A Sunny Lifestyle

Nothing spells springtime health like the opportunity to soak up sunny vitamin D while simultaneously getting serious amounts of work done, so I’m transforming the previously empty the 3-season room off the living room into our productive little office.

On warmer days, the sunroom acts as a vibrant little greenhouse making it the perfect little space to set up shop and jam through emails and writing assignments. It’s happiness on work-from-home-earth.

I’ve made one big change to the space a few weeks ago to make it as functional as it is: I found and promptly purchased a 42″ table priced at $25. Thank you, Craigslist. The addition of the table is proving to be a worthy change already, I brought it home around the same time I was working on the new bedroom headboard hexagons, hence their unassembled presence in this photo. High-five.

Despite having lived here for almost three years (I’m less than a month away from my home-a-versary), I’m actually a little embarrassed to say that I never once considered adding an actual table and chairs to the room to expand it into a functional space that can be used for everyday working and (best of all) my 3-season dining room. I’ve always thought it would make a great space for additional couches and chairs, which is why in previous years I’ve dumped garage sale wicker chairs and old coffee tables into the room; they were fine for making the room feel used, but we didn’t appreciate the space as especially functional on a day-to-day basis.

The round table with pedestal base was a great price, and even came with an extra leaf which I’ve tucked into the attic for now. With a wooden base and a laminate surface, it was in divine condition too.

Only desirable change? The finish. The neutral brown was a bit lighter than the other dark brown hardwoods I have in the house, and seeing as it would be living its live in the bright sunroom, I decided to give it a coat of paint to lighten it up.

After reading a bit on how to refinish laminate tabletop surfaces, I decided it would be best to sand the surface sufficiently; I used Pete’s multi-tool with an 80-grit sandpaper for this, and followed up by sanding with a higher grit by hand.  Worked like a charm to quickly roughen the surface.

Before painting, I applied a thin coat of primer to the entire table, choosing Zinsser Smart Prime, a durable water-based high-adhesion product for maximum grip (something that I had splurged on when I was refinishing the IKEA cabinet). While I only found it at a specialty paint shop, not at a big box store, it’s been totally worthwhile investment because it bonds with incredible strength to smooth surfaces like laminate, melamine, and plastics.

Using a high-density foam roller is recommended for smooth surfaces. I used a simple paint brush to thoroughly coat the more intricately carved pedestal.

Before I painted, I let the primer sit and cure for a full 7-days per instructions on the can. Left in the sunroom, it was exposed to both warm and sunny conditions, and we even worked with our laptops and papers on the surface beginning around days 4-6 without seeing any scratches or wear in the single coat of primer.

I’m learning more and more about painting strategies, and because I used a water-based primer, I opted for a water-based latex paint instead of oil-based this time. Just for kicks and experimentation. Oh, and the latex paint was f-r-e-e, since I borrowed from the remaining resiliant semi-gloss Irish Mist that we used on the walls in the bathroom.

I applied two coats of paint, the first of which heavily with a paint brush for good coverage on both the table top and the pedestal. I added the second application two days later with a high-density foam roller to smooth out any brush strokes on the tabletop surface.

It’s table love at its finest; working in the bright, warm sunroom makes us really happy people. Cody gets better access to the street life too, it’s a good stage for people and mailman watching.

While we work out there, we pull in two chairs from the dining room table for now, but are still actively looking for a set of 4 clean-lined chairs to leave in the sunroom permanently too. The hunt continues, and more sunroom transformation awaits.

Any springtime space redesigns in your pad over the weekend?