Beyond The Picket Fence: Cozy Sunroom and DIY Hanging Lamp

I love creating cozy spots in my home--places to curl up with a cup of coffee or tea to read or peruse Pinterest. And when I can create that space with garage sale purchases and thrift store finds, I love the spot even more. Repurposing, upcycling used items not only is good for our environment, but it gives a space warmth. I would rather use something old than something purchased from the store (and most likely made in China). Vintage, handcrafted, upcycled all give a space some soul.

create cozy spaces with thrift store finds

Such is the cozy feeling in my sunroom that has been almost entirely furnished and designed with thrift store and garage sale finds. I hanging lamp that I created with oval embroidery hoops and a hanging light kit finished this space with a my favorite funky, boho vibe.

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I started with six oval embroidery hoops from the thrift store. I used the outer hoop part with the screw mechanism that tightens the hoop. The hanging lamp kit is from AMAZON and can be purchased HERE. I liked the long cord on this and the twisted hemp, plus the on off switch.

I removed the ring on the socket and drilled two holes opposite each other in the lip of the ring. I used a smaller bit first and then made the hole bigger with a 5/32 sized drill bit. After drilling the two holes, I used a square to mark with chalk 60 degree spaces.

I drilled the holes as close the the outer edge as possible and I actually broke through the edge on one, but that is okay.

I then attached the embroidery hoops, using the "screw" on the hoop to tighten it to the light ring. They are not completely perpendicular to the ring because of the lip and the metal piece on the hoop, but they look great tilted in just a bit. I screwed the ring back onto the socket and added a bulb. I needed to use an elongated bulb instead of a big, round one because the embroidery hoop screws would hit a round bulb.

This could be hung from a hook on the ceiling or from a plant hanger on the wall or from a tripod for a standing lamp. I used a vintage, wood, clothes, drying rack.

This is the "popular clothes dryer" drying rack which makes me wonder, "Is there a sad sister drying rack, the UNPOPULAR clothes dryer?" It works great for the lamp and a hanging plant or two.

I can swing the arm if I want the lamp more over the couch or side table. I can wrap the cord more or less to change the height of the hanging lamp.

The couch in the space, actually loveseat, was a garage sale find. I got it and the matching long, lounging couch for $50. They are mid century-the seventies and retail for $850+. I recovered this in outdoor fabric because I had it on my covered porch in my Idaho home. To soften the outdoor fabric, because it can be kind of rough, I added soft, cozy blankets and pillows. I may eventually recover it, but it was a pain so I will live with this for a bit.

A little history on the whole space. The original owners who made our home into a house from 1931 schoolhouse were master gardeners. They added onto the schoolhouse a 650 sq. ft. solarium with cedar tongue and groove walls that was three-quarters plus dirt with trees, bamboo, etc. growing. There was a small angled deck area that is accessed from French doors at the end of the kitchen. While the space obviously worked for them, we simply did not use it other than as a pass-through to the backyard and deck. The plants were nice, but we didn't want to hang out in the dirt in the house and the deck was too small for us to use (there was a large, freestanding heater in the corner of the deck). I suppose we could have removed what they planted and planted a year round garden which would have been nice to have, but honestly, that never occurred to us.

Instead, we removed the plants, took out 150+ wheelbarrow loads of dirt to lower the ground level, cut into the foundation and made an outside front door from a window, and have made it into a studio Air BNB. It is 98% finished and I will show it to you all when we are ready to rent it. We straightened out the sunroom deck spot an made it larger and added a wall on the other end of the outside front studio doo. The wall divides the studio rental from the sunroom. The door still needs painting and we need trim, BUT we built a wall, drywalled it, taped and textured it all by ourselves. This will be an emergency exit door so renters will have access to it, but won't use it regularly (or never because hopefully there won't be an emergency). We have a lock on the French doors that go into our kitchen so that renters can't get in.

Here is the view from the cozy, sunroom couch. It is a great spot to view our wildlife visitors, deer, turkeys, the occasional moose or bear, and see the sunset. I definitely enjoyed the view this morning from the warm indoors since it was -9 out when I took the picture.

Under the windows sits a vintage, metal rack, perhaps an old grocery store or bread rack that holds planting supplies, a rusty toolbox filled with outdoor finds. When I can find fresh herbs to plant, I will put them here.

The white metal cabinet on the other end pictured in the room view photo above, near the hanging lamp, holds hot tub supplies. The cabinet was left in our basement when we moved in. I have spray paint to paint it when it gets warm outside. The coffee table is a $3, thrift store, homemade wood trunk and it holds outdoor blankets and citronella candles for summer use. The side table is another thrift store find as well as the vintage basket holding books.

I made the picture ledge and am using it to display old floral paintings.

The large one I got at a garage sale for $2. It is a Reofect painting, which were actually textured prints made in the early 1900's to around 1950. They were oil based and varnished in a way that mimicked the texture of oil brush strokes; and printed on canvas to increase the realism of the reproductions.