I wasn’t going to make this into a blog post but it totally deserves it’s own blog post because it turned out SO GOOD and well, I have a lot more to say than what I can write on a simple Instagram post. And it’s not all blabber, heh.
Our linai (an outdoor Florida room covered by netting) is huge for the size of the house and so it’s been a working progress. Actually still is, as I plan to add a cute, little potting station in the near future! And repaint the floors…again, since it started chipping already. Any who, we have just finished turning an old door that someone was THROWING OUT that we took and turned into our new treasure– the door into a table. If you haven’t skipped to the pictures already (shame on you), the table is a total beaut. The whole dining area turned out exactly how I envisioned it. It makes me so excited for the table I’m designing for our actual dining room (we’re still on the hunt for the perfectly aged wood)! As per usual, it took a lot more than just transforming this door into a table to create this area that we now love. Read on to find out exactly what we did and the oh so beautiful before pics!
1. Goodbye to the Good Ol’ Carpet
Before we even picked up the door, we went ahead and did the easy thing to update the linai to our liking. Where the outdoor dining area is now, there used to be carpet and Leo was very content on taking it out. So we did that and if you ever ripped out a carpet– it was the easiest thing to do out of the whole mini reno saga.
2. Paint, Paint, Paint
What do designers say is the easiest thing to change but the MOST DRAMATIC? Yep, paint. After we ripped out the carpet, we obviously gave the concrete floor a good paint refresh.Well I say good, but we did this a yearish ago and currently it has already started chipping and peeling. Very upsetting but I guess another floor refresh will be coming up! We also gave the walls that used to be tan, an update by painting it black. My husband was iffy about painting the linai walls back but this carport makeover by Room for Tuesday totally convinced him (and reassured me lol). We don’t regret the decision at all and have gotten lots of compliments!
3. Adding a Ceiling Treatment
If you have it in the budget to transform a ceiling, than by all means, DO IT! The ceiling is part of the room and it creates such a HUGE TRANSFORMATION when it’s something other than the basic white ceiling. Thankfully ( and I feel selfish writing this), my husband scored the jackpot at work and came home with almost free, finished tongue and groove material that was leftover. In one of my favorite shades. I MEAN, WHAT?! My little design heart soared. So after we finished our laundry update, we added the tongue and groove to the ceiling above the dining area. I wish we could’ve placed it in the entire linai however, the other parts of the ceiling is aluminum. And as I write that, I totally got the idea of at least painting that…hmmmmm. Too much? Heh, naahhh. Why haven’t I thought of that before?!
4. Adding Beams for Additional Visual Interest
I wish we could’ve found some type of aged wood beams but those kinda things are totally rare here in Florida (hence why we haven’t been able to make our table for the dining room yet). Instead, we went ahead and just purchased simple pine boards from Home Depot for under $100. I wanted the beams to be thinner and come down more rather than being wide and flat against the ceiling. Reason being, was because the ceiling is taller than the aluminum ceiling and in between there’s a little drop. Having the beams be as tall as the drop in between the two different ceilings creates more of a balance and more of a visual interest (in my opinion). I wanted to stain the beams just a shade or two darker than the tongue and groove but I honestly could not find the perfect shade. So I ditched that idea and went black (I’ll never not love black).
5. Adding the Trim
To finish any carpentry job, you usually gotta add trim. Since we didn’t want to buy material and didn’t want to paint over where the old trim was AND paint the new trim (we were just ready to get things done), we had just enough left over tongue and groove from the ceiling that we used instead. Leo just cut it down to size to where it perfectly covers where the old trim was! No extra painting (other than the window casing) and no extra money being spent.
6. The Next Big Thing: The Table
As I mentioned above, the outdoor dining used to be a door that was being thrown out and I couldn’t resist the urge to save it. It’s honestly kind of a sickness because if I could, I would save anything and everything that has potential and get my creative juices flowing. But sadly, there’s not always time and a place for those things. But since we didn’t have a dining table for our huge linai yet, that door was the perfect chance to create one. So that we did! More details to come in the nextish blog post so that I don’t overwhelm you with so many words on one post. Sound good? Just to give you an idea, it was more work than just sanding and giving it a coat of paint 😉 My father-in-law actually made the table legs to how I wanted them and it’s always an awesome thing to have someone help me bring my vision to life!
7. Seating
We had one of two choices: to spend money we didn’t have on seating for 10 people OR reuse the benches that my husband made out of leftover cedar for a party months ago. So basically we had no choice. Which is okay, because I like to reuse things in a new way and “shop the home” when I can and spend money on other things say like, seating for our future dining table? 😉 We’ll see. As for the benches, they we’re chilling in the linai anyway so I gave them the same coat of paint that I painted the outdoor table with. I was going for the white on white look with the table and benches with different end chairs (despite Leo wanting to keep it black and white oak at first, which to me was too original). I couldn’t be happier about my decision though and soon enough Leo agreed, saying “It looks like a million bucks.” I agree!
8. Don’t Skip the Cleaning
Boy, oh boy, sanding in the linai WAS NOT a good idea. EVERYTHING WAS COVERED. Even my poor plants which I keep in the linai most of the time. Poor things had to be wiped and rinsed down! And I’m praying and hoping that pressure washing our armchairs and sofa for one time won’t make it rust because wiping it down just wasn’t going to be enough.We spent a good full day just cleaning and pressure washing the linai last Saturday and we were pooped by the end of the day. If you know anything about how I was suffering with psoriasis all spring and summer, I just wanted to say that this full day of cleaning was SO REFRESHING for me. I was often dealing with fatigue and just plainly didn’t want to and sometimes couldn’t do much of anything. Who would’ve thought that I would miss cleaning!
9. Finishing Touches
The finish line. Putting everything together. Finally, it’s all real life and another project is checked off the list! We moved the rug from the master into the linai and made it work since we will be updating our master all around. And truth be told, it looks awesome out there! As for the pendant, that was another DIY that we did with a two dollar lampshade that I found at Goodwill (DIY pendant tutorial coming soon). I couldn’t make up my mind on the color for the lampshade so I just went with white but now I’m thinking a shade of green? Or leave it? Not sure to be honest! The clock was added months ago and I loved it then and still do. The frame was picked up at a Goodwill and I switched out the art with another watercolor that I cut out from a thrifted book! Adding it back there was a spontaneous decision and I am totally leaving it there for a good bit. It finishes the space off so perfectly as it automatically makes the space feel “richer.” I’m totally excited to put this space to use now that we have a table to eat at! And now I just need to find some friends to enjoy a fancy dinner 😉
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