Last winter, I did a series of blog posts on a home renovation that I had been working on. We no more finished that project when our happy couple decided to tie the knot. Instead of going on a honeymoon, they went full speed into an addition that soon turned into the Boho Chic Sunroom.
To catch up on what we did first, visit the posts below.
- 1992 No Demo Kitchen Renovation
- No Demo Great Room Reno/1992 Builder House
- No Demo Primary Bedroom/Bringing Miss Matched Furniture Together
The new husband had plans drawn up for a new multi-garage edition and plans for a boho chic sunroom above and off the kitchen. Working side by side with our contractor by September they were almost ready to move in.
The game was on. Working with what they already had, and making as few purchases as possible. This was one of the most fun projects I’ve ever worked on, because this is my kind of design. Not so much the furnishings themselves, but thinking outside the box. Reimagining what you already have.
WHAT THEY HAD TO WORK WITH
- Bamboo sofa, chair, and matching end table, purchased years ago at an estate sale, the frames were painted black.
- Green metal nesting tables that had been used in her former home
- Cream ceramic gourd lamp and an iron twig lamp
- Sofa Table which you can’t see that was being stored in one of the garages with paint cans!
- 36″ Round table
- 3 hyacinth chairs stolen from the kitchen.
- All accessories
In September we brought up the sofa and matching chair from the lower level. Recovering these pieces was actually the first project I did for our homeowner, when she was in a dark apartment, a few years ago. She wanted cheerful. “Yup, we can work with these.” I advised her that the frames needed to be painted so we chose a taupe/grey color. Next time I went over the task was complete.
At the local Habitat for Humanity Restore Store, T was sending me photos of a large round table and chairs, plus an antique commode she had seen. I ran over the next day to looked at them. Of course, I said, “Yup, that will do.” I knew the table was probably too big for the room but at $125.00 the chairs alone were worth the price. I figured we could always resell the table if necessary. But we both really liked the table. The top needed a bit of work, which was no sweat for our handy husband.
The next thing I hear is that the table is now replacing the square shaker table that was in the kitchen. And oh, do we love it in the kitchen. So much better! downstairs there was a round pedestal table in a very dark mahogany finish around 36″ in diameter. Could that work up stairs? One look and I knew with some TLC we could again make some magic. Handy husband stripped the inlaid top, which turned out so lovely that we didn’t want to cover it up with paint. T used Amy Howard Bauhaus Buff on the pedestal. Nervous about distressing it, I told her to scuff it up where feet would be and to let loose her inner child. She had so much fun doing it and the table turned out fantastic.
We needed to find a recliner for our handy husband but, we didn’t want to spend a fortune. After leaving their home one day, I made a pit stop at Costco. I saw a leather chair for about $500.00 and I thought hmm. Good looking for a recliner, how does it sit. Hmm not bad at all. I shot off a text, and the next thing I know they have the chair in their possession. He likes it.
By the first of November we were struggling with the wall sconces for either side of the windows. After many, many fails T and I had a girls day and went down to Lincoln to Connor’s a salvage yard that has wonderful things. We were looking for sconces and something to go above the sliding glass door. I found 2 copper lanterns with no price. Our friend J found a lovely leaded glass window. We had a wonderful lunch at The Green Gateau while we mulled things over. The leaded glass window was a bit more than we wanted to spend but, we decided to go for it anyway. We also bought the sconces for $125.00 for the pair.
A few days later I stopped by before the sconce installation and the copper didn’t do a thing. Which was so disappointing to me. Blending right into the paint, we knew we needed more contrast. She painted them a matte black and we did the reflectors in gold. They are wonderful and we are so happy with them.
We had a cranberry leather chair and ottoman downstairs vintage 1990’s. They brought it up and it lived in the room for a time. We discussed recover and reimagining it but, I was not excited about this prospect. Even with a redesign, I felt it was still going to look like a roly poly chair from the 90’s. I got a text from T and she was at our consignment store that just closed last week. She was looking at a beautiful chair in a grey geometric upholstery. Could this work? Great price and great condition.
