It’s been a few months since I invited you into my sunroom, so I thought you might like to see what it looks like now that fall has arrived.
We built our sunroom as an addition onto the back of our house last winter and have been slowly furnishing and decorating it all year.
Thanks for stopping by! Visit “My House” to see more.
I absolutely love what you have done in here!! Following along, from when your sunroom as a drawing and a dream … to the beautiful space that it has become. What a beautiful room, and a totally to die for view!
Thanks, Connie! 🙂
My friend, your sunroom is so versatile that will always look GREAT at any time/season of the year. What a gorgeous space you’ve created for you and your family.
xo
Luciane at HomeBunch.com
Loved your post– the sunroom is beautiful. It looks so peaceful and relaxing . I love the Barbies, too, brings back memories of my sweet daughter. She’ll be 15 in December , so those days are gone. Do you play with her? I used to to change the outfits. My favorites were the coats and anything sparkly! Love your puppy , too. Shi tzus are the cutest……. Thanks
We didn’t have a lot of toys when we were little. I only had one Barbie and one Skipper doll, with one outfit for each, so the whole World of Barbies is kind of new to me. My aunt Angela recently downsized to a smaller home and has been sending Lily boxes full of her old Barbies and their clothes. There are some amazing things she’s sent her like little fur stoles and 1950s poodle skirts. She was a serious collector over the years. So fun to go through her treasures. Lily has a great time dressing all the dolls up and posing them, taking photos of them, and then writing captions on the photos to turn them into stories. 🙂
LOVE it! Looks great! Also, I like the red brick… you don’t need to paint it. Glad y’all are enjoying the room!
I LOVE this room- the perfect spot for the end-of-the-day cocktail 🙂
Adorable! I love how bright and cherry the space is and still so cozy. The most fabulous part of the whole design is how much of a role the landscape outside will play.
Julia,
It looks BEAUTIFUL! I love the colors — so cheerful. And, what GREAT FINDS (bargains)! You go girl!!!! ~Sally
Oh, my goodness! Your sun room is gorgeous! I love all of your pretty windows and your view is to die for – well, swoon over! 🙂 Love your new green ottomans and the colorful pillows! Looks like you have so much space in there too to have the dining table. I can understand why the entire family wants to be in there! Love seeing your little fuzzy assistant! 🙂
Be a sweetie,
shelia 😉
Julia,
I love the sunroom and am happy to see “real” furniture. So often wicker/patio sets take over. there is nothing like curling up on a real couch with the paper and coffee and watching the outdoors.
It looks like Maizie is ready to start her own blog. My 4 shih Tzus had an inch of frozen snow to deal with when they went out this am. Supposed to be gone by weekend.
rick
Snow?! Wow. I’m not ready for that yet–and neither is Maizie!
The view is too perfect for window treatments. Love it!
I know! I hate to hide any of it. Been squinting a lot while I’m out there lately, though…
It looks so cozy! Love that yellow throw and the green ottomans! I have gotten blinds at Blinds to Go. I’m still working my way around my house, but I need custom sizes and theirs are a little more affordable.
I used Budget Blinds for some of my hard-to-fit windows in the house, but they were expensive (not quite as “budget” as I hoped!). Not sure if we have Blinds to Go around here–I’ll have to look!
I love it – I’d be out there all the time!
I love how dressed up all the Barbies are 😉 That must have been some party.
Love this room–I would be out here ALL the time. The pumpkins and gourds in the white bowl are so simple, but so warm and inviting and so perfect with the changing leaves outside. This is my favorite kind of decorating–warm and welcoming. It’s fun to see the elaborate decorator/celebrity stuff, but for living, I love your style. Thanks for sharing it with us.
So beautiful! Thanks goodness you told us about the barbies and the homework and the dog. I just have to know everyone else’s house gets messy sometimes with real life! A question about the white couches, how do you keep them white? I love white couches but I have two dogs and kids and it would seem impossible for them to stay white.
Good question about the white. For one thing, the cushions are all slipcovered. I have had a couple of incidents involving chocolate since we got the sofa this summer. Tide to Go sticks can work wonders, but when they don’t do the trick, I just throw the slipcover in the wash.
I think hair and lint are a bigger problem than stains. That fabric that comes with the Ektorp sofa acts like a magnet to dog fur and stuff. I keep one of those sticky rollers handy and run it over the cushions once a week to clean it all up.
