Tuesday, June 11, 2013

The Sunroom has STUFF in it Now!

We've been hanging out in the sunroom nonstop since a few days ago when we finally got it all set up with furniture. I think we would have made it a priority sooner had we realized what a lovely room it was going to be.

The thing that bothers me most about our floor plan is how closed off the den is from the kitchen and the rest of the house. It feels like a big, lonely expedition to go hang out in there, so I never really do unless it's specifically to watch TV. But the sunroom connects to both the kitchen and the den. And it has a doorway and an open window into the kitchen, so the spaces feel very connected. So now it's like the open to the kitchen family room we never had!

Here's what's going on in there (in HERE, because I'm in the sunroom right now!)


Here's another shot, with a cozy family moment involving a jigsaw puzzle:


The leather couch is from my mom. She was replacing this one and offered to us awhile back. It sat in our garage for a long time, then we finally brought it in here, where it sat some more, sort of lonely and unused because it was pretty much the only thing in the room.

I knew I wanted wicker chairs in here and I sort of half-heartedly looked around for some for awhile. Ikea and Target had some for around $100 each that were....okay. Not quite as substantial as I wanted, really, but they would have been okay. And I could usually find some on Craigslist that I would need to spray paint. And spray painting wicker is not much fun.

Saturday I was doing one of my casual "let's see what they have on Craigslist RIGHT NOW!" things and came across the chairs you see up there. The guy said he had won the set with the chairs, loveseat, and coffee table, and was selling the chairs and coffee table (still new in the boxes) because he didn't have room for them. And they were pretty much exactly what I wanted, so here they are! We paid $150 for the two chairs and the table. I don't want the table, so I'm selling it to my mom for $25. The chairs are $200 each on Target's website, so I'm pretty pleased with our post table selling price of $62.50 each. They're much nicer than the $100 ones I was considering.

They were kind of a pain to put together:


But once we did, they looked great and are pretty comfy. And they came with nice neutral cushions that I can fancify with some colorful throw pillows:


The trunk that we're using for a coffee table used to be in our den. But I want a big ottoman with storage for in there, so this came in here.

And, lastly, we went ahead and moved the kitchen table in here, even though we don't have anything to replace it with yet. The sunroom's only a few steps from the kitchen, so it doesn't really matter. Once we have a kitchen table again, I want this one mostly to be for non-eating activities.

There is, of course, much left to do in here. We just bought the paint today and are hoping to start on that tomorrow. And we need to hem all the drop cloth curtains and buy blackout fabric to line them with. It's been fairly cool and/or cloudy so far this summer, but this room is pretty much unbearable for much of the day once we start getting 90 degree sunny days. I'm hoping curtains the block the morning light will fix that (and then we can open them back up in the afternoon when the sun's on the other side of the house).

And that overhead light/fan still doesn't work. So I'm sitting in the dark right now.  So those things are next on the list.

17 comments:

  1. Yay! Furniture! Great score on those target chairs- now just get to painting that room. The skylight repair makes me twitch. You're a stronger woman that I am for living with that for so long

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    1. ha--well, the list of things that make me twitch around here is long ;)....it didn't make much difference when it was just a dog hangout room. But notice it took me about 3 seconds to go buy the paint once we started actually using it :)

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  2. Yay, it's starting to come together! So exciting.

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  3. it looks super cozy in t here!! also, I love that trunk. it's very awesome.

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    1. thanks! My mom found it somewhere or other awhile back....I should take a close up picture of it; it says "Empire Laundry Birmingham, Ala" on it.

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  4. Not-working electrical stuff drives me batty! I would be fan hunting by now if I were you!

    The room looks comfortable!

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    1. It's driving me batty, too! It's very mysterious....it worked when we moved in and then just stopped (the fan works; the light doesn't). The problem with just getting a new fan is that that one's really nice; nicer than what we'd be able to afford to replace it with...so there's a dilemma about whether to call an electrician or not; just having an electrician out to look at it would cost as much as a cheap fan....but if it's an easy fix, I want my nice fan to work!

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  5. So cozy!! Those chairs were an awesome score! It's great that you're getting so much use out of the room!

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    1. Loving it! We had some people over yesterday, and everyone stayed in there the whole time.

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  6. What a nice spot! Great find on those fabulous chairs too. They're gorgeous!

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  7. It is looking so good lady! SO crazy...I have been looking for wicker chairs too! I actually took all the kids to Ikea last week but didn't find anything! You totally scored on those chairs...love them! I have to check out craigslist tonight!

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    1. I was eyeing some at ikea, but they were pretty skimpy compared to the ones I found. good luck on craigslist!

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  8. Ohhh that looks so good. What a steal on those two chairs. What a great find! I think I would sit out there all the time too. I can't wait to see how you paint the walls.

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    1. I got sidetracked, but it should be going up (at least some of it!) today

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  9. I've been looking for wicker chairs like that too -- you got a great deal. I hadn't thought about watching for them on craigslist, but now I'll have to keep an eye out there.
    - Lora

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  10. This seems like the perfect hang out room. I love it. It's coming together well :)

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  11. This is going to be an amazing space for you guys! Love those chairs! Jenna @ Rain on a Tin Roof

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