We’re redoing the sunroom on a tight budget, trying to reuse as much as we already own while still getting the space to function the way we need it to. We’ve got other projects siphoning savings—Clara’s big-girl room, a guest bathroom refresh, and a porch and carport overhaul—so this refresh needed to be affordable, practical, and fast. There’s a balance between spending nothing and getting something that works: you can make do with everything you already have and get partial function, or spend a little to dramatically improve usability. For this room, we wanted full function on a small budget.
So far our only purchases for the sunroom have been a gallon of paint for the walls and ceiling and one new piece of furniture. Nearly everything else has been furniture, accessories, and artwork we already owned, plus a couple of inexpensive DIY frames. The missing piece was storage. Rather than add more seating or another table we don’t need, we decided a simple bookcase with eight cubed compartments would give the most practical storage for board games, larger design books, and toys that Clara uses when she plays in the sunroom.
We found a well-priced unit at Ikea for $69 in the white finish (the gloss version was $20 more), and John and Clara put it together on a Saturday morning. It felt like a little family DIY project—handy, satisfying, and quick to complete.
Assembly was straightforward—about half an hour from box to finished unit. Once it was in place, the bookcase immediately improved the room’s storage capacity and visual balance. It’s surprising how much a single piece of furniture can make a space feel more organized and intentional.
We filled the cubbies with board games, children’s toys, and books—especially the larger design and coffee-table books that wouldn’t fit on the narrow built-ins in our dining room. Having those books tucked into a purpose-built shelf here in the sunroom felt like a small but meaningful upgrade. We enjoy playing board games at the table in front of the daybed, so having games stored nearby is extremely functional.
For styling the top of the bookcase, I added a few colorful vases John gave me for Mother’s Day and positioned a secondhand bike that Clara picked out a few years ago. It’s a fun, quirky trio of bike elements—art, sculpture, and memorabilia—that gives the shelf personality without costing anything extra. (John’s enthusiasm for bikes is now a running theme—he even wore a bike shirt that morning.)
Here’s how the sunroom looks now after the update. The new bookcase anchors the corner and helps keep the room tidy while storing items we actually use in that space. The fresh paint on the walls and ceiling brightened things up and made the whole room feel more cohesive with the rest of the house.
Budget breakdown: aside from the paint and a couple of DIY $7 frames, everything else in the room was already owned or repurposed. The new bookcase was $69, so the entire update came in at under $135. That’s a modest investment for a functional, refreshed room that previously looked more cluttered and underutilized.
We still have one empty corner to address and a couple of finishing touches to balance the space—like swapping or styling the wooden side table—but those are small, planned updates. We’ll keep tweaking until everything feels complete.
If you’re hunting for affordable furniture, a quick tip: before buying new from Ikea, check local classified listings. Sometimes you can find the exact piece used and save money. In our case, the right color and size weren’t available secondhand, so buying new made sense. We also considered building a custom bookcase, but for the amount of wood and time required, the Ikea option was far more cost-effective.
And the final, predictable detail: Clara’s favorite part of the whole project is the box the bookcase came in. She loves climbing in and playing—proof that even the simplest items can bring the most joy to a child.
