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A Sun Porch Update on a Budget

FROM JUNK ROOM TO TROPICAL OASISI – A BEFORE & AFTER

Article by Audrey Kuether

Photography by Audrey Kuether

I recently updated our small sun porch on a small budget, and turned it into our own midwestern tropical oasis.

Prior to the affordable update, our sun porch was mainly used as a junk room — I hated looking at it. I hated even more that it was a wasted space that was very underutilized.

One weekend I found the motivation to clear out the junk and reimagine the space.

Take a look at the before photos. It was filled with random junk and unused furniture and painted a bright green color — I knew I would immediately change the wall color.

I cleaned up the sun room and sold all the furniture on Marketplace – I was excited for a clean slate!

After I gave the room a good wipe down, it was time to start prepping, then painting. My kiddo wanted to help and actually did quite a bit of the work, ha!

We used a high-quality Emerald paint from Sherwin Williams (with primer added) in basic white to match our current window trim.

I know it’s a no-no to use white straight from the can, but I liked how much it brightened the room and blended with the ceiling.

It took us two days to paint two coats, and I was so happy with how much brighter the sun porch space felt.

Once the wall paint dried, it was time to paint our white metal barstools a light pink shade.

This light pink color was a big stretch for me, but I felt the room needed a couple slight pops of color.

Then I added four beautiful semi-sheer palm leaf curtain panels to the rods. I am so in love with these curtains!

Next, I added a 7′ x 10′ striped indoor/outdoor rug from Target. I really love the look and quality of this rug, and it vacuums very well – even dirty dog prints.

Next, I added a wicker chair, tropical (similar) and geometric (similar) pillow, a faux sheepskin rug, our 15-year-old slipcovered couch from IKEA, and some other accessories recycled from other parts of our house.

I also added strand of white deck lights to the ceiling using the hooks that were already installed in the ceiling, and I love the glow they bring to the room.

My only splurge for the space was this beautiful wicker chair. I adore it and can’t believe there are still some available!

The coffee table was from Target about 5 years ago and is no longer available, but I found a similar option here.

I repurposed the marble side table from our master bathroom remodel and added in some real and faux plants.

This is my favorite view of the room, and I absolutely love how this space turned out – we spend so much time in here as a family!

The sun porch TV and bar area

Ted mounted a very affordable TV we got on clearance on the wall – we use it to watch our Roku apps and listen to music.

And finally, we wanted a small bar area, so Ted built us a very affordable bar top out of one sheet of pine that I spray stained.

He used some extra pieces of wood leftover from other home projects and created some cleats to attach to the wall for the table top to rest on.

I love our little bar top, but really wanted to infuse some more character into this sun porch corner. I grabbed my Cricut Joy and created some palm leaf designs.

What do you think of our affordable sun porch makeover and DIY Cricut Joy art? Not too shabby, huh?

If you need us, we’ll be hanging out in this room indefinitely. 🙂

Oh, and in case you’re curious to see more, here is our deck outside the sun room. All product links can be found in this blog post.

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