dustin92
Well-known member
On the back of our house, off of the walk out (finished) basement, we have a smallish enclosed addition/porch, and while I don't think it is original to the house (1950), It has been a pretty much useless area for the year we have lived here. As far as I can guess, it was added sometime in the 60's or 70's, as a wood shed/storage area, and it was used as that until just a few years ago, when it was finished with drywall and wood paneling, before that (since I was born in 1992 anyway) it was used to store wood for the fireplace, and tools etc. After it was finished, it was used as a porch/smoking area, and when we moved in, we thouroughly cleaned the room and put an old couch and a couple end tables out there. Since nobody in our household smokes, and guests are asked to go outside to smoke, the room was pretty much unused all winter and into the spring, since it is not connected to the heating/cooling system, and was too cold. As the spring turned into summer, we were given a large piece of barely used carpet, and I installed it, but by then, it was too hot to sit out there, even with two windows. I had picked up a couple nice tab top curtain panels at a garage sale for 25¢, and hung them up. I then had an idea... Why not move the downstairs guest bedroom out there, it is closed in and has a latch on the door... So over the next couple days I moved the bed and nightstand, and a sewing machine table into the opposite corner. I pretty much left it alone for a couple weeks and then, this friday, our neighbors across the street were having a garage sale and I bought a small, and very dirty 5000 btu air conditioner for $10. They said it worked but was missing the filter and front cover. No big deal, I'll just order the parts and give it a good cleaning, then use it to cool the back porch/bedroom. I looked up the parts, and very quickly decided I was not going to get the cover, and the filter was NLA. I tore into it and gave it a good cleaning, and by saturday night, I had a very good working a/c unit. I used some generic cut-to-fit filter material I had laying around to make a filter, and stuck it in the window. The bedroom is now usable, and very comfortable. I started in today, moved the dresser in, and painted the window/door trim. I put a family heirloom quilt on the bed, and I added a couple lamps (no overhead lighting) I think it turned out nice, not fancy, but far more comfortable than the original bedroom, which was dark and musty, even after being cleaned and painted, and is now much more suited to storing my vacuum collection, which was taking over the laundry room. Pictues to follow, first, coming in the door from the laundry room..
