One thing that drew me to our current house, besides the amazing lot, was that the house itself is just kind of, well…quirky. It sounds cheesy, but its personality spoke to me. The spaces felt interesting, even without furniture, clad with dated wallpaper and floors that had seen better days. The bulk of the work we’ve done on the house in the last year has been an editing process–a tweaking and streamlining of what already exists–in an effort to freshen and modernize the space without taking away the inherent character of it.

The sun porch was one of those spaces that I knew had so much potential with a few tweaks. Before we officially moved in, we had a few take-out meals just sitting on the steps of the porch, looking out at this dream lot we had just purchased and soaking in the sun. I envisioned eating out there all the time, but we never got around to furnishing it. One Sunday in March when the weather finally warmed up and the sun was shining, Kyle and I sat on the sofa with the door open while the hounds played outside and we really appreciated the space for the first time since we moved in. The room needed some attention before we could enjoy it fully, so when I got the email reminder about the Spring 2019 One Room Challenge I knew it was the perfect opportunity (and necessary kick in the pants) to get the project done. Which is, by the way, the point of the One Room Challenge: to encourage people to finish a space, buoyed by the simultaneous misery and support of a bunch of other people documenting their progress on the space they are attempting to transform.

The Before

So now to the space itself. As a reminder, here is where we started:

The During

If you want to read about my design plan and more details on the process, you can check out my posts for each previous week:

Week 1: Sun Porch Before + Plan
Week 2: Plans and (Little) Progress
Week 3: Paint and More Paint
Week 4: Life got in the way and I didn’t post
Week 5: Tile in the Sun Porch

After removing the existing window shades, we made a couple major finish changes to the space that made a huge impact. The first was painting the windows and surrounding panels black. The room was originally an open porch, enclosed in the 1990s with some arched picture widows and wood paneling. I painted the window frames, window panes, and surrounding paneling Tricorn Black by Sherwin Williams, which is the same black I’m using on the doors throughout our house. It took FOREVER but I’m so happy with the result.

The second major change was adding a slate floor over the existing knock-down texture concrete floor. I HATED the existing floor so much. Not only because it was generally unattractive, but also because it was a little slick and seemingly impossible to clean. Not great when you’re talking a surface that frequently gets water and dirt tracked through it from the backyard. The most budget-friendly slate I could find was from Home Depot, and it was thankfully in stock at our local store. I’m so happy with how the flooring came out and the combo of the brick + slate in the space.

Furnishing this room was challenging. It’s quite long and narrow (about 8.5′ x 21′), and the door placement and steps protruding into the space create some difficult obstacles. The sliding glass door is the only exit directly to the backyard, and there are two sets of french doors leading from our living room into the porch. Each set of doors has one door blocked on the living room side by an end table, so the only way in and out of the space is from one of the doors closest to the perimeter of the room. We basically have to keep a path of travel available from an outer edge of the room to the center…as I said, it’s a challenge.

The After

The solution was to create separate lounging and dining zones on opposite sides of the room, linked by a small seating area in the center of the space. The name of the game was attempting to reuse some of what we already had and to stick to budget options for new furnishings, and we definitely accomplished that.

Our Ikea English roll arm sofa that was previously in the living room of our last two houses replaced the outdoor sectional that we had on the porch. I added a soft ottoman that could do double-duty as a foot rest and coffee table, since this is definitely a spot to put your feet up. The circular shape helps prevent it from cutting off the path to the door, and it’s on wheels so it’s easy to move if needed. I added a floor lamp for visual height, and to bring some ambient light into the room closer to eye level since the primary lighting in the space (at night) is from the ceiling fan. My original design plan called for a garden stool by the sofa but I pivoted when I saw the adorable tiny brass drink table at the West Elm that recently opened near my office. I’m so glad I went that route because that corner would’ve felt crowded with something larger and I love the sculptural element that the drink table base adds to the space.

