No, not me! Although I probably could use one! I am referring to our 'Sun Room'.
In the original plans of our home, this room was designed to be a 'sun room'. A room with concrete floors, lots of windows, a future hot tub. A place to sit and relax when the bugs were too bad outside. When Regan came, we realized it would make a great play room.
We designed it with a cottage type feel, which is quite different from the rest of our rustic house. The original plan included white tin ceilings, white trim and wainscoting, yellow bead board and built in toy boxes at one end. It made a great place to hang my birdhouse collection. Paul found a 'freebie' desk at the end of someones drive that had a glass top on it. We painted the desk and the top made a perfect place for a family photo collage.
We used the room this way until August of 2006. We had decided to take in an exchange student and originally thought we would finish a bedroom in the basement for her. After some contemplation, we decided it would be much less work for us to make a few changes in the sun room and set up a bedroom for her there.
We purchased blinds for the windows. Paul built a wardrobe on one end where we had planned to build a shelf unit eventually. We left the shelves out for the time being. We strung a cable with curtains to divide the room into a bedroom and living area. I put some of her photos under the glass and hung some framed pictures of her friends and family in the bedroom to make a more welcoming environment for her. We also added some privacy film to the french doors. It was a large static cling window sticker that was made to look like stained glass.
After our exchange student left, I really liked the room divided into two areas like this, with the couch as the divider. So I decided to leave it that way and use the 'bedroom' space as our designated craft area. The toy boxes didn't make such great toy boxes. The covers were always pinching hazards and they were too big, meaning toys were always getting lost and forgotten in them. They now make great craft supply storage bins.
I picked up another freebie from the neighbors, a table and chairs. They were a little beat up to be desired for someones dining area, but perfect for our needs in the craft area. Paul sanded the top of the table and I stenciled it with the words "hope, joy, peace, smile, imagine, dream, love, believe, wish" around the edges and "Laugh as much as you breath.. Love as long as you live", along with some flowers and butterflies.
A shelf and some baskets from garage sales made another nice space for craft items, along with some bags I sewed to hang on the hooks. An alphabet floor puzzle made a nice catch all/carpet protector.
The final touches were putting silk flowers in the wall sconces, after they sat empty for three years! And the 'crown jewel' of the whole project is the beaded art/photo gallery. Inspired by this website and this item from Oriental Trading, I came up with the idea for the gallery.
We strung the cable from the curtains along the wall, instead of across the room. I made the starter strings for the top using curtain rings/clips with beads added to the center. I then ordered some more clips to make extensions so that more than one item could be hung on each strand. The pictures don't do it justice, it looks really neat.
This has always been my favorite room in the house and now I love it even more. It is such a great, cheery place to go and sit, play, craft, read or whatever!
0 comments:
Post a Comment