Progress on the Sunroom and a Roll-Up Shade Hack

Projects move at a snails pace around here. I don't know how others do it...put their mind to something, start a house project, then finish it that same week.  That never happens here.
Anyway, some progress, however little, has been made.  First up I thought I'd show you a quick little sewing project of how I customized an Ikea Roll-up shade.

The shade is a plain white cotton twill called Emmie, and was 12.99.  All I did was measure the space between the button holes. Then cut my pretty yellow floral fabric to size, adding a half inch seam allowance on all sides, turn back the 1/2 inch and press. Then pinned in place, sewed around the edges, and called the door done. Easy peasy.

Next I moved on to the bench. I found the linen bins at Target.  Then made a long bench cushion in linen to match.

The 3 inch high density foam is crazy expensive and wasn't in the budget for this penny-saving make over, so I used a full size egg-crate mattress topper that I found on sale. I cut it into 3 long pieces and stacked them for my cushion.  It doesn't lay as smooth as a single piece of hi-dens, but for a $50-$60 price difference, I'm ok with that.
I once again employed the nifty little trick at whipstitch for continuous bias tape to make my piping, and found a long 48" zipper in my stash for the back closure.

And the cute red poppy fabric (by Joel Dewberry) was made into an accent pillow.
On the other side of the room I added some wall flowers to the brick . Not sure if I'll keep all of them up yet. I'm going to live with them for awhile and then decide if I need to edit.

And lastly, I brought in the antique chest from the other room and accessorised with some of my yellow pottery pieces, a cute little picture my mom found, and a round mirror (that still needs to be hung).

Well, that's about it for now. Still looking into what can be done to the floor economically, and I'd love to bring in a little table and chair for me to sit in, since Hunny has claimed the wicker bench as her own.  LOL
Have a great week, everyone!

Painting the Sunroom

I started a make over on the sunroom last week.  Its a small 12'x14' room off the kitchen that we've been using as kind of a mudroom. Its the entrance we use most often and where we kick off muddy shoes, grab a jacket and where we keep Hunny confined when we leave the house. Majorly neglected! (the room,  not the dog)

It is lined with yellow pine paneling and has faded rusty orange carpet.  And despite the 9 windows, it always seemed dark and cave-like....NOT my favorite room in the  house. The paneling bugged me the most. Now, I understand there are those who feel natural wood should be left as is, but I'm not one of them.  lol
And I think even the most die-hard wood lovers would have to agree with me in this case. The paneling appears to be pieced together from remnants (different grades, finishes, and colors) and you may also notice in the photos that on some walls its hung vertcally and on others its horizontal. There is also some exposed brick (greyish brown) thrown into the mix.
So, I decided to paint  the room and hopefully brighten the space and mask some of the craziness.

I started by removing the wood blinds, taking down the dust-collecting shelf at the peak, and wiping down the paneling.

Because of the grooves in the paneling and all the cutting in around the windows, I had to paint the entire room with a brush. Fun.  But after a coat of primer and one coat of paint (Behr's paint and primer in one) I was already happier with the room. I decided not to paint the ceiling becasue I just didn't think my neck and shoulders could handle it, although I think it would look lovely in a pale sky blue.

I painted the door in a blue-green color that I already had on hand and plan to use yellow and red as accents in the room.

Although I like the wood blinds, I was craving somingthing a bit lighter for summer.  So I had hubby install curtain wire from Ikea so I could hang sheers.  The wires will be nearly invisible if I later want to take down the sheers and put the blinds back up.

While we were at Ikea, we also picked up an Expedit bookcase and 6 Besta feet and plan to use it as a long storage bench.

There's still some work to do. We have to trim out the gable window and then put up the last curtain wire on the wall. I'm also re-making a roll up window shade for the door and want to make a seat cushion and find storage boxes for the bench.  I would love to change the ugly carpet, but not sure that will happen just yet.  But, its already made a big difference! Its now a bright happy room that goes with the rest of the house, rather than looking like an after-thought.

 

 

Hope to have this finished up soon, so I can show the final reveal.  :)