How To Get A Sunroom Like Tory Burch (for a lot less money)

It’s here.

September.

End of summer. (they say; not me)

Oh well.

But what it really means for those of us in the northern regions is the loss of the sun.

Shorter days and when the is up, it’s often in one’s eyes.

Call me weird, but I prefer cloudy days in the winter.

Clouds keep what little heat there might be in and it’s not as blindingly bright.

But still with shorter days, it’s understandable that one can long for a

 

Sunroom.

 

To my way of thinking, a sunroom is really just another living room, but with a lot of windows.

Over the years, I’ve had a lot of clients who have these small rooms on one end of their home. Often it used to be a screened in porch and now closed up and heated, it’s the “family room.” And some of them are as narrow as seven feet!

You can see a couple of sun rooms that I did in my portfolio.

And there’s one from my old portfolio that I really like, but the photo is not up to snuff.

Oh wait. Here it is.

Now, sometimes, people try to make their sunrooms look like a porch in the summer, but I prefer when there’s some element that someone might not expect to see. For instance, I did a leather chair and two leather ottomans. You can see the leather chair peaking out in the background. I moved the one ottoman out of the way.

The cognac leather is just the right touch to ground the entire room, I think. There is another identical leave seat back to back with the one you can see. BTW, this room was originally THE DECK!

 

So, for today, I thought it would be fun to recreate the sunroom of all sunrooms–

 

Everybody’s favorite– the most pinned, most written about, adored and admired sunroom belonging to the very beautiful, very talented (and very insanely rich)

 

Tory Burch!

 

Tory Burch's fabulous sunroom designed by Daniel Romualdez via Vogue MagazineThis one.

 

And in case you don’t know, it was not designed by Tory although I’m sure that she had a lot of input. The designers were her long-time friends and frequent interior design partners, Daniel Romualdez and Eve Hood.

 

Here are a couple more wonderful spaces using the gorgeous Persepolis wallpaper and/or fabric by Home Couture. (Quadrille)

 

Handsome den by Mark D. Sikes

 

Lee Ann Thornton

A coordinating pattern from Quadrille

 

I’ve been mulling this sunroom idea over for a while and thinking,

“oh, piece of cake. I’ve got this one.”

 

Shouldn’t I know better by now? haha

But of course, one thing that would’ve helped is if I had actually read the article in Vogue Magazine.

Then I wouldn’t have had to waste at least an hour trying to find the source of the super cool jute chairs. However, I do enjoy hunting things down and I did find the source on my own. But I just saw while grabbing the link, that the source is in the article.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They are from John Himmel and sold through John Rosselli.

You remember John Rosselli. The one who hates me. ;] ;] The one married to Bunny Williams? That John.

The John who has THE most exquisite taste and whose offerings, though gorgeous largely fall into the category of “if you have to ask, you can’t afford it.”

I don’t know what those John Himmel chairs cost.

But I’m pretty sure that Tory doesn’t need to ask how much. However, I daresay that 99.9% of the people reading this do need to ask.

Make no mistake. They’re verrrrry expensive.

That means that we need to come up with something else.

And I did!
Spa Lounge Chair From PalecekThis look-a-like spa club chair (except for the curved back) from Palecek.

And I found it for sale on the interwebs at Carolina Rustica for $1,898.00 and “free shipping.” haha which we know is worked into the markup. :]

I do realize that this is still going to be quite steep for a lot of us, so I came up with an alternative idea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know that some people will want arms, but then you’ll need to come up with something else. It’s not easy. And this chair isn’t perfect either. But I do like the basic look of it. I do wish, however, that it had real legs instead of those metal L things.  But I found it on Wayfair for only $459, so we might be able to figure something out to make the legs look better.

 

No Widget today because too many things are not widgetizable. :] What that means is that I can’t put the source in the widget. So, what I’ll do is put some thumb nails underneath the graphic.

 

please click on the links below to go to the source.

    1. Blue and white chinoiserie lamp
    2. Persepolis Fabric and Wallpaper by Couture Home (Quadrille)
    3. Rustic console table
    4. Vintage faux bamboo barrel back chairs. Might be a tad formal for the space but I really love them. They come as a pair. I thought they were black at first. Maybe not. I would probably paint them black. And they could use a loos 19″ sq pillow for the back.
    5. Throw Pillow – Schumacher’s Hot House Flowers in Mineral (fabric only here)
    6. 90″ White linen sofa
    7. Pillow with Volpi by Quadrille. Although, I think that Tory’s fabric is a darker blue colorway. This fabric is not usually sold online.
    8. Ginger jar
    9. Sarreid Coffee table
    10. Tree lamp
    11. Armless faux rattan chair
    12. Garden stool  – on sale!
    13. Rattan console table painted a rich green – Only $190! Here is how it comes. Just get a can of spray paint and have fun. You could also replace the glass with a piece of quarter inch plywood. I’ve done that before.

 

But case in point and this is a big one. If you see something and it isn’t quite right but it is mostly right, I recommend thinking about how it might be possible to make it perfect.