Honestly, though, I don’t worry too much about it. When I went with the white I knew that it would never stay pristine and perfect. It’s a sunroom, after all, and not a formal living room, so I just relax and let the crumbs fall where they may. 🙂
May I please live in your sunroom?
Sure, Sher! Plenty of room. Come on over! 🙂
Beautiful sunroom, Julia. I love the cool, crisp colours that you have chosen and because they’re accent colours they’re also easy to change each season. The windows and the views are too beautiful to cover up, but as you said, there can bee too much light. For window treatment the simpler the better, I’d say. Keep the brick wall as it is, it gives a lovely feeling of warmth for the cold season. I know it is a temptation to paint it when it’s scorching hot outside but winter always follows.
So true. I really liked having that red wall last Christmas when we had the extended family here to celebrate. Kept things warm and cheery out there on cold, snowy days! 🙂
I just want to plunk my self down on that white sofa, pull that wonderful yellow thow over my legs, drink a steaming hot cup of coffee…and stare out the window! I need nothing else!
I really do love that yellow throw, I need to go to Meijers more often! You’ve done a great job Julie…you are blessed!
What a lovely room!! I love your color scheme – so fresh and uplifting – cute little doggie!
Mary x
it’s a gorgeous space, Julia!!! lovely job.
So beautiful! I love the yellow and green. I can see why your kids would love spending time here!
Pretty pretty!
Your sunroom is really shaping up beautifully! I’m usually a fan of more muted colours, but these brighter accents really look welcoming – and I love how, right now at least, the coordinate so well with the colours on the other side of your window! Your Maizy looks so comfortable in your home now – makes me miss our Maisy, who is taking a little vacation for now… 🙁
Love your sunroom! We have one too, and we’d use it a lot more if it was as big as yours. While you’re saving up for shades, have you considered Redi-Shades? They’re just accordian folded paper, but they do the job, and actually don’t look too bad. I think they even have ones with strings inside for raising and lowering. And they’re super inexpensive.
P.S. We have a Shih-Tzu too! His name is Beau AKA Beaudry-doodles!
Okay, first things first. Could Maisie BE any cuter?! What a pretty girl. That is a magazine worth photo all by itself. Love your room, too.
Regarding blinds: May I recommend an alternative to your white roman shade idea? I would use matchstick blinds hung just above your window framing. They will cut down on the glare, especially for your tv viewing, but will also pull in the natural color and textural elements just outside your windows. They are also extremely affordable.
Long term, I would also suggest, adding some drapey curtains in the room corners to soften your window framing a little. These don’t even need to cover the window or be on large curtain rods, but the additional fabric will cut down on some of the live sound in the room and can add another punch of color and/or pattern. You can even make these yourself with fabric and Stitch Witchery for a very affordable, custom look.
Give a nice satisfying back scratch to Maisie for me!
So cheery! I love the new green lamp!
Just so pretty and comfy. Love the suggestions for blinds and soft corner drapes by the last poster, too. But it’s also lovely the way it is…..
Great job, Julia.
I LOVE the yellow and green. That throw is so cute–very whimsical. You’re doing a great job pulling everything together, and I love that you are taking your time!
I love the way your room as come together !! Really not sure you were asking for blind ideas but—- I bought all my blinds from J.P. Penney’s. On line they have bamboo roman shades ( mine are the oak color ) they add texture and keep most of the light out. ( except the one in my son’s room must have been irregular not sure) Any way they look high end and I get asked by my friends all the time where they are from !!! They are super cheap and I wait for coupon codes and free shipping. Plus I have installed them all, by myself !! Okay enough !!
sorry JC Penney’s !!!
Such a pretty, comfortable room…must be everyone’s favorite place to hang out.
I think this is where I would live…..
So comforting, so close to nature.
Lovely.
I love having the big dark table. Great for reading the paper and not
getting the ink on the white sofa.
I love the throw! Such a pretty color too. I’ve been looking for one myself (with the pom-pom fringe). I’ve never heard of Meijer so I’m going to their site right now!
I love your sunroom. All of the accent colors are so nice. I would love a room like that where I could go and relax.
How’s the quality of your couch now that you have had it for a while? Is it lasting? Looks like the couch is in good shape.
Those trees in your backyard are so beautiful. I love the changes in leaves during the fall. Around here where I live, most of the trees are either yellowish orange or red and I love looking out at them.
