Sun Room Upgrade on a Budget

In the beginning of May we hosted our 2nd annual Cinco (or in this case, since it was on a Saturday, Quatro) de Mayo party. It’s a fantastic holiday we’ve claimed that allows us to kick-off the Spring with great food and cocktails and get together with our friends. This year, we were thrilled to be putting our new kitchen to the test of handling  a 40+ person party, praying for good weather since our house is kinda teeny to accommodate that many people comfortably. That brings us to our sun room. Off the back of our kitchen we have this all-season space with (basically) floor to ceiling windows on 2 sides. We hadn’t used it for anything other than storage and a way to get into our house through the back, and it was in desperate need of some love. Plus, it’s funny how crappy other places in your house can start to look once you update others – and, ouch, our sun room was hurting.

In true Vito & Malorie fashion we decided to make a mad dash to clean up the space before the party in hopes that people would use it to relax, eat, chat, and enjoy a nice cigar once it got dark out. Considering we slapped this entire room together in about a weekend or two for under $400, I think we hit a home run.

Here’s some before shots of our sad little sunroom:

It was pretty filthy, this is just after Vito power washed the whole space. Lots of light, but the windows are ugly and who ever painted the trim did an awful job because it was all over the place.

This was formerly a drop ceiling (vomit). We took it all down, fixed a leak, and this is what we were left with.

Here’s the back door. All the trim is pretty beat up (we didn’t get around to fixing this yet)

Another view of the back wall

Getting prepped for paint. Again, great light! But, ugly windows.

We decided to leave the concrete floors with weirdly placed stone and tile as-is, just because this was a quick makeover and not an overhaul. Here’s what we tackled as far as upgrades:

• Powerwashed
• Painted the walls (which are also the exterior of the house)
• Painted the trim crisp white
• Painted the back door
• Built a window seat along one wall
• Installed electrical pipe curtain rod system
• Covered the ceiling with corrugated metal
• Added curtains
• Added a ceiling fan
• Added some furniture

And now for the after photos! These could have been styled a lot more nicely – whoops! Next time, promise.

The back door with new paint and wall color, plus an old shelf that I painted.

A nice glimpse of the ceiling treatment and fan. There’s the secretary desk I refinished in this post.

We took advantage of the ceiling height by adding these curtains from Ikea. I think they really draw your eye up while adding some drama (and plenty of light)!

A shot standing from the back door.

The window seat with cushions I found at Target for under $10! I purchased the fabric on them in this photo  and need to sew a cover for them – they’re just draped over the cushions here.

Here’s a shot of the electrical piping curtain rod system, and a closer view of the ceiling that Vito put together. He’s a genius.

Here’s a close-up of the pallet planks that Vito attached to the front of the window seat.

I think it adds such a nice rustic touch and balances out all od those graphic prints (which need to be edited down!)

Cozy little nook.

For almost literally putting lipstick on a pig, I think it turned out great! It’s amazing how far some paint and a creative mind can go. We don’t use the room as much as we’d like, so I’m glad we didn’t go overboard on the renovations. I will say though, that it’s a hell of a lot nicer experience walking in through the back door than it used to be!

What are you guys working on lately?

xo,

Malorie