud to shake what his mama gave him and be the ugly thing in the room!
Old coal bin is great for storage and my "ugly" lamp
There's no reason not to own original art! I plan to post more on art later but you can check out your local craft fairs and buy what you love. You can even hang your kids art - it's all good! I bought the painting that hangs above my sofa on a cruise over 15 years ago.
Original art doesn't have to be expensive
I am on the lookout for the perfect console to put under the tv. In the meantime, my mother-in-law gave me this old wood and metal military footlocker with the soldier's name and address written on top. Peanut, our camera shy hamster, sits atop the trunk where he shows off his own collection of rubber duckies!
Soldier's old footlocker, complete with name and address, holds our hamster Peanut and his collection!
The homework area is perfect for my two girls to each have their own desk and a shared computer. Clutter is corralled into bins and trays (I use trays everywhere). There was only one desk here originally (it's on the other side of the room now) but it was too small for both kids to use (without constant drama) so I bought these desks (which are actually dining tables) from Ikea. I would be really happy with an eight foot red metal table I have been coveting but since these were about 1/10 of the price, they'll do for now. Two vintage fiberglass yellow shell chairs are the perfect contrast to the modern desks. I do feel immense shame in my mass of jumbled wires! I will be buying something to wrangle those bad boys very soon.
Homework area for two kids. Gotta get those cables organized!!
Trays corral the clutter and fun mid century shell chairs adds color
The amazing amount of light coming in through the 14 huge windows is a definite favorite (yes, I did wash windows before I took these pics!). The windows in the entire house were replaced to get rid of drafts and increase energy efficiency (I can only imagine the heating bills of the previous owners!). In here, we went a step further with hidden screens. We simply pull the screen down when we want some fresh air then press a button and they go right back to their hiding place.
Retractable screens
I'm writing this in my sun room with the light streaming in on me and I'm a happy gal!
Click
house tour to see other rooms and stay tuned for more room tours.
Sun room was featured here!
