this old foreclosed home: three season porch reveal

So here it is, the last unfinished room in the house. The room I stared at through the kitchen window. Every time I did dishes, there was that giant glaring reminder of the one last giant project to mark off my list. Now let's not go crazy and think I get things DONE, because really, if you notice the green painters tape up on the ceiling, you'll see I clearly do not finish projects start to finish. Instead I do the big gloomy part of it first, and then leave small little easy things to finish later. Because, well, if I didn't have an ongoing to-do list, I just wouldn't be me.

Here are a few of the disturbing before pictures. When we bought this house, it needed more than just help, but the outside porch and the landscaping in general was long neglected. This screened in porch sat like this for a while, and then we cleaned it up a bit, tore up the carpet and the sagging screens, and used it like a deck. But there was so much potential out there and I couldn't see letting that go to waste. 

Since we adjusted the kitchen layout so much, we had to remove the two existing windows to make room for the slider. We also had to lose the single door to the deck in exchange for our laundry room off the kitchen. The slider let in a bit more light, but the porch roof was blocking a lot of sunlight, so we added a skylight before finishing the ceiling.

We kept a lot of the wood shakes and added more to fill in where we needed. We had a contractor come out and create a wood floor, a slatted ceiling and windows surrounding the structure. Unfortunately I had to do the finish work on the inside, and since we completed the structure by December, we had to wait until spring to paint and lacquer the wood. Oh and then I had a baby and you can't exactly lacquer a ceiling with a baby strapped to your back. 

With a lot of help from friends and my mother-in-law coming over to watch the baby, we were able to get it finished within a week. It was a ton of work but the results are amazing. And then the roof leaked. A few times. It needed repair before I dared go spend money on furnishings and a rug only to watch them get ruined. So a project that should have taken a month or two took a year. Well, almost. But I give you, our finished {except for the molding to hold in our insulation, sheesh...} sunroom.

The chairs are Ektorp arm chairs from IKEA in white, $250 a piece, but I did comparison shop and couldn't find anything cheaper. These were by far the best most comfortable option, and I knew I had to have white to avoid the sun fading any other color. The rug was from IKEA as well, at 6 1/2 x 10 feet the $200 price tag wasn't awful. The poufs were made by me at about $25 for both. The rattan rug was a clearance deal at Lowe's for $10.

This is my favorite little picturesque corner. I love the star {free from a friend and painted white}, the coat rack {$10 from IKEA but found in the box at Goodwill for $2}, the sign was a goodwill find that I painted with chalkboard paint, and the boot tray is from Target. 

The floor was painted a nice porch blue, I can find the exact info if anyone's interested. All the white trimwork was painted bright white in Behr's paint and primer in one.

The orange side table was also a friend freebie, but it's an IKEA table that I'm not sure they carry anymore. I simply spraypainted it orange to fit in with my theme. The small basket is from Home Goods, $15. The coasters I made. The glass hurricane was something from my old stash and I revamped it by glueing some jute around the base.

This larger basket was $35 at Home Goods, so it was a splurge but I happened to have a gift card, yay for me.

So far, I've spent a lot of time out here in our new 'second living room'. I think it'll be well worth the investment for the dog, the bebe and me. Because we all love our fresh air, minus the bugs...