Story of a Sunroom

One reason I've been so absent in Bloglandia the last few months is because Bill and I have been catching up on a lot of ongoing projects. To backtrack a bit, last Spring, we had a HUGE Hemlock tree in our front yard taken down.  It broke my heart to see it go- it had been the original owners Christmas tree in 1960something, and it felt wrong to remove it.  BUT it also felt wrong to let it hit our house and it had been leaning more and more towards us with each passing season.  So we took it down.  Have you ever noticed that the solution to one problem, occasionally creates another?

See how the hemlock screens the middle of the house?

  Once we took the tree down, the sun porch was visible from the street, REALLY visible with all the crap that my family (and myself) had gotten into the habit of dumping there- everyone's coats, scarves, mittens and umbrellas plus assorted shoes and lots, LOTS more!  HOW embarrasing!  This led to series of projects, starting with landscaping the front of the porch to mask the (really ugly) vinyl siding (the porch is the only part of the house that's not clapboard siding)  I planted some George Tabor azaleas and hydrangeas to build out the space....of course, we now get too much sun for hydrangeas there, but I've been babying them all season and I think they'll be OK.  I do LOVE me some hydrangeas! 

So here is the front "after" shot.  I also planted climbing roses on either side of the sun porch to train up and across the top of the windows to soften them a bit- I want a mini pergola across top for Christmas ;) they're really not bad windows, just not my favorite style......Our eventual plan is to have NO grass in the front, just perennials, paths and sitting areas....more on that later :)
Of course all of this led to us (well me) deciding to make it into a real sun porch with ferns and pretty wicker and a ceiling fan......and a sky blue ceiling.  I have such a wonderful family who loves me enough to donate pretty things to my causes, so really our only expense was paint and the time to get it all done!  My Dad donated the ceiling fan and his girlfriend Kathy gave me the vintage wicker furniture for my birthday.  My Mom gave me some pretty tables and shelves and from there, it all came together.....it's now one on my favorite rooms in my house!

So, there's one project from this Summer shared.....we also gutted and redid the main bathroom and a bunch of small garden projects.  I'll share that later.
Have a wonderful weekend!
xx
Stephanie