Love your Target finds! I picked up two really nice solid wood end tables at Target that I am using in the bedroom a month ago. They were just sitting there side by side asking to come home with me. Of course, one aisle over two wonderful lamps yelled out to “not be left behind!” They look good on top of those tables.
Love, too, your pom-pom throw! Isn’t it great when you put the word out that you are looking for a certain item and somebody comes across something in their daily travels that turns out to be exactly what you were looking for?
Good look with the window treatment dilemma. I have a ton of windows in our house which I never know how to treat. Unfortunately, we live on a corner and privacy is a concern. If only our house were out in the woods somewhere, with a view and no close neighbors…I’d leave them uncovered then. A girl can dream, right? 🙂
I love my roman bamboo blinds. I hung them high, so that when they are up, they do not block my view at all. They give such a nice natural element to the room and when they are down, you can still see through them, which is nice when I don’t want the glare, but I still want to be able to see what my son is doing outside.
Also, if you are going to get the white plantation blinds (despite my recommendation 🙂 you need to be careful what brand you get. Many brands will yellow in the sun with time. Home Depot have ones that are easier to raise and lower and are not supposed to yellow.
I love your sun room. I want one, too!
I meant to tell you, that I got my bamboo blinds from overstock.com
OK, last time. I meant to tell you they were $ twenty=something apiece a few years ago. Very affordable, I thought. O.co
PERFECT!!!!!
Soooooo Cozy!!
Love the colors!!!! Leave the brick red.
PS I am from mid-Michigan.
I absolutely LOVE it. the furniture- the colors your using, everything- LOVE IT.
I so wish my family room looked like yours. It makes me wish I windows were uncovered but then I could never watch the 60 inch tv thats in here lol.
Thank you for showing us so we can DREAM.
Wow.. the view in your sun room is amazing…
All the furnishings make it look so cozy. I could hang out there all day long… nice job 🙂
What a warm and lovely space you have created for your family! I wouldn’t change a thing. Makes me want to sit down and have a visit and cup of coffee 🙂
Hi Julia you have done such a wonderful job of decorating this room it looks beautiful it would be nice if you didn’t have to cover the windows and the beautiful view. I have slimline blinds on my windows I hate them but the sun over here cooks everything if you don’t cover up. Regards Esther from Sydney PS love the green yellow and orange my fav. colours.
I love your sunroom…….am envious of the space. I have a sunroom which doubles as a breakfast room and it isn’t as roomy as yours. I think the white slipcovered furniture is perfect and the bright colors really give it a punch….the view ain’t bad either !!!!! I live in northwest Oklahoma …..if we want lots of trees in our yards, we have to plant them and water like crazy. You did a great job, Julia !!!!!
Two things. I got my first Barbie Doll around 1955 when I was 12. I still remember the smell of the shampoo which came with the doll, and I have never ever smelled that since. When we moved to SoCal in 1956, my Dad was employed by Mattel Toy Co. as an engineer, and before the Chatty Cathy dolls came on the market, he brought several of them home for us to try out, along with several other toys to be put on the market.
Second, I just finished reading poet May Sarton’s memoir about her moving to Nelson, New Hampshire in the mid 1950s, where she purchased and restored an old house built in the 1770s. When I looked at your pictures here, I just imagined what May’s house would have looked like when she lived there. Beautiful textures and colors, easy on the eyes but still extroadinary. Thanks for sharing.
And what, no pictures of the little four footed diva of the house! Shame! LOL
Maizie’s in the post–look again! 🙂
Lovely!
Such a cute room! I love the yellow and green. I have been admiring your white pedestal bowl for some time now…where did you happen to find that? The Ikea sofa is on my list too – but I’ve got 4 young boys and a great big Mastiff so I may wait a little longer to bring one home 😉
I bought that years and years ago at Target, but I still love it. I use it year-round. Glad you like it, Lisa! 🙂
Julia, your sunroom is so pretty! I love the pops of citrus, especially the pompom trim throw! Too, too cute!!! Have you looked at Silhouette blinds by Hunter Douglas? I love them! We have the in our tiny lake cabin because three sides of the cabin are solid windows.
This room is beautiful! I found my way to you website via Centsational Girl. What direction does this room face? And what kind of windows did you choose (in terms of energy ratings)? I’m in a window-research phase and am very interested in understanding how to best decide what kind of properties to look for if I want to maximize passive heating in the winter and yet not have a green house effect in the summer! Thanks! Looking forward to spending some time on your blog!
