Four Season Room - Perfect for Houseplants and Conversations
One of the bonus rooms we gained with this new house is our four season room. My parents love their four season room, and so do their plants! We always struggled with houseplants at the old house not having many well-lit rooms, so I was excited to be able to add some companions to my single surviving succulent. Plus as much as we're in and out of the backyard, I loved the idea of having a room to sit and chat and watch the kids.
Four Season Room: Before
When we bought this house, it was a funny little room, very yellow, very pattered - right off the kitchen through French doors. The checkerboard ceramic tile floor was an interesting design decision. Lots of great windows, no window coverings. Did I mention yellow?
New Paint, New Life to the Four Season Room
When I shared the before and after photos from our first full round of painting, I mentioned that once these walls were white, I thought your eyes were drawn right outside where they belong, not right to the walls. What a difference just a coat of paint can do! We painted this room the same as all the first floor rooms just trying to give us a clean slate: White Flour by Sherwin Williams. (If you missed how we picked paint colors, check out that blog here.)
It started with an Avocado
We didn't have any furniture for this room right away, so we started calling this the Avocado Room because that was all that was in here. Until my parents brought Hank a piece off their huge Norfolk Pine from their sunroom - long live the pine that is probably as old as I am. Sidebar on the avocado for a minute: we thought it'd be fun to try to grow an avocado plant from seed. We had one kitchen window in the old house that it could perch on, which it did for about 3 months before we moved. We poked it with toothpicks and kept it half submerged in water and watched it grow roots. As it grew both up and down, we kept adjusting its container to allow for the roots to hang freely in the water. It survived the move (thanks to some babysitting from my mom) and when we moved in it got its very own pot of dirt. And it's loving this sunroom! Keep reading for what it looks like now! Fun family activity if you can be patient!
Ok, sidebar over... back to the house.
Furnishing and Decorating the Four Season Room
Covering Up the Couch
After a few weeks of living in the house, I realized the furniture we originally had in our front sitting room of the old house wasn't going to work in our new front room - the one I turned into the music room. The couch and chair were not the right scale or color palette for the room. Even though the couch had seen better days, I decided it was worth keeping it and bought a slipcover from Target to give it a slightly new look and color. It really helped modernize the couch too!
Same couch, new look! The slipcover was really pretty easy to mange - machine washable and then you just tuck it in. I definitely find myself continuing to tuck it in after the kids made a mess of it, but I'm really happy with how it looks and works now in this room!
Conversation Chair and First Real Houseplant Purchase!
The chair came over from the front room too. Here's where "conversations" come in. This is generally our go-to timeout chair. :) We have LOTS of conversations in this room. haha But it's really quite the relaxing space! This was a going-out-of-business Pier 1 floor sample chair and I just love it. It rocks! Literally. Also, how cute is my new Fiddle Leaf Fig and pot from Earl May Garden Center? Hoping he likes it here as much as the avocado has! My first real big houseplant purchase! Hoping I can get it to grow into more of a tree form over time. (PSA - Earl May usually offers free potting onsite if you buy both the pot and plant from them!)
Diamonds are Everywhere
This wasn't super intentional, but after curating, repurposing and acquiring all of our new furniture and decor elements, I realized I really leaned into the checkerboard/diamond pattern. I guess my subconscious was inspired by the floor after all. Can you spot all the different diamond elments in this room?
My favorite diamond? Well, if it's not a real diamond coming from my friends at Josephs Jewelers - it might as well be a cute rug with little soft shaggy detail. We had this jute rug from our kitchen in the old house, which really looked pretty gross over the new oaky floors but I love the rug even though it's pretty worn and thought it'd make a good base layer in this room. On top I layered this new rug, which has a lot more personality than I usually go for. Truthfully I bought it for the music room, but decided it needed to be in here after a few weeks. Editing is an important piece of refining spaces to suit your style.
Avocado Plant's Thriving In Here
Back to the avocado - check this out! He's really thriving in this space with all this daylight! I water both of these plants just once on the weekends and that seems to be doing the trick. Only issue here is if this thing eventually produces an avocado, I don't even like to eat them! This pot is also from Earl May.
Hideaway Toy Storage
What you can't see from here is tucked in the corner behind the lantern on the floor is a shelf with soft woven baskets where we store the "upstairs toys." I love that the French door swings open and blocks that corner, because it's usually a disaster of Barbie parts and baby doll clothes.
More Little Plant Babies
I actually have no idea what these are. These ones are easy first timer plants and barely need any attention or water at all. But even the little pokey guy is loving this room and sprouting some new shoots. And yep, these are all from Earl May too. Even this little pot has diamond texture! I borrowed one of our kitchen plates to anchor these with a yummy little candle from Target.
Feeling good about making a little progress with a room that feels much more finished and intentional than I thought it would.
We're starting to paint more main level window and door trim, but I can't decide what to do in here... should we go white like what we're planning in the rest of the main level? I'm actually thinking right now that maybe I paint it black? Got any ideas for me? If so, please let me know!! Open to suggestions....
Shop-able Furniture and Decor:
Farmhouse basketweave slipcover in oatmeal from Target
Square Diamond Pillows from Target
North Avenue Coffee Table Charter Oak Finish from Target
Black Shaggy Moroccan Lattice Fringe Area Rug from RugsUSA
Black Metal Lantern - Hearth & Hand with Magnolia - Target
Textured Ceramic Jar Candle Sandalwood & Tobacco - Threshold designed with Studio McGee - Target
Hexagon Wood Stool Accent Table - At Home
