The Veranda – Part 2 – The Reveal

So, yesterday I showed you how we took a space that was filled with junk and what we did to it. { You can see it HERE } Now, I’m going to show you how it looks now.  You might have seen bits and pieces in the other pictures, and that’s because I wasn’t very patient and I had to do as much as I could before the space was really even ready!

Pretty amazing, no?  My little helper is pretty cute, too!

I’m thrilled with how it turned out.  I love the colours, I love how it functions and I love being out there.  In fact, I’m sitting out here now, writing this post. { Secretly, I love that there’s wi-fi out here, too!! } The wind is blowing through the trees, there’s a noisy squirrel in the orchard giving me a tuning.  At night, you can hear the coyotes howling.  This season, we frequently hear geese flying overhead, too, as they  stop for a rest in Dad’s fields. We eat out here a lot.  This space has been such a wonderful addition to our home.  And to think, we were just using it to store saw horses, sleds and campfire wood.

I had fun collecting a few ‘new’ things to dress The Veranda with while out and about.  The birdcage and glass fishing balls were scored during a yard sale trip, the hanging basket was an Ikea gift from Kristie, whose fault it is that I even wanted a screen room.  The plant stand I bought at Forbes New to You, a while back and did nothing with.  I think the bamboo fits in here quite nicely.  Our Heathrow Airport placemats even work really well out here!  I knew I wanted some plants out here and since it was getting closer to the end of the season, I got some great prices on them, too.  I’ll have to see how they winter in the house under my care….

When this space was just storage, we referred to it as the lean-to or the lattice area….boring names, really.  But now, we knew it needed a much better name, although, during the transformation, we called it the screen room….again, lackluster.  I told Lena I would look up what screen room was in other languages to see if that would help.  First I googled screen room in Spanish, but I couldn’t pronounce it, so then I tried French…..and guess what it translates to – Veranda!!! It was perfect!!  So, now this is called The Veranda.

Lena has a good eye and when it came time to decide on the fabric for the chairs, I wandered through the local fabric store and nothing that grabbed my eye.  I looked through my stash and had an okay option.  And then Lena came out with this fabric and I knew she was right.  Retro, colourful and free, sounds good to me!!  { Thanks, Cindy!! }

Here’s a shot of the magnetic screen.  It works very well, closes by itself and does a great job of keep the bugs out.  It’s basically two flaps with a weighted bottom bar and magnetic strips where they join.  We just stapled it in place and ta-da, we’ve got easy access that keeps the bugs out.  I really wanted a screen door and tried REALLY hard to convince Michael, but I lost out.  I will admit that this doorway works really well when you’ve got your hands full of dishes and supper.  I’ll be curious to see how it winters.

The painted rug was the funnest part of this project.  I had a rough idea of what I wanted to paint, I did a quick sketch but then once it was ‘done’, I knew it needed more.  So, I would add a little more, and then a little more….it was hard to know when enough was enough.  But I love how it turned out, and judging from the comments from yesterday’s post, you guys liked it, too!

I hope you’ve enjoyed the tour of The Veranda.  It’s a great place to hang out, quiet { except for the squirrels… } and private.  Definitely a better use of the space – wouldn’t you agree?

To be continued,

Lori