Sun Room Transformation(Brick Paneling)
Ya’ll, we did it! We finally transformed this sun room from an awkward, empty, yellow space that we never used, to a cozy retreat that I had been dreaming of!! Not only was it just an ugly color, but it’s a very awkward room in the way that it’s laid out. The french doors bring you to the middle of the room, with space to the right and to the left, and then the back door straight ahead. It’s very narrow, and because of that, there isn’t a lot of room for furniture, or a way to entertain in there easily…until now!
When we first did our walk through of this house, the previous owners had outdoor patio furniture in here. Some to the right and to the left, but there was no cohesiveness, or a way for everyone to communicate with each other because they were separated by all the doors. At the time, I knew that I was gonna do something to make it work, but I wasn’t sure what. We originally were gonna shiplap the whole room, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I wanted it more rustic. Not only that, but brick paneling is a lot less expensive than the wood for shiplap! I’ve always wanted bed swings, so not only did I know they would look perfect in this space, but because of the awkwardness of the spacing, just putting one swing on each side, but facing each other would be perfect! Nobody’s backs would be to each other! On those rainy days when we can’t go outside to enjoy the water, we can still enjoy the view, and hanging with friends! The poufs were added for, not only space to sit things on, but also for extra seating when needed. When I design, practicality is definitely a factor for me!
So far, we have one side of the sun room almost complete! He built the first swing and for decor, I chose to go with Boho! I have become a huge fan of the boho look recently, mainly because my favorite color combo is browns and whites, or woods and whites, and I love the fringe on the pillows! I’m now waiting on the window treatments that I ordered from Wayfair and I also ordered some 6ft Fiddle Fig trees to go in the corners! I think that those are gonna really pull it all together and add a splash of color! Will will build a swing for the other side, when he gets the chance between other projects that he’s doing, and then I will decorate it all the same on the other side, except for something different on the wall behind it.
Here are some pics and video that I took during the process! If you have any questions about anything, please do not hesitate to ask!
Game and sign from Kirkland’s
Pillow covers and inserts are from Amazon
Crib mattress and sheets are from Amazon
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Can you please send me the measurements to the swing. ♥️ This room is extremely clean and well put together. You both did fantastic.
Hey there! I definitely haven’t forgotten about you! My husband has been extremely busy the last few days, so he hasn’t had a chance to get them to me! I will ask him again tonight for you!!
I went ahead and posted a different blog post with all the info for the swing! To include the link where we got it from! Be sure to check it out! 🙌🏻
First of, GORGEOUS! Your project is my kitchen inspiration.🙂 I have this brick paneling in my kitchen, this is the exact finish that I am hoping for but nervous to start. When you say you sanded, do you mean just to spots with joint compound, or the brick also? I plan to test it out on scrap pieces but was curious of how you got the brownish/natural finish. I am wanting that (more exposed brick vs all whitewashed). Thanks!!
Hi Erika!
First, thank you! 2nd, if you want this exact color paneling then I recommend that you get it from Lowe’s vs Home Depot. Home Depot has a more reddish color to their brick paneling. These are from Lowe’s and to begin, I took the whitewash and put it over all the bricks and then patted it to lighten it up. But, it still covered too much and didn’t show the brick color as much as I wanted. So after it dried, I took sandpaper and went over each brick to get the paint off. To save you that step, I would just paint around the bricks and then pat them with a damp cloth. Or paint just the grout of the brick and then just dab the cracks and crevices with the paint and then go back over them with paper towels so that the paint mainly just goes inside the crevices without covering all of the brick. The paint is very forgiving, so if you realize that you put too much, it can always scrape off! I used joint compound over the paint in random places in order to hide the fact that it was only in the seams. About a year ago though, we did it in our kitchen and wanted the brick mainly white with some brick showing, so we only used joint compound to do it and it was perfect! Just play with it. Once you begin, you’ll find your groove!😊. Oh, and when I scraped over each brick again to get the paint off, the color of it ran into the joint compound so it gave it more of a brownish color. That was completely by accident!😬
IS there a way to do the joint compound so the lines where the panels meet are not obvious? ALso, since you did not like your paint color as it turned the brick pinkish…what colors and products would suggest since you have done this. Your room looks wonderful!
Hi Barbara! From what we’ve found, the only way to hide the seams is either joint compound or caulking. We teetered with both but I think either way you would see the seams. So, because of that, I decided to use the joint compound in random places throughout so that it blended in with the seams, and gave it that old world, old building look. Now if you decided to do a German schmear, you would just use the joint compound and spread it wherever you want on the brick. That hides the seams much better, but the color of the brick isn’t as exposed. We did this in our previous home in the kitchen and we loved it! It just depends on what you’re looking for. I think I may have my old kitchen in an old blog post if you want to look. If not, I definitely have it in my Instagram account!
As for the color, I think it was the mixture between the color of the panels, and the whitewash paint. Once I scraped off more of the paint off the bricks, then the color looked so much better. I just wouldn’t use so much. Also, the panels at Home Depot are more of a reddish color so that would be an option too! 😊
Hi I’m trying to find where i can purchase the rug in your sunroom. Cute project.
Hey there and thank you! You can find those rugs in my LTK! I’ll send you the link…
https://liketk.it/4pn0q
I also just did a similar project in my bedroom that I may blog about this week! Feel free to follow me at instagram.com/carolina.cozy for more projects and updates!