A Loong Process, But Worth It!

Our house comes with a sunporch, as many New England homes do.  When we looked at our house with the hopes to purchase it, it was filled with so many plants, birds and cats that we could hardly look out the windows to the backyard.  When we moved in, we noticed the carpet, a lovely puke yellow, was filled with birdseed and cat hair.  The walls were dark paneling, and the ceiling was stained from a roof leak.

It took us a long time, but the carpet was the first to go.  Out with the puke yellow, and in with the blue.  Then we moved downstairs in our 2-family house for a time, and the walls were painted white by tenants.  When we moved back up, the roof leak was so bad, we had to tear down parts of the ceiling tiles to gain access for repair. Upon moving up, the sunporch became a dumping ground for anything we didn't know what to do with and didn't have time to think about.  Dehydrator, bike repair equipment, musical instruments.  You name it - if you couldn't find it, look in the sunporch as it was most likely found there.

So the first step of our cleaning process was to clean out the room to make it more useable by our family.

It was hard work, but in the end, we were able to create a small, very small TV room.  Then, we had some time off and decided to tear the ceiling tiles down:

Putting up beadboard paneling was a great idea.  On a sunny day, we coated each board with polyurethane:

We rented a neumatic nailer from Home Depot to fix the boards to the rafters.  What a treasure that was.  I can't imagine the sore muscles we would have had we hammered in all those nails!  The nailer was terrific and such a time saver.

The finished room with furniture pulled from other parts of the house:

It is a small space, but we love it.  It needs a few more things - a new cover for the futon which I will make from fabric I already have hanging around, More art on the walls, and I think I will paint the side tables the same color.  For added texture, I may add curtains over the shades.  The room can get pretty hot in the morning as it faces East and the sun pours in.  Curtains with the shades will insulate the room, and the rest of the house during the hotter months.  When I have other projects finished in the house, I may get to painting this room as I'm not too keen on white white, but for now, that will have to wait.  We have a french door that could be cut to fit the doorway to replace the boring luan door and let more light into the nearby kitchen, but again, so many other things need attention, and this will wait.

All in all, this took a long time to pull together, but we are so happy with the results.