Our Screen Porch

Have you been dying to know how I've been spending my last week?  Okay, maybe not dying to know, but perhaps interested?  I have been working very very hard on our porch.  I posted a little about our porch here. It is a fabulous porch.  Warm in the winter and screened in for the summer.  South facing, so a greenhouse to start plants.  Only it needed a little love.  There's been three changes.  I'll start with the before pictures, leaving you full of suspense for the after shots. 

1) The windows, door and bottom panels all came out, so there's floor to ceiling screens now.  My husband and dad did this part.  The widows will go back in come fall for the winter.
2) I painted. It's hard to tell in pictures, but I think you can see where I painted and where I didn't here.  It was very dingy, dirty, cracked, yuck.  I worried about lead paint too.  A fresh coat is just what it needed.

 3) The carpet was gross. Stained all over the place, grimy and gross. I'm not sure how many years it's been there...probably longer than I've been alive.  I didn't like sweet girl crawling on it, but I was scared to rip it up without having another rug on deck.  I didn't know what the floor would look like under there.  Given we still have two mortgages (other house hasn't sold yet...thoughts and prayers on that front would be appreciated), we cannot afford a new carpet.  Just like that, after talking about wanting a different rug, a friend posted she was selling a huge braided rug -12ft x 8ft.  She gave it to us for pennies compared to the original cost and we're sooo thankful.  Seriously, after she promised we could have it, I wasted no time, I started ripping that carpet minutes after.
Here's the before.

 And now, drum roll please...this was a ton of work...

Here's our new sun porch!!!! And what's cool is every.single.thing. pictured in this room is second hand/thrifted/found on the side of the road or a garage sale. Craigslist rocker.  Thrift store bead maze.  Free chair from friends.  Free patio set found on the side of the road with cushions/pillows handmade.  Rugs from friends. Craigslist rockers.  Handmade toys. Even thrifted sap buckets holding my geraniums on the porch. I love a medley of things that don't really belong together merging into perfect harmony. 
 This whole hedge is lilacs.

What's a relieve is the floor isn't too bad.  Of course after a ton of cleaning.It's worn in, not perfect, but good enough for now.  And how about our new rug?!

And  what's grand is you spin around and there's still room enough on this porch for our dining area.  We didn't eat out here before.  Not with an 11 month old throwing items on the carpet repetitvely.  Now we have the hard woodfloor, we're out there for every meal.

 And here's some homemades: punched pie plate tins by me, punched framed copper art by me (barnboard frame by the BOG), basket by my mother in law, quilt by me, bottles found by the BOG scuba diving.


 But, what makes this porch fantastic is the childhood memories in the making.  It was actually this sunporch that I used to run by daily, dreaming of what it would be like to have children running around on it.  Dreams do come true...




I likely will paint the floor.  And I ought to do the ceilings at some point.

 But for now, it's our peaceful, restful respite.
 It's perfect for memory making.

And there's no other place I'd rather serve father's day breakfast, that's for sure.



Thanks for stopping by!











10 comments:

  1. WOW is right this is fantastic I could not imagine a better job and look. I would be out there all the time. The kids are going to have fantastic memories of that porch and so are you. I love the way you filled it with cheap or free things it is awesome. Good luck on the sale. B

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  2. This is so beautiful and SOOOOOOO amazing! Good work! Looks like a lovely place to hang out.

    Wishing you a wonderful day!
    xoxo

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  3. Oh my gosh, it's so cute!!! I love that you filled it with all secondhand pieces. You never would know that by looking at it! I love the big braided rug; it fits in perfectly. How neat that you can take the windows off and put screens up. I am quite envious of your perfect little space :)

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  4. Wow!! Awesome job on the porch! I love that you re-opened it up with screening. I have a screened-in porch of the side of our house and it's absolutely blissful to sit out there. Glad to see you are enjoying yours too!

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  5. What a beautiful area for everyone to enjoy! Great job!! :)

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  6. LOVE!!! I am so jealous, it looks fabulous!

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  7. Wow! That is absolutely beautiful! You really did a great job over there! Now i really want our porch to have a total makeover. I know you are really enjoying the space now and how it looks. I would be enjoying it too and will be spending a lot of time in that screened porch of yours. All the hardwork really paid off.

    MosquitoCurtains.com

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  8. From an empty room, you turned your screen porch into a wonderful one. I like how you filled the room with fancy furniture. Have you already decorated the place for the holidays? It would be fun to spend Christmas Eve here: Eating with the whole family, giving gifts to your loved ones, and bonding with one another. You will definitely have a merry celebration!

    Leah Clay @ VanderLaan Home Improvement

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  9. Great job! I have done those kinds of things too- thrifted that all comes together great!

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