After letting our floor stencils dry for a full week (it’s been humid here), we finally moved the furniture back into the sunroom and took photos of the completed mini makeover. This was the end of a three-phase refresh—small, affordable updates that made a big difference. Below I’ll share what the room looked like when we moved in, what we changed, and how the space feels now.
When we bought the house four and a half years ago, the sunroom had a thin, matted rug that smelled like dog. We pulled that up the very first day, then stained and later painted the concrete floor. Even from the start, the room’s views made it one of our favorite spots to relax—once the stinky carpet was gone, of course.
About a month before this mini makeover began the sunroom felt… calm, maybe a bit too calm. With tan walls, a tan rug, tan pillows, a tan daybed cover, a tan ceiling, and several brown or white furnishings, the palette was almost entirely neutral. We wanted to keep the soothing vibe but inject a little color and personality—without spending more than about $150.
Today the room feels brighter and more intentional. We added a dresser from another room for storage, painted the daybed, installed sleeker curtain rods, painted the ceiling a soft sky-blue, and stenciled the floor with a subtle aqua pattern. The blue ceiling opens the room up and makes it feel airier—this “haint blue” ceiling trick has long been popular in many homes because it visually expands a space and reflects light beautifully.
Photos don’t capture everything perfectly. In person, the view through the glass doors is a dominant, layered presence, while the stenciled floor reads more subtly. In photos the glass can reflect and flatten the view, making the high-contrast stencil more obvious than it feels live. Friends and family who’ve seen the room describe the floor as a subtle, calming touch that enhances the whole space—so while pictures can be deceiving, the room reads gentle and inviting in real life.
We also gained much-needed storage. The dresser we relocated houses board games, baby toys, and various extras, clearing clutter and keeping the room tidy. Small styling swaps—like a faux orange tree moved into a corner and colorful beach towels added to towel hooks—added personality without a big price tag. The faux orange tree started as a DIY five years ago when real plants kept dying; planted into real dirt inside a simple planter, it still convinces many visitors that it’s real.
Other small touches include a cheap marble side table and a ceramic dog that we both love. We swapped out two old floor pillows for clearance Euro shams (just $6 each on clearance), which added a touch of contrast to the center of the room and helped the area feel more layered without overwhelming the neutral base.
One of the things we like best is how the stencils peek out from under rugs, doormats, and the daybeds (both daybeds sit on legs, so the stenciled floor shows beneath them). Because most of the furniture and accessories remain neutral, the new blues and greens feel playful and dimension-adding rather than heavy. And because these updates are paint and soft accessories, they’re easy and inexpensive to change if we ever want a new look.
Here’s the budget breakdown for the mini makeover:
- $0 – Dresser and mirror (moved from the guest bedroom)
- $0 – Second daybed (reused from a bedroom that became a nursery/office)
- $0 – Primer and paint for the daybed (already owned)
- $20 – Ceiling paint (Tide Pools by Behr, semi-gloss)
- $40 – Curtain rods from Ikea
- $20 – Glidden oil-based porch/floor paint for the stencil (color matched to Martha’s Lagoon)
- $30 – Ceiling stencil purchased from a local stencil vendor
- $7 – Sponge for the stencil project
- $12 – Floor pillow covers (clearance Euro shams)
- Total budget: $129.00
For roughly $130 we updated furniture placement, painted a daybed and the ceiling, stenciled the floor, and refreshed accessories. Small decisions like swapping curtain rods, painting a piece of furniture, and changing a few textiles really transformed the space. We’re spending more time in the sunroom now—enjoying the view and the peaceful, layered feel of the room. Even Clara seems captivated by the stencils.
Have you tackled a mini makeover lately? Any sunroom projects or creative faux-plant solutions to share? We’d love to hear about them.
P.S. If you want to follow the makeover from the beginning, we documented the three phases of our sunroom refresh from start to finish.