Sunroom flowers

Here's what I accomplished yesterday (hint: flowers!).

 We went from no plants or flowers in the sunroom to many!

I also did this:

Hopefully they won't all die.

Bay Window Reading Nook

When we bought the house, this was the view at the top of the stairs:

Wall. Small window. That's it.

Turn right, and you face our bedroom door. Turn left, and you'll find a bathroom and the other bedroom. 

Then, a couple months ago, Gus had a great idea! He asked Victor to knock out that outside wall with the window and build a window seat with a bay window and built in book cases.

Here's what it looked like after they knocked out the wall and framed in the new structure:

Note the two different sized windows. The short one on the right (the middle of three) was the original size Victor put in for all three windows. We took one look at them and said, "Those are too small! Make them bigger." So the next day, Victor picked up three bigger windows and installed them (starting with that left one). SO much better!

Here's what it looked like with all the woodworking done: 

Ignore the mess, please.

After that photo, we got the lights installed, blinds hung, shelves filled, carpet laid, and custom mattress made.

The only thing left was covering the mattress...somehow. I bought practically a whole bolt of fabric and planned on sewing it myself. Then I realized that both my sewing machine and my sewing skills were not up to the task.

I considered taking it to a tailor but wasn't sure that was the best option since the measurements on this thing are really weird (something like 5' x 10' with odd angles).

A couple weeks ago, I finally contacted a local upholsterer who offered free pick-up and delivery! They stopped by on Tuesday and picked up the mattress and fabric, and they returned it Thursday morning. The cover has a zipper all along the back so it's removable.

And here it is tonight!

 And in the daylight:

 Next up, I need to use some of the leftover fabric (plus complementary fabric) to make throw pillow covers. Those I *will* tackle myself.

Entertainment room makeover!

At long last, here are photos of the new entertainment room. :)

(Note: Click a picture to make it larger.)

It used to be a bedroom. This is what it looked like when we moved in:

 Pepto, anyone?

That open half-door leads to the attic.

Double doors on the left wall are closets.

Then we painted it white and didn't really know what to do with it. It sat like that for a long time.

Then: White and empty

Eventually we moved the TV and two recliners in, and put the TV along that non-closet wall in the photo above.

A couple months ago, Gus and I decided to rip out that closet (left wall in photo above) and have Victor build in shelves for our TV and DVDs, and have space for Gus to display all his fun nostalgia toys.

Here's that same view now:

Now: Built-in entertainment center, wainscoting, 

DVD shelves, new paint, new ceiling fan/light

And from a couple other angles:

Then: White and empty

Now: Home-theater chairs, ductless AC unit, more shelves, 

mini-fridge to the right of the chairs

 

 Now: View from the back corner.

It's so nice! Such a great upgrade from that old pink mess.