Before and After: Sunroom Makeover

We have had a lot of drastic makeovers in our house since we bought it and oh man, I love a good ‘before and after’ post to show how far we’ve come. A few years ago we did a major overhaul on our master bedroom (like major-major: there used to be a kitchenette in our bedroom!) which was a makeover for the ages. Off of our beautiful new bedroom was a secret little sunroom that needed some love — outdated carpet over even more outdated linoleum floors, dark brown wood paneling, and an eyesore of a 1970s ceiling fan. I’ve been saying I’ll tackle it for years, but we just never had the time so the door remained shut and the space went unused and frozen in the ’70s — out of sight, out of mind! Then in March when it looked like the stay at home order was about to start, I realized I might finally have all those free weekends I needed to finally give this room the makeover it deserved. Let’s take a look at some of those before photos, shall we? The space is nearly all windows, and yet it felt so small and dark because of all of the dark brown wood paneling. I have had the pleasure of painting dark wood to a bright white before (see some drastic before and after pictures of our living room!) and it’s SO satisfying to see the transformation. I ran out and got a bunch of paint and supplies the few days before the stay at home order started so I’d be prepared, and I got to work priming and painting everything in Benjamin Moore’s White Dove. It took me two full weekends to do all of the painting because it was so much trim work.
On the third weekend of our makeover project, my husband and I hustled during Jane’s nap time and laid down new flooring. We had done the same grayish toned faux wood vinyl floors in our playroom earlier in the year, so it went pretty fast since we already a system down. It was also nice to use something we had already seen in person so we could order it online and not have to browse in the store. My husband also installed a new coastal-inspired ceiling fan that made a massive impact in the space. Goodbye ’70s ceiling fan that sounded like a freight train! I’m not normally a ceiling fan person but it makes the room so enjoyable to be in with the cool breeze and this one is pretty darn cute with the blue striped light fixture. After painting, flooring, and a new ceiling fan we were ready to decorate and turn into a space we could start using. Since we couldn’t go into any stores right now, outfitting the room was a little bit of a challenge. We got creative and pulled some pieces from other parts of our house, like a TV we had in our basement, little side table stools I had in my office, and throw pillows from our bedroom. We were able to get a simple white slipcovered couch delivered from Ikea, and a cute blue and white printed garden stool shipped from Bed Bath & Beyond. Almost everything else in the room came from Target, including the tassel pillows, sisal striped rug and ticking stripe ottomans — which are my favorite pieces that give it that laid-back coastal feel.  We pulled everything together on a small budget but with some creativity and elbow-grease it really came together! It’s an incredibly cozy room, and has made our bedroom feel so much bigger now that we can use the two spaces together. I look forward all day to the moment when I can snuggle up with my favorite blanket and kick up my feet to enjoy the new sunroom!

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