The sunroom faces West (mostly), so we get a lot of afternoon sun out there, especially now that the trees are getting bare. We told the builder to match the windows from our house and he did, but I have to admit I don’t remember any of the details about them now. Sorry I can’t help with that!
Such a cheerful and inviting space! I love the new lamp and pom pom throw. What a thoughtful neighbor to point out a perfect item, and on sale to boot! Where can I get such a neighbor? I love the picture of Miss Maizie and your daughter’s Barbie party, too cute. Can’t wait to see the sunroom decorated for the holidays! Keep these sunroom posts coming! 🙂
Julia. . . way to go! I’m so happy for you that you chose to make this room rather than a screened-in porch–I know you’re going to love it in all seasons! Your IKEA sofa is wonderful, and I particularly like the way it plays so nicely with your bright lemon- and lime-colored accessories. What a fun space you’ve created!
Julia, I just LOVE your sunroom. What a cheerful, bright, lovely space to do homework, play or blog! That yellow throw is such a find for $7!
I customized cheap Walmart fabric roman shades with spray adhesive and fabric, trimmed out with ribbon. They look like really expensive ones I’ve had made in the past and they work great! I used indoor-outdoor fabric that is sun-resistant (only because it was on sale!) I haven’t posted about them yet but there are so many great tutorials on making your own easy roman shades. Maybe that would be an option for your windows.
I love your sunroom, Julia! so fresh and pretty…
Julia,
You have me hooked!!!
What you need in your sun room is a lovely product we stock called Haiti white bamboo effect roman blinds trimmed in a white tape…gorgeous, lets in a little light but still a demse natural product perfect for that room….can whizz you some photos if you wish.
Melly
Hi Julia,
Your sunroom looks so inviting. Love all the windows! Is the sectional comfortable enough for overnight sleeping? In my case, I’m considering it for our teenage son who gives up his bedroom when we have overnight guests. I was wondering if the sectional pieces lock together to keep them from sliding apart. Any feedback you can give would be helpful. Thank you and I can’t wait to see how you decorate your sunroom for Christmas!
Well, I can’t say I’ve slept on it overnight, but I have had a few nice naps on it! The sectional pieces are locked together and don’t slide open, so you don’t have to worry about that. I personally think it’s pretty comfy! 🙂
So pretty, Julia! I’ve enjoyed watching each piece you add to the dream sunroom.
Dear Julia, I so love your sun room, a warm and restful room, with a great view. What more could one ask for. Oh, and your Christmas tree is just beautiful. Love your little helper! Thankyou for all you do. Kathy.
Hi, I love your site and have for a few years. I’m not sure if you ever had the house(apartment)from, Something About Mary? I just loved her apartment on Miami Beach. And I just read an article that condo, in Something About Mary, may be turn down soon???
Salma Hayek and Ben Stillers home. I think Ben Stiller sold his home I’m thinking of and possibly Salma Hayek too. I really loved both of them and wish I had saved the pictures from the articles. You wouldn’t happened to have pictures of them or there new homes if possible? Sorry, this is way better than going out at night and hoping people leave there blinds up so I can see how they decorate and I’m sure way more legal, LOL….. Thanks,
your favorite admiring, peeping Jane,
Jennie Waitkevicz
Sorry, I haven’t featured those. I do remember seeing Ben Stiller’s house when it was on the market a couple of years ago, but I don’t remember Salma Hayek’s.
Thanks, Jennie! 🙂
And Im sorry, one more. Out of Africa with Kim Basinger? I love the house in the remake….
You have inspired me to purchase this sofa, I saw ir last weekend in person and it’s a nice sofa. Thx
Just want to let you know that your room has been my inspiration over the last few months. Like yours, what started as a screened porch has turned into a major 20 x 16 addition with a basement beneath. I have even had my contractor in to look at your room because I love it so much. 🙂 He was really not happy with my all white scheme until I proved to him that it would be beautiful.
Not having a local Ikea store, I found www. HomeReserve.com where I hope to get my couch. My husband and I put an armless chair together last night in about 30 minutes. Beautiful!
Thanks for sharing all your decorating ideas!
The couch throw pillows are gorgeous. Perfection. I’ve been agonizing over couch pillows lately. I’m sure whenever you got them, they are long gone but just curious — where did you find them? I’m gonna look for similar ones ASAP!!
I had an Etsy seller make them for me a couple of years ago–Sarah Sews. I love ’em! 🙂