I met her the next day, and I really liked this chair. Comfortable, simple and the size was right for the room. We had sent away for buffalo check samples for the burgundy chair and she brought them with her, along with the cushion from the bamboo chair. The fabric that was on the chair was fine, absolutely nothing wrong with it but, now we had our heart set on the buffalo check. I looked at her as I am sitting in the chair, and I said you know we could buy this chair and recover it. She just rolled her eyes. I knew I had won!
This consignment shop had a mark down system. Every so many weeks things got reduced. My homeowner was brave and took a chance. The week before Christmas she picked up the chair for a phenomenal price. She immediately ordered the buffalo check, took it to the upholsterer and had the chair 3 days later. I love when things happen like that. Was this boho chic sunroom finally coming together?
The commode from Restore had been languishing in the basement, waiting for its turn. In our yellow print fabric there is some green, khaki grey, and a beautiful coral color. Wondering what color we were going to paint it, I knew from the moment I saw this 1880’s commode, that it needed to be coral. What! T thought I was joking. Surely it will be green, or grey. Nope Coral! We had a hard time finding the color. We looked at the usual chalk paint lines and I thought for sure someone would have the right color. No luck. But, turns out Benjamin Moore will mix chalk paint now. Eureka!!! We selected a color from their paint deck and had it mixed.
Time for me to get my hands dirty. T could have done this herself but she was nervous about it, and I wanted to play. With the very first brush stroke I knew we had a winner. The commode was stained dark to begin with, making the perfect foil for sanding thru the finish, and giving it wear and tear. I buffed with clear wax and a dose of dark wax and one last buff. We were applauding ourselves. Look at that detail on the doors. After it was in place the question was what do we put on it? I suggested we turn it into a bar. That’s what she did.
Up until this point we were just collecting elements. I knew they were all going to be nice together but we were still missing the main event. The rug. I didn’t know what it was going to look like. I had no vision. Yes there was 100 different ways we could have gone but, I couldn’t see it and was not excited about anything we saw.
Coming up on Christmas and we still hadn’t solved the rug problem. Trips to Homegoods just was not yielding anything. Well my homeowner did go back to get one but, it was gone. We were both kind of bummed about it but I figured there was a reason.
After Christmas frustrated, we decided to go to Nebraska Furniture Mart. Cushion, and samples in hand we prepared for a long hall. This had to be a big rug. 8×10 was too small, 11×14 was our optimal size. Flipping, flipping and more flipping, our sales person said you know I have one I want to show you. Oh my, bold for sure. Let’s bring it down on the floor. We all know the light in a show room stinks. This rug looked like a circus in the store but, the more I looked at it, the more I started to fall in love. It was fun, it had every color we were working with, and it fit my homeowners personality. But, was she brave enough.
I was concerned about the size because it was a bit smaller than I would have liked. So we investigated the larger size, the price and stock. No stock and of course because they would have to order it, that cranked the price up significantly. We decided to give the one we were looking at a try, knowing we could always return it. But it is magical, and even though I would have liked it a bit bigger it is totally fine.
The last element was to deal with the way the sofa sat. I am tall and my legs are very long. This sofa was sitting too deeply for me! T is about 5′ nothing and even though she never sits in it, it swallowed her. We determined, that the sofa would have originally had an overstuffed soft cushion. Now it has box cushions. My solution was to add two large Lombard pillows across the back. We ordered a boucle’ ivory fabric, because she wanted the cushion to be simple with no more color. I made the pillows 18×34 each and stuffed them with a feather down insert that was 20×37. I wanted the pillows to be squishy but, I also wanted them to have firm support. It was the perfect solution.
T did all her own accessorizing with things that had meaning to her. Photos of her mother, a holocaust surviver, vases that she bought to use on the tables at their wedding. A fabulous collection of shells, birch branches in a pot that she already had and a wonderful arrangement she made for the sofa table behind the couch. The sofa table was a garage piece that they were storing paint cans on. A coat of paint was all it needed.
So that’s my tale of working with what you have and turning it into something that can make a really fun room. Boho mismatched and careful curation has created a space that they now spend all their time in. A room just for them.
Dog toys, pillows on the floor and Kleenex boxes, this boho chic sunroom is a well loved room.
Thanks for stopping
Shelley
