Sunroom Before & After

This post has been a long time coming and I’m so excited to share my new favorite room in the house with you! When we moved into our home almost 8 years ago, we were excited to have a sunroom… or three season room as some people call them. However, rather than turning into something fun this room became a catchall for a bunch of hand-me-down furniture, outdoor toys and folding chairs.

Here’s what our sunroom looked like this spring:

The furniture was handed down to me and I slipcovered the cushions and painted the metal (you can see that post from ages ago here). The problem was that it was super uncomfortable, so we never actually wanted to sit on it. It basically just junked up the space and yes, that is a Christmas tree still hanging out on that side table because I never bothered to put it away. The rug was once cute from Homegoods, but now it really needs a good power washing session because it’s nasty.

The table was a Craiglist find from 10+ years ago. I ruined the top of it doing a painting project, so it needs to have a tablecloth on it to not be hideous. We really only use it when we drag it from the sunroom to the kitchen to add to our existing dining table so we can fit everyone for Thanksgiving and Easter. The rest of the year, it just sits there and takes up space. There are some folding chairs and folding tables shoved in the corner. I don’t know why since I can’t remember the last time we used them. Oh, and that pennant has been stuck on the wall for at least three years.

Basically the only thing I wanted to keep in the room was the yellow patio table and chair set. It was from my grandparents’ house, so it has nostalgic appeal for me. Also, it’s super cute and useful.

So, you see what I was working with. My goal was to turn this mish-mash room into somewhere where I could enjoy my morning coffee and curl up for some book reading. I didn’t want to spend a ton of money, so I had to be strategic with what I purchased.

Let’s break my little room into three parts….

The Eating Area

I didn’t want to get rid of my grandparent’s table, so I moved it to the front side of the room. This is a great place to have a lazy weekend breakfast or even have our family dinner on a cooler weeknight. Of course, if it’s 100 degrees outside we are NOT hanging out in the sunroom. But if it’s under 90 degrees, it’s pretty comfortable with the screened windows opened and the overhead fan on. I added a thrifted driftwood crab and a mason jar filled with sand and shells (collected by Jack at the beach). The sign is the fire pit sign I recently made at the HGTV event (see the post here).

My Swinging Reading Nook

I found this hanging chair on Wayfair (here’s the direct link) and immediately fell in love. It had pretty great reviews and is currently on sale for $340, so I decided to go for it. I do have to say, it was an absolute BEAST to put together. There were instructions included for the metal stand portion, but no instructions for putting the chair together. So, I figured it out… eventually. I added on a soft blanket (an old Homegoods clearance find) a pretty wooden bead garland that I picked up antiquing with a friend awhile back.

The Comfy Couch Area

I really, really, really wanted to big fluffy couch that I could lay down on and put my feet up. I looked at a bunch of options, but the one that gave me the most bang for its buck was this $399 slipcovered version from Ikea (it’s this exact EKTORP version). I went with the least expensive color option for two reasons. One: MONEY. Two: sun fading. Our dark blue slipcovers got super faded due to the sun in the sunroom, so I went with a light color to keep it from getting ruined.

The rug previously lived in my den before I did that whole overhaul. I bought it about 7 years ago or so from some online company for cheap. The pillows are the same ones from the previous version of the sunroom. I found the pretty seafoam green/blue tufted ottoman from Homegoods on clearance for $39 a few weeks ago.

I also brought in some wood tones with the wooden side table (picked up at a consignment shop a couple months ago because I loved it, but didn’t have a place for it until now) and the driftwood garland hanging in the corner. I saw a driftwood garland in Hawaii at a fancy store and fell in love with it, so when I was putting my sunroom together, I found a similar one on Amazon for just $24 (find it here). I love the way it looks and I also giggle every time my husband gestures to it and says seriously that he likes my wood.

I am IN LOVE with my new sunroom. It’s like we discovered a whole new area in our house! Every single weekend morning, the first thing I do is make myself a travel mug of coffee and go straight out to the sunroom to enjoy it in my hanging chair. In the evening after work, I’ve been bringing a book out and snuggling up on the couch for a bit of reading. It’s wonderful. In fact, I keep calling it my she-shed.

After living with it for a month or so, I have decided to add one more thing. I need an extra reading light because the overhead fan with attached light is just not strong enough once it gets fully dark outside. I just ordered this one from Amazon and it should arrive this week!

What is your favorite spot in your home? Do you refer to it as your she-shed?!

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