Reclaiming Space......Bringing A Sun Porch From the 70s Into The 21st Century

Like many older Chicago apartments, mine has a back porch that was enclosed as a living space. At some point, probably in the 1970s, the walls and even the door were covered with paneling. Though the space faces north, it is at the back of the building so it has no obstructions and is actually one of the brightest rooms in the apartment.  I knew with a bit of a face lift it could be a great bonus room.

The only thing worse than paneling? Mismatched paneling!
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South wall, formerly the exterior of the building.
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North wall. Note the patched paneling.
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East Wall. Unfortunately someone paneled over the  door,
but the closet is a nice bonus!
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My budget didn't allow for sheetrock, but the landlord did give me permission to fill the grooves in the paneling and to paint.  I used Durabond to fill the gaps.  You could use regular joint compound, but the Durabond is a 'setting-type joint compound', so it hardens faster.  You have to mix it in small batches because, unlike regular joint compound or spackle, once the product starts to set up you can't extend the working time by adding water.  I used one of the easy sand varieties.  It comes in various setting times; I think I used the either the 45 or 60 minute.  More detailed info on the product can be found at your local hardware store or home center or from the manufacturer, USG.

First coat of  Durabond.
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I had hoped to remove to the paneling from the door, but unfortunately, it was holding in the lock set. I was a bit disappointed that my original door was going to look like a modern hollow-core door. I decided that trimming out the door would help.  As I was going through some boxes, I found an Asian-Inspired wall hanging and a picture frame that I could use to add some depth to the door.

Wall hanging from a discount store.
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Turns out this old picture frame
 was just the right proportions.
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It took a couple of coats of the Durabond, and then, of course, was the sanding! Once everything was sanded, I primed with a stain blocking primer and then painted.  The darker wood paneling had an exceptionally high amount of tannin bleeding through the water based stain block, so I ended up switching to an oil-based version (glad it was warm weather and that the room had windows!

Prematurely gray from the dust!
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Multiple coats of primer,
and it's starting too look more like plaster!
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Under the window was more damaged,
so a different approach was required.
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The area under the window required special attention. Not only was the paneling patched (to cover the vent hole from an old heater or dryer), but it was warped and water damaged (from water getting in the vent hole).   I had in my stash several cupboard doors that were just the right height to panel under the window.  The doors were slightly narrower than I wanted, but I filled in the gaps with stock modeling (parting stop) and 1" x 4" lumber.  

These doors were all the same style,
but not the same color.  Ahh the magic of primer!
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Doors in place, the gap will get filled with molding.
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All of the pieces in place.  The wall was warped,
so I had to install the shoe-mold right away to hold everything in place.
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All trimmed out, caulked, and painted.
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The original baseboard was not only ugly, but it it didn't fit right.  The floor also has quite a slant since this was originally a porch.  I used a combination of 1" x 4" and 1" x 6" to make a new baseboard.

The piece on the left was cut at angle to match the slope of the floor.
The piece on the right is a 1"x 6", while the piece on the opposite wall (not shown) is a 1" x 4"
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Shoe mold hides the gap between the baseboard and the floor
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I had to get a little creative in this corner....
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The last thing to paint and trim out was the back door.  I didn't feel like buying another can of paint, so I took some leftover paint and custom tinted it.  It took 3 tries, but I finally got the color I wanted.

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Two of the Three pieces of door molding installed.
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The final piece of door trim, baseboard, and shoe mold.
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Once the trim work was complete, I painted the floor, hung the curtains and moved in some furniture.

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Media cabinet, turned art-supply storage!
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The room has undergone a few changes since I finished it. The media cabinet pictured above was given to me several months after I finished the space.  I've since moved in a larger table and I mostly use the space for art projects that don't require paint or glue.  If your wondering how I got such a big piece of furniture in there, well that's a story for another post....