Remember when our sun porch went from this

to this?

Of course you do, considering it was just last Friday! :) I don't know if you looked closely enough at the table in the corner, but if you did, you may have realized that it was our dog pen with a picture frame on top! Space in our house is exceedingly limited, so every single square inch needs to function, and this corner was going to be no exception.

When I was moving things around last week, I realized that there was just enough space between the bed and the windows to squish Piper's pen. After squeezing it in there, I decided that it would be nice to make the pen functional as well. I wanted a surface for drinks or to place a book until the next chance to read.  

My first inclination was wood, but then I decided that it may be too "raw" looking and might end up having that thrown-together-last-minute look. Sometimes that works, this time it definitely didn't. I also thought that I could use one of the multiple TV trays that we have, but in the end, they all proved to be too small. Finally, as I was browsing through our guestroom-turned-storage-room, my eyes fell on a picture that I was given. The picture originally hung above our fireplace in our apartment's dining room and I still didn't have a place for it in this house. My grandfather gave it to me and said that my grandmother had purchased it on a trip to Europe. I love the story behind it and that it was my grandmother's, but it wasn't quite my style--thus the lack of spot for it in our new space. 

So, I preserved the picture by taking the whole thing apart and then using wrapping paper to cover it. This way, in the future I can use it if I find a space for it! I used the matting as my template, cut it to size, and stuck it all back together. A bit of tape and some finagling and the picture had turned into the perfect tabletop for the dog pen! The whole shebang looked more intentional and I was able to protect the picture at the same time!

I decided to accessorize a bit by using a clear-based lamp that I picked up at HomeGoods for ten beans, a succulent plant I had on my kitchen counter, and a decorative box that was also given to me by my grandparents. I love how the blue of the planter and the red play off each other. Being opposites on the color wheel, they really compliment one another.  The lamp was an easy choice because it gave the feeling of coziness without impeding the view. A win, win in my book.

And in the end, that corner became something much more functional. I have to say, I was pretty excited with how it turned out. I may do a bit more tweaking in the future, after all nothing is truly safe in this house.  But as of today, I declare it finito!

I have to know what you think though! Do you like the functionality or does it look a bit to thrown together? Have you ever used a piece of furniture or decorative element in a completely different way than it was intended for? Did you like the results or end up scraping the whole project? 

Happy Monday everyone! 

Six Hours Later

So, there has been a change of plans.

Rule #1: NEVER, ever, ever expect things to go according to the plan. Home improvements are just not meant to fit into a nice, tiny box and be tied up with a pretty red bow. Nope. They have a mind of their own. Things change. Projects are inevitably expanded and cost more money. So, thus, projects get cancelled so they don't drain the pocketbook.

 Remember when I was really excited about our plans for the sun porch? Well, they have been put on hold. On our way back from my roommate's wedding, this past weekend, Jonathan and I were discussing plans for the sun porch. He commented that we needed to insulate out there and thus the walls needed to be ripped down. Well, upon further discussion we realized that it would cost us at least a grand to redo the porch.

Sun porch project is now a pending process.

How's that for alliteration?

Long story, made short, we really didn't want to start a project that we couldn't fully fund from the beginning. We have the money in our savings, but are working on building up our emergency fund. So that money is not truly available. Plus, we estimate that it would cost about the same to redo our guest bedroom. Well if that is the case, we should do that first! A guestroom is much more important than a sun porch.

Needless to say, we were both pretty sad about the situation. We were really looking forward to having another room finished--seriously, look at the state of that space!! Having that tower-o-boxes unpacked was an exciting thought. So I got to thinking, "Why not just do something out there that would look nice and be a good temporary solution?"

And that is exactly what I did.

My goal was to utilize the mattress that was out there and also unpack a majority of the boxes. I also wanted to make sure that the space still functioned. This meant that at least one dog pen and various other things that have been stored out there, needed to continue to have a home. Easier said then done. But the room couldn't get much worse than it was before.

First I cleared the space out as best I could and then gave everything a good vacuum, sweep, and mop. At this point the room was smelling lemony-fresh! Plus, all those balls of hair just had to go. Definitely not the accessory that I was going for :)

I decided to buy another white bookshelf--those cheap $15 Walmart bookshelves are really great in a pinch. I also bought a fitted sheet to use on the queen mattress and create a temporary place to read books. I brought in a rug that I had on hand and got rid of the old, stained green one. Finally, I used a bunch of things that I had stored in the guestroom to gussy things up a bit. I really like the overall result. Definitely an improvement. :)

I surprised Jonathan with it last night...and all he has said since then is, "Wow. I just can't get over how nice it looks!" --That's my man!

Sun Porch Design

Why don't we continue our conversation about the design we have for our sun porch.

While we were away, I had a bit of down time. I decided to pick up an inexpensive drawing pad and a pencil and do a bit of sketching. I really wanted to get some ideas down on paper. The whole process really helped me visualize various possibilities for our sun porch. I was able to get a feel for a potential layout and I also was able to figure out what I wanted to do as far as storage goes.



As you can see from the sketches, there will be plenty of built in shelving and a lot of space for lounging. Like I mentioned before, this space will act as a library and possible guest room, so function and storage are key. To give you an even better idea of the layout, here is a not-to-scale floor plan.

The door at the bottom of the room leads into our dining room. The one on the left is an outside door that we never use. Eventually we plan on putting a window in instead. The room measures , just so you can get an idea of size. All of the little rectangles on the outside of the room represent windows. They are everywhere. I think the space will really turn out nicely. I just hope that my vision comes together. Sometimes I have a great idea that doesn't end up working at all. I guess we will find out won't we?

I also decided to draw up a design board so that I have a better idea of the look that I'm going for as well. I love doing all of this stuff! I enjoy planning things and visualizing the future space and how we will use it. Without further ado, here is our sun porch's decorative plan!

Based on our first floor color scheme, that I talk about here, I would like to paint the porch a beautiful gray-blue color. This one, used as the backdrop to the mood board, is Palladian blue by Benjamin Moore. We aren't going to be using this color exactly. Rather, we are going to be using some leftover paint that my parents gave us.

They had some paint leftover from their living room and decided to have it mixed with some white paint. Their plan was to use in their upstairs hallway. Well, they ended up going with a different color and asked if we wanted the paint. When I saw what color it was, I jumped at the chance and grabbed the whole 5 gallon bucket for myself politely said, "Yes." So, starting from that color, here is what we came up with.

          1. We want to build a pallet bed. I have mentioned this before, but I am happy to say that we already have most of the supplies. My parents had a leftover twin mattress that they gave to us and Jonathan found some pallets at a local lumber yard. Free = the best thing ever. Now all we need are some kind of caster. I'm thinking something like this.

          2. On the pallet bed, I would like to use tons of pillows. I'm thinking a very neutral fitted sheet combined with neutral euro pillows and fun/colorful accent pillows would be perfect. The beautifully textured euro pillows can be found here and the accent pillows can be found here.

          3. As you can see in the floor plan, I would also like to have a chair in the corner. The pallet bed will provide a bunch of seating, but I like the idea of having a lime green-grellow colored chair in the corner. A fun accent to the corner by the old door. We actually already have our chairs (an early birthday gift from my parents--I will be sharing more on Friday), but I also liked this one found at CB2.

          4. Lighting is always a must in a space. I really wanted something airy for accent lighting because the bookshelves and pallet bed will probably weigh down the space enough. I felt that a glass lamp would be perfect. Also, we need some overhead lighting. When I typed in "barn light" in Google, I found this beauty. Not exactly overhead lighting and at a cost of over $200 I'm not a fan of the price either. BUT I really like the whole bucket idea and it started my creative juices flowing. I have a great idea :)

          5. Our little porch has a radiator in it. We would love to build in the shelving around the radiator that incorporates some kind of cover for the radiator itself.

          6. Finally, we need to anchor the space with a bit of color on the floor. I'm really liking the thought of incorporating the color from the kitchen and bathroom by using a gray rug. I'm especially loving the price tag on this one from Ikea.

So, that is our sun porch in a nutshell. What do you think? I cannot wait to start this room next week--yup! My goal is to get it painted next week and then I can at least start the process of filling it with fun things. I will have to wait until the carpenter has time to build the shelving and pallet bed though. Do you think I could try the whole 'its-my-birthday-so-you-should-make-me-shelves" thing?

Yea...I doubt it will work too :)

Our Future Library/Sunporch

I'm itching to start a project. Oh what I would give to work on something and spend a few days completing a room. It would be so nice to work on something else around here!

But, alas, summer is just so busy that things have been at a standstill. The carpenter and I have been completing little things here and there, but its nothing to write home on the blog about. Maybe once we have accumulated enough small projects, I will write a huge post dedicated to them. But, that would also require that I be able to upload pictures to blogger. Does anyone know how I can have unlimited space for pictures? Apparently I have used up all of my space this month and can only pull pictures from the internet or ones that I have already used on the blog. I don't know how to fix that. I'm completely computer illiterate when it comes to certain things! 

Anyways, once things settle down a bit, and we aren't traveling allover Timbuktu, I would like to start on a much anticipated project: our sunroom/porch/reading room. 

The above is what it looked like when we first toured the house. Then it became filled with boxes and was used as a storage space for all of our stuff. It was like an episode of hoarders. 

Now, it is filled with boxes of books, our big dog pen, a queen mattress set, and a few other odds and ends. Here are the most recent pictures that I have access to. Things have changed a bit, but you get the idea. 

One thing has led to another and we feel like this space is the next one we will tackle. Thanks to some generous family members (thanks mom and dad!!) we have been given enough stuff that we can finish this project for minimal money. But more on that in another post. First, let's chat about design, shall we? 

I have been working towards this idea that our entire downstairs should have one color scheme. Every room opens into the next one and I want them all to go together. So far we have a gray, grellow, off white, and light aqua color pallet. 

These swatches don't do justice to the colors, but can you see how they all go together?

We have the french white in the living room, marina gray in the kitchen and bathroom, and the pistachio is in the dining room. So when it came to picking a color for the sunroom, I thought it made a lot of sense to pull in some Palladian Blue. I arrived at this color choice after deciding that it would be perfect to reference our living room rug in another part of the house.

After the color was decided upon, we moved on to the purpose of the sunporch. Jonathan and I talked about how we would like the room to function and what purpose it would serve. We concluded that we needed a place to store books and this would be the ideal location. I didn't really want to clutter up our living room with tons of books (plus, where would we put bookcases?!) and I liked the idea of having a room dedicated to our stash. I have always wanted a library--and this will be pretty darn close to it!

I also liked the idea of having plenty of seating. The seating had to be comfortable and practical at the same time. As our house has limited space, every single room must have dual functions. Thus, our sunporch/library will also function as a guestroom if we need it to!

You may be wondering how.

Well, in this post, I alluded (not so discretely)  to the fact that we were thinking of creating a pallet bed! I love this idea. It could be a cozy place to curl up with a good book or, when needed, could be the perfect place for a guest to crash. Something similar to this, but without the headboard.

{image via}

So our room will have lots of bookshelves, a fun pallet bed, and there may be a few other things that I have planned. But you get the overall idea, don't you? 

I will be back Friday with more about our next project and hopefully we will get working on it soon!! 

Happy Hump Day all!