I know it sounds ridiculous but I envision this lounge-y side of the room to be the spot where we take family photos for the long haul. Right now it’s just the two of us and two hounds, but it just feels like THE spot in the house. The room gets great natural light and I have this vision of watching our family grow and change, documented in this very same spot for various special occasions long into the future.

The “leather” love seat was a Craigslist find that I intended for our living room, but the back was just too tall and the tall arms made it feel too cut-off from the other furniture in the room. I still love the shape of it, and it’s the perfect size for this awkward spot between the stairs on the porch. I added a gallery wall of items I’ve collected over the years and on the brick wall to give an eclectic feel to the space and bring the eye up. The ceiling height gave me the perfect opportunity to hang a vintage flag I bought from a Chartreuse & Co. sale a few years ago. I placed a rug in the center of the space to warm it up a bit. It was cheap when we bought it four years ago to go under our bed in our first house, so it’s OK if it gets dirty from the backyard and we have to replace it. We’re actually hoping that having a rug in that room cuts down on the amount of dirt that makes it into the rest of the house.

The far end of the room is our dining spot, and I hope to be eating our meals out here all summer long. It has lovely views of our garden and (seasonally) the Potomac River. I snagged the quarter-sawn oak table on Facebook marketplace for $240 and surrounded it with vintage Windsor chairs that I purchased on Craigslist for $100 total. I painted the chairs with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Graphite, which is inadvertently the same color as the slate tile. I may darken them up with some black sealing wax but I’m going to live with them for a bit first and see how I feel.

At the last minute I decided to add a vintage rug underneath the dining area for a little more visual interest, and to give the tile a bit of a break under the chairs. We were hoarding the rug after my mother-in-law decided to get rid of it, and this just happened to be the spot we found for it. It’s admittedly too small for the table and chairs, but it’s honestly pretty challenging to find a rug that’s the right size for this space.

The green cabinet in the corner holds random outdoor things like grilling supplies, marshmallow roasting sticks, bug spray, and baby wipes to clean off the dogs’ paws when they come inside on a muddy day. I painted it with Annie Sloane Chalk paint in Amsterdam green and replaced the hardware with these adorable black glass knobs. Instead of hanging a lantern over the dining table, I opted to place a lamp on top of the hutch. We have it plugged into a smart switch so I can ask Alexa to turn it on instead of having to reach up high. I’m hoping the plant will grow to drape down the side of the cabinet…but we’ll have to see if I can keep it alive first.

This is the first time I’ve styled a table to photograph a room and I LOVE IT. And I just realized that I managed to set my silverware wrong…whoops. Sorry mom! Oh well. I layered striped placemats with floral napkins that we got for our wedding and I have literally never taken out of the package. The tortoise glasses were a gift from the designer I used to work for and I really need to hunt down a few more so that I can set a larger table with them. I added a few of my precious glass insulators for color (and general happiness), and clipped a few branches from a tree in our backyard to give a little more height to the space. I need to have friends over just so that I can set it this nicely again soon!

One thing we didn’t manage to complete in time for photographs was the tongue & groove ceiling. The carpenter I was planning to use for the job is booked for a while I might be able to do it myself, I know he’ll do a better job. We’ll wait till he’s available and tackle it in a month of two, but in the meantime I’m so excited to start using this space more often. I’ve already enjoyed a nap on the sofa and I’m looking forward to a jigsaw puzzle and some reading on the porch this weekend.

So how was my first experience doing the One Room Challenge? I’m definitely ready to take a few weekends off from projects, but it’s been super satisfying to give myself a deadline and to have an event through which I can share my hard work and see what all the other designers/influencers/bloggers have accomplished. Speaking of which, make sure to check out the headline designers One Room Challenge spaces along with the guest participants! There are some seriously talented people displaying some gorgeous spaces and I’m pumped to see what they’ve all come up with! Thank you to Better Homes & Gardens for being the official media partner of the Spring 2019 One Room Challenge! Now to start thinking about which space I’ll tackle for the Fall 2019 ORC…