Sunroom Makeover Part 2: Go Big or Go Home

My family lives by the motto Go Big or Go Home! You can guarantee that if we're taking on a a DIY project, it will require at least three trips to Michael's, two cans of spray paint and one full night of working. And if we're going out shopping to decorate my house, then we're going out on a mission and spending the whole day (or 3 days) comparing lamp shades, love seats and wall art. So needless to say, when Jen, Aron and I started shopping for the sunroom, we did as the motto says, we went BIG ........ and then we went home.

{Shopping}
Day 1: Leesburg Premium Outlets
We started our adventure at the Outlets, where we found a 5x8 jute rug and 3x5 blue and green striped rug, as well as a table lamp, huge vase and curtains. Our first trip was successful and we ended up with a great base to tie in the greens and blues.

Day 2: IKEA
Shopping mecca of the world, here we come! We headed out early in the day and it's a good thing we did because we spent all day eating Swedish meatballs shopping. This trip was even more successful than our trip to the outlets. After eight hours of following the wonderful little black arrows through IKEA, we came home with wall decor for my bedroom, a tv stand for the living room, curtains for the dining room and a coffee table, side table, lamp, fabric, pictures, frames, vases, baskets and plants for the sunroom.

When most people hear that we were there for 8 hours, they look at me like I have three eyes. Then I tell them that we had fun doing it and the three-eyed-look is taken to a whole new level (I'm talking horns and purple hair kind of looks). Much to everyone's disbelief, we had a blast and I have the pictures to prove it:

Jen pretending to order an omelet at my "restaurant,"

Made to Order (yes, we made the sign)

Aron answering our "what in the heck is
this for" question -- it's a gaming chair!

Jen was the lucky one who got to cram in

the back seat with all our purchases!

Day 3: Tyson's Corner and Crate & Barrel
We had made significant progress in the room by the time we went on this trip, but we were still missing one key factor -- furniture! We set out to Tyson's Corner where we picked up two chairs, a pillow and some twigs from West Elm and then swung by Crate & Barrel to grab the Sloane Leaning Desk.

In between shopping trips, (read: late at night) we worked on putting together our purchases and setting up the room. While it was three days of never-ending work, it didn't feel like it. In fact, when all was said and done, we felt so inspired we talked about how we could totally do this for a living. It's fun to dream! And in reality, we were all so exhausted that by the time we got everything into the room, we couldn't see straight anymore, but we didn't give up!

{Putting it Back Together Again}
When Jen and Aron left town I had two things left to accomplish. The first was apparent right away. I still needed to find a sofa for the room. We found the perfect love seat at Ikea while we were there, but as it turns out, a sofa doesn't exactly fit in the back seat of a Malibu.

Perfect love seat at Ikea ... if only I could take you home :(

Realizing that I had no realistic way to transport something so large all the way back from Ikea, and not wanting to spend a significant amount of money on renting a truck, I started scouting out love seats on Craigslist. I must've been having a lucky day because I found the exact love seat that we saw at Ikea (originally $479) for just $100! (Bonus: it was only 5 miles north of our house.) Jesse and I rushed out of work that night, rented a truck from Home Depot ($20), loaded up the love seat and had it in our sunroom before dinner time. Victory!

Once I had everything in place, I realized that the second thing I needed to do before the room would feel complete; add color to the walls.

The beginning of my cute little sunroom, begging for some color!

I know, you're supposed to paint before you do anything else, but remember who we're talking about here -- Lil-Miss-I-do-everything-backwards-and-like-to-take-the-long-way-around. So just as quickly as I filled the room, I emptied it back out for Marc to paint. (Check out my previous painting post to see how we settled on the color.) After only a day, he finished everything and left me with the most gorgeous room I've ever seen.

Here's one little teaser to get you ready for the before and after pictures tomorrow ... enjoy! :)

Want to see where my inspiration for the sunroom started? Check out Part 1: The Planning Stage.