This weekend I continued to plug away on our sun porch renovation as part of the One Room Challenge. It may not look like much progress but it felt like I spent the whole weekend painting the panels and window trim black! Last week I prepped for paint by sanding the wood paneling and pine window trim. Saturday morning I started to tackle the paint. I used two coats of grey primer and at least three coats of black paint on each panel, with a little touch-up Monday and Tuesday when I had good afternoon light to see the spots that I missed.

I still intend to paint the window panes and put them back on so that we get the feel of black steel windows. That’s on my list for this weekend.

In addition to painting, I started to round up some of my new purchases for the room. My new ottoman that I ordered during Way Day arrived. Sunday morning I drove 45 minutes to purchase five vintage windsor chairs that I found on craigslist. I’m debating whether I will spray paint them black or paint them with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in graphite, which is a bit more of a charcoal color.

I also unearthed a small bench that I had originally pulled from my grandparents’ house many years ago before my grandma moved into a nursing home. My grandpa always had a collection of furniture refinishing projects in the cellar. When he passed there were a few things left that he never got to finish. This little bench was at one point caned (it has holes on the top for caning) and my grandpa undoubtedly intended to re-cane it. Unfortunately I lack his caning skills so my plan it to make a plywood top for it and cover it with a green fabric.

This weekend I’ll finish touching up paint and work on my furniture projects. We’re in the process of making plans to have the tile installed professionally and to have tongue-and-groove paneling added to the ceiling. I feel like we’re making great progress but getting subcontractors in will be critical to getting the space finished.

Make sure you visit the One Room Challenge blog and check out the other guest participants!