HomeSun porch lessons: inexpensive, simple changes can make huge impact
01. Dec, 2009 
7 Comments
Language is reality. Words are created to explain, categorize and contextualize the world around us, but they can also limit us. Thinking about my desk as a “corner desk” with “suburban style” is what delayed me from making a cheap, simple change that significantly improved my apartment’s feng shui. Words man. As much as I love them, sometimes you have to brush them aside and see things for what they are, which is often different than what people named them. Read all about my sun porch saga on a special edition of Strange Closets.
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In the Beginning
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I had grand plans for the sun porch when I closed on my 2-flat way back at the height of the real estate market in 2006. The 8 x 17 space was separated from the living room by two large windows and a door, which coupled with its brick walls makes me suspect that it was meant to be a three-season porch when it was built in 1913. By the time I saw it, a long ugly furnace took up much of the room’s usable footprint, an exposed heating pipe cut through the room and its brick had been painted many times over, most recently Pepto Bismol pink. I know, blech!
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Mission accomplished. Now what?
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I envisioned the sun porch as a part of the living room so I replaced the door with an arch, which had the added benefit of allowing more of the south facing light to reach the adjacent living room. I also drywalled the brick and replaced the ratty wall-to-wall carpeting with hardwood floors. The entire heating system had to be replaced with gas-forced air, so I was able to have the pipe cut out and the radiator removed. After painting it the same taupe-y gray tone as the living room and adding matching mission-style oak molding, the room was ready to be used as an office. I placed the “corner desk” on one side of the room (at least as dictated by that form and that word), I decided to use the opposite side of the porch as a seating area. It all sounds quite lovely I’m sure, but something wasn’t quite clicking. In fact, I wound up trying a couple of different options to balance the massive hunk of desk, first a cream plush chair (which is so not me, but I guess it once was) with side table followed by a marble topped table I bought at the Andersonville home store Room Service:
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Both were lovely, although neither made the room feel any better. For one, the long hall leading from the kitchen to the living room / sun porch ended at the living room, which made me feel like Moses, the living room and sun porch divided to allow my passage. Oh dear, oh my. It lacked something, I shan’t lie. To use a phrase much mocked by my friends and family, it was like all the energy just rushed out of the house. I know; it is deep.
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A Proposed Solution?
Then Leo Designs co-founder Stephanie Wirth stopped by, and she suggested a long table under the front windows instead of the corner desk, which she felt wasn’t partcularly stylish or well suited for that area. The idea of replacing the desk with a long table appealed to me immediately, especially when I realized how good the same concept looked in former Open House stars Sean and Eric’s office, which I’d always loved:
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And I’d also liked the way a long desk looked at Greg and Maribeth’s place:
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I could picture it if I closed my eyes, and I envisioned a tall lamp in the middle of the long table, which would replace the visual dead zone on the sun porch with one of golden light.
I’d seen a stunning example of a lamp used as a focal point at Nick and Rebekah’s Chicago place:
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Hmm, I guess this post should be called Design Rules: Steal ideas from Friends and Colleagues. But I’d need a long table, and I became so fixated by the idea that I considered a couple options from Restoration Hardware, a store about which my feelings are ambivalent at best.
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Restoration Hardware Flatiron dining table. $1195
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Restoration Hardware salvaged wood table. $2725
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But long tables aren’t cheap, and I resigned myself to living with bad feng shui. Then a couple weeks ago, I began to wonder if I could accomplish the same look as Stephanie suggested with my existing desk. Because in actuality, it’s not a corner desk, but rather two desks designed to work together in that way. Eager to try it out, I made the switch, pulled in a pair of mid-century chairs I bought at Scout years ago and used my recently purchased lamp from Andrew Hollingsworth as the focal point. Here’s the result:
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I don’t think I’ve ever made a decorative change that so dramatically impacted how my space felt. I know it’s not perfect. Color is not my forte, and I think it’s oppressively brown. I’m thinking about sending the desk out to be painted, and I’m envisioning a milky gray. If / when I do, I’ll probably also change the hardware and maybe even the drawer fronts to make it feel slightly less suburban. But my house feels good, and it still surprises me pleasantly every time I make the long walk from the ktichen to the living room, so I’m in no hurry to make any other changes for now. I even think all that brown and off-white look kind of beautiful. Now that’s a miracle. So remember the sun porch lesson. Inexpensive, simple changes can make the biggest impact. And if the words are hanging you up, brush them aside and take another look.
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By golly you have a tidy looking flat….I live in a chaotic world of ‘let’s put this massive industrial cog from an abandoned factory here next to the pile of extra crap any my dry cleaning in the living room corner’ where things accumulate and the piles have a life of their own. Looking at your spare and tidy spaces makes me desire to have a bit more breathing room. Oh, you need a better table….the new position is ten times better but the space is crying out for something amazing. Maybe something like this: http://www.tenebrasdesign.com/o4_1.html
Looking sharp!
Looks fantastic! Came over via Twitter.
I think it looks really great as is, actually.
Well, the matchymatchy chairs are bugging me (the desk ones). But the whole thing is really quite beautiful.
Wow, Tate, I love it. I know I discouraged you from changing it but, as usual, your instincts were right on. I will miss that comfy chair that was in the corner, though.
Hi, Tate! Yes, indeed, your sunporch does look fab, it probably inspires your creativity a lot more as you can now look out upon the world in three directions at once (well, if you move your head really, really, really fast…). The brown and cream color scheme is very warm and inviting. I love the black swan lamp and the ziggurat table between the chairs. Yes, I have read the whole month of December’s Strange Closets tonight… Take it easy and take more photos of your revamped space after Christmas.
ah…er…when can i move in and do you have room for all of us? LOOKS FAB! Alex & Elliot send hugs