Blind benefits

It turns out investing in some decent blinds not only makes the room less hot during Summer, it makes the room feel less cluttered.

Rather than having individual window blinds, I decided to go with wider ones and run them across several windows.

I picked out the dark green in the sofa fabric and found some made to measure black out blinds (Banlight Duo from Direct Blinds).

The door is fitted with some Fired Oak Fauxwood slatted blinds from Web-Blinds. Faux because the kids like to run their cars along them.




The ceiling shades (Mandy Bamboo from BBQ) tie in with the door blinds.

I've left one of the sail shades up over the settee area as it does reduce the glare from the ceiling.

Project: the sunny room

What we have

A 5x3m white PVC conservatory with clay bricks and patio doors. Strip lighting, moss covered roof, and blue carpet. It's also South facing.

What we want

A comfortable room we can eat and lounge around in. Some plants to bring the outside in, softer lighting and more practical flooring. Some way of reducing the temperature in the Summer.

Materials

• Paint: Primer, Dulux White Cotton Quick Dry Satinwood, Wickes Interior Varnish Natural Oak Satin         
• Fabric: 1970s family curtain material 
• Flooring: Online Carpets Modus Concrete 585 Vinyl (£7.99 per square metre) 

Accessories

• Furniture: IKEA Applaro Corner sofa (£416), existing antique dining room table (flea market find), existing Kartell Thalya Dining Chairs, IKEA Applaro Bench with Shelves (£91), existing IKEA SkogHall Table.    
• Sail shades for the ceiling 
• Tools: Bosch Multi-Sander, Karcher K2 Pressure Washer 

Work

• Clean the PVC inside and out, wash down woodwork
• Sand skirting boards, sill and table
• Prime sill 
• Paint skirting boards, sill and bricks (latter using watered down paint)
• Varnish the table
• Take up carpet and put down vinyl
• Clean and change blinds
• Assemble new furniture

Challenges
A couple of the double glazing panes are blown. We don't have the budget to replace these.

No budget for new blinds either so I'm planning to clean them and cut off the scalloped edges.

Fabric for the cushions

IKEA Applaro Corner Sofa

IKEA SkogHall Table

Dining Table