14.  Folding sling chair

15.  Jute area rug. Interesting pattern

16.  Planter

Phew! This is as hard as it looks. haha. But I’m pleased with how it all turned out.

One important point is that one of the reasons we love this room so much is because of the exquisite architecture. But, the rest is quite spectacular as well.

And leaving out the green planters, all of this furniture except for the wallpaper is under $10,000. At least this weekend it is. Some of it will be going up in price on Tuesday.

***And don’t forget 10% of money earned through affiliate links or the purchase of one or both of my products (Laurel’s Rolodex and the Paint Guides)  will be going to the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund.

And no worries, if you don’t want to, can’t do that for any reason. It’s just something I’m doing this weekend.

I’m happy to do my part. No heat, electricity for a week is one thing. But losing everything you have and having no way to recoup is a nightmare no one should have to face.

 

And, finally, in case some of you didn’t see this. There is going to be an update of Laurel’s Rolodex on November 1. All current owners will get the update. But just so you know, both products are going to be having a price increase on November 13th.

The most darling woman wrote me this, today about my paint collection/palettes.

“In the last few months since obtaining your color products I have only been using the universal colors

It’s so simple that I feel like I’m cheating when I have just the right color for clients. They think I’m a genius. Do I have to share my secret? It’s like playing the violin Suzuki method. 

I too found you from your 12 whites article that I came across. So glad I did. My design work has been so much better. “

Well, that certainly made my day!

Thanks much everyone!

Please have a joyous, fun and safe holiday!

xo,

 

PS: please don’t forget to check out all of best Labor Day sales plus some of my favorites here and here.

 

37 Responses

  1. Hello again Laurel! I must be the only one who can’t tell what color quadrille Persepolis this wallpaper is?! 🤷‍♀️🤔 I was trying to order it online not realizing there are so many color options!
    Thanks again for your work. I don’t think I would ever be able to pull together this house without your blog!
    Katie

  2. Laurel, I enjoy your informative posts so much. You are my absolute favorite . Unfortunately i discovered you after we picked our new build floor plan (it is dreadful) and not before! Oh well. I have been trying to plan our entry sunroom/breeze porch for months on end with little to no success making decisions. It is 14 wide by 24. I found your post last night and I thought well that sunroom is okay, I’ll keep looking… and then I couldn’t stop looking at it and closing the page and then pulling it back up! Finally, I can move forward now that I’ve settled on this, if I am able to talk my husband into wallpapering that room! Anyway, I found the alternate chairs you suggested online and they are now $3,700 instead of $1800!! Yikes I am going to continue looking for some, but that woven rope arm chair is all I can think about today 😂
    Thanks 😊
    Katie

  3. Laurel, you amaze me. My husband was furious with me because I stayed inside to find all the incredible deals you had discovered for us, rather than get outside and play tennis and swim! I am redoing a small all-glass front porch and would have loved to have the wicker console you found. The price was great—–but the shipping was more than the price! What gives with Chairish?
    Your fan forever,
    Nancy

    1. Hi Nancy,

      Yes! The shipping on Chairish is often more than the price of the piece. And why is that? Because shipping is bloody expensive and there’s nothing worse than damaged furniture. So, it has to be crated and wrapped like they are strapping it to the outside of the space shuttle.

      But, we keep hearing “free shipping!” Well, it’s not really free. It’s worked into the markup. I think that some vendors DO work the shipping into the markup and I think from a sales standpoint it makes a lot of sense. It’s a like when something is $99.99. Our brain prefers that to $100.00.

      But I find that the prices (most of them) are terrific on Chairish. I think that there are some great deals. The only other option is to look for vendors local to you. And then you can pick it up or at least it won’t be as expensive.

      Also, you might be able to work something out with the vendor to get a reduced rate on either the piece of shipping. It doesn’t hurt to ask.

      And to all of you husbands out there.

      Chillax for Pete’s sake!

      HAPPY WIFE. HAPPY LIFE!

      the end. ;]

    1. Hi John,

      Thanks so much John. I figured that if I’m going to have a blog then I need to share what I know. However, I’ve shared far more than I know. hahahaha. By that I mean that I’ve learned a helluva lot– not only from research, but from you guys too.

      And my philosophy is that if everyone isn’t winning, nobody is.

  4. That was quite a roundup. Thank you, Laurel.

    Sometimes rooms in print or online seem smaller than in real life, but when you list all the components it’s hard to imagine how it all fits!

    1. Hi Margaret,

      That is an interesting point you bring up. That is actually not a lot of furniture for one room.

      Strictly speaking, there should be two end tables, two more table lamps or sconces and then there’s a third of the room, we can’t see! I would estimate this room to be about 12 x 26 which square foot-wise is the size of an average living room.

      But, what I find interesting is that this might be one reason why people not in this business frequently underestimate how much it costs to furnish one room.

      I once did a family room that was more square about 19 x 18. And here is what went in the room. And it was not at all crowded.

      A custom sectional
      custom club chair
      two ottomans (one used as a coffee table)
      Six throw pillows
      an end table
      Lamp
      Sara Chandelier with white glass shades
      two console tables
      two occasional chairs
      an armoire
      a low custom-made entertainment console
      An area rug
      Window treatments for three windows
      Four large pieces of art.

      With tax and shipping/white glove delivery I got in under their budget of 25k. They still balked.

  5. love these posts but most of all love your generosity in giving to those affected by Hurricane Harvey. The devastation is unfathomable here and will be for some time but Houston and the rest of Texas affected by Harvey will rise strong, in part thanks to people like you. Thanks again.

  6. Wow I love what you did here! The elements are transferable to a living room as already suggested. Could work in any sitting area. Maybe we’ll see Persopolis in your bedroom someday?
    Today on Instagram Mark Sikes posted a room he decorated with the Quadrille fabrics. I just joined Instagram and of course I am following you, Laurel and him – on your suggestion! Have a lovely day and holiday!

    1. Oops meant to ask – for OKL. If I follow any of your links to OKL I can then search for the exact item I wish to purchase and still remain on your affiliate coat tail, so to speak?

      1. YES! You can order anything at all. That is the beauty of the links. One doesn’t have to purchase what was clicked on. In fact, you might notice that some links don’t even take one to a product, just a landing page.

        I can’t see what is purchased or who did it. I can see, if I bother to look, what was clicked on and if purchases are made.

        The only conditions where the links won’t work is if you 1. switch devices and then don’t click on the link again on the new device. 2. clear cookies 3. click someone else’s link for the same brand before going back and ordering. And the cookie for the main company, rewardstyle (not amazon) is effective for 30 days which is another cool thing.

        For anyone reading this who has no idea what I’m talking about, these are affiliate links. What that means is, if you click on them and make a purchase, I will most likely get a small commission and at absolutely no extra cost to you. It is a form of advertising for brands. But instead of paying some marketing suits around a board table, they are paying bloggers.

        I am very careful to only represent products that I would purchase for myself and/or a client. And I comb the market to find the best prices for those products and to point out ones that I feel are in line with my design philosophy.

        And while I make every effort to show reasonable quality, I still recommend that people do their own research and examine whether that product is right for them and their needs.

        And soon, I will be able to link to Ballard Designs and Layla Grace. I have pushed for these two brands because I love them both, but there currently there is no option to link. I just received this news the other day that they are finalizing their contract with these brands. And artfully walls! So excited about these three wonderful brands! I don’t know how much longer it will take, however.

        I wrote an entire post about affiliate marketing which you can see here. (although, this was almost a post, right here. lol)

        https://laurelberninteriors.com/design-bloggers-make-money/

  7. I have been living under a rock. I had never seen that gorgeous sunroom! The mix is wonderful. And I’m crazy about that ‘coordinating pattern from Quadrille’.
    You know, if you prefer cloudy days in the winter, the Pacific NW is your place. It’s what we locals love, and what sends many a Northeasterner packing if they relocate. Apparently all the natural beauty is not an adequate tradeoff. 🙂

    1. Hi Ruth,

      I’m thrilled when someone sees something for the first time. And I forget sometimes that this is what I DO all day long and have for the last five years. So, if I’ve seen something 100 times, that doesn’t necessarily mean that someone else has seen it even once. I also try to post images that I haven’t seen 100 times or even ten times before.

  8. Laurel,
    Fabulous post (as always!)but I’m wondering about the ’12 white article’?

    I can’t find any past article with 12 whites –but I did find a ’20 whites’ post and ‘6 whites’ post–it there another white post?

    Love your ‘Paint Guide’–everyone that cares about paint color should have it!!!

    1. Hi Maggie,

      Can you repeat that last line a little louder please? LOLOLOL Thank you so much! I noticed that too, but then I remembered. The paint collection has 12 whites and maybe that’s what she meant. No matter, I’m grateful for all of the kind words!

    1. Hi Mary,

      Yes! And I think I didn’t actually come out and say it, but that’s pretty much my philosophy about sunrooms. But of course, a little wicker/rattan is nice. But hey, I do put that in living rooms too sometimes!

  9. You are like my lost twin. You write the same way i do. My husband thinks i’m crazy. But doing planning even if it does not come to fruition is like a game and doing in on the high/low is even better. Keep it up girl! My very good girlfriend passed it on to me. She knew i would love your blog. Keep up the great work for all us creatives who cannot sleep.

    1. Hi Gayle,

      Thanks so much for such a sweet comment. I love husbands who think we’re “crazy.” And I bet your husband loves that the best about you and wouldn’t have it any other way! xo

  10. Beautiful! I love it when you do this kind of post, Laurel. I’m sure it must take hours to source everything, but it always looks fantastic when you are done! I love your blog and look forward to each post. I’m learning so much from you! Thanks so much!

    1. Hi Karen,

      Thank you for the kind feedback! Are you related by chance, to the ballet Wozniaks in Arizona? Of course, I had to check the spelling of their names which doesn’t help with my ballet addiction.lol

  11. Yeah..you rock.

    I have been blog and FB stalking your posts for awhile now. I’m stepