the good, the bad and the ugly

I'm going to embarrass myself today. Hopefully, I'll redeem myself in a few weeks. I am starting on my sunroom makeover. It's going to be quite a project as far as labor is involved but the cost will be next to nothing because I'm doing it myself with stuff I already have. So, let's begin.  Just a warning...the photos in this post have not been re-touched, edited, airbrushed or enhanced.  I'll just let you see it as it is.

The Good

Let's start with the good.  The sunroom is going to become my project room.  It is a beautiful room with two walls of windows, a fireplace and french doors.  It's screaming with potential. 

 six huge windows

lovely french doors with antique glass knobs

pretty little fireplace and mantel

even has a little chandelier (although it needs some tweaking)

More Good

The new sunroom/project room will have some cool things it in like these:

The Bad

Before I can make it pretty, I've got to fix the bad.  The sunroom had nasty carpet in it.  It came that way.  So, first I will have to redo the floors.  I'm going to continue the painted concrete floors into the sunroom and I'll probably show my version of a tutorial on that later.  Right now, they look bad.

The Ugly

Since we've been working on the dining room, the entry and the den, we've had to move stuff around.  When we didn't know where to put something, we just put it in the sunroom.  We would say "let's just put it in the sunroom for now and we'll decide about it later."  After awhile, the sunroom just became a storage area and it was ugly.  I wish I could say I forgot to take pictures of it in it's before stage but I went ahead and took them.  So, here's the ugly before (and please tell me you all have an embarrassing spot in your home like this too.  Don't you have a spot where you just put your junk and close the door and hope nobody sees it?  Is every room as perfect as it appears on our blogs?  Now you know mine it isn't.  Please tell me yours isn't too so I can feel better.)

 

By embarrassing myself by showing this, I am now motivated to make it pretty.  So, that's what I'm working on the next few weeks.  I'll clean, paint, recover, stain, re-arrange, redo, create, re-purpose and whatever else to make this my new project room.  Guess what, I am not linking this post to any party, anywhere.  Nope, I don't want to share this with thousands of people.  I will post updates as I go along. Also, Jennie's been redoing her master bath and I have been nagging her to get me pictures.  She's done some great things in that bath so hopefully she'll get me some pictures to post!

old pickle jar

I have a large old pickle jar my aunt gave me.  It's been sitting around here and there but I never really knew what to do with it.  I have nothing on my coffee table in my den in progress so I thought I would use the pickle jar to top off the coffee table.  I like it and it gives some height to the area and stands out in a good way.  I added some pea gravel and small stones (less than 3 bucks a bag at HL) and a simple white candle. 

Simple.

entry room progress

If you've been following, you know I've been working on a makeover of the 2 room entry we have when you enter our house.  Well, we've made some progress and entry part A (the larger main entry) is almost finished.  Let's remember the before:

It was painted yellow, had a wooden bench, black mirror and a hodgepodge of stuff.  Although this was supposed to be a soft yellow, at certain times of the day, it became a blinding sunshine in your face yellow.  So, first thing we did was paint the room a soft neutral.  Now I have to add here, have you seen the latest issue of Country Living Magazine?  It's full of blinding sunshine in your face yellow walls and somehow their's looks good.  Mine didn't.  Okay, so here goes the thrifty "after."

First, we added this PB entry bench set.  Jennie had it and didn't want it anymore so she let me have it.  It was black.  You've seen it before I'm sure.

photo from Pottery Barn

I just gave it a coat of Kilz primer (in a spray can) and then a coat of white paint.

Next, I layered a red/white check quilt that I already had.  I love this quilt.  It looks and feels old but it's relatively new from JCPenney's!  I've had it about a year or so.

Then, I added accessories.  This is an old-fashioned ice cream maker that was my grandmother's. I remember many of my family members (including aunts, uncles, cousins) getting together at a park for a good ol' southern "fish fry" and then making ice cream after dinner, usually peach ice cream. We did this all the time growing up.   It still has all the parts but we just lifted those out, put them away in a safe place and will use the bucket as a place to put umbrellas.  Those new smaller tote-style umbrellas people carry now will fit perfectly in here without being seen.

I made a sign to go above the bench set.  I wanted a big red vintage sign but couldn't find what I wanted so I made my own using the technique I mentioned in a previous post.

This is the little, inexpensive mercury light we added a couple of years ago to replace the builder's standard brass fixture that was there.

This old metal toy horse was kept. It's been in the entry since we moved in because I didn't know where else to put it.  Now, I like it here.  The red and blue colors on it go well in this area now.

...and the details.  This cute simple mirror hung in my Dad's jeweler's shop forever.  It was the only mirror in the shop and the jeweler's used to check their hair in it before going out to visit their clients in Dallas.  (Someday, I'll have to post more about that.  It was an interesting time.) 

vintage bingo set and a flag we received for my uncle's military service

and old metal portable light with wooden handle, tiny stack of red books and a vintage blue glass thingamajig with a wick (I don't know what these are called but I have two; this one and a clear one from my Dad's shop).

We hung the sign, added a vintage-looking wire basket on top and a small woven red basket in the middle.

I painted a small vintage ladder white (but left the galvanized part as is).

So, here it is.  It's finished...for now.

What's left to do?  It needs something.  There is a lot of blank wall on either side of this area as well as between the bench and the section above it.  We most likely won't be hanging a bunch of jackets and coats here so the wall space will stay.  I guess this gives me something to hunt for when we go out junking!

Total cost for the last two weeks of work: less than $10 for 3 cans of Kilz spray primer.  Everything else, I already had.  If we add what I've purchased over the last year: light fixture $50. from Mothology (cool place!)  and the JC Penney quilt I bought on sale for around $60.00. 

I may be linking this up to my favorite link parties listed in my blog list above or down on the right hand side!

Niche reveal

Is anything ever finished?  I don't think so but I'm going to show you my niche makeover anyway.  Let's remember the before:

Remember, it was yellow (suppose to be pale but was more like sunshine), had a shelf we had installed and had stuff put in it just so it wasn't empty.  Although I like the old scale sitting in it, I have another place for that.

Here's the after:

We repainted the entire entry a soft neutral color.  I added an old pulley that I found junkin at my own house.  There's the little chair Jennie found for me.  I added pops of red and a few other things.  I like the simpler look of it but it still seems as if something's missing.  So, I may add a couple of more things to it in the future but for right now, I like it.  Total cost: just the cost of the chair.  Everything else I already had.

What do you think?  Like it better?

I've made a lot of progress on the rest of the entry and I'm almost finished with part A which is where this niche is located.  Hopefully, I'll be sharing that with you before the end of the weekend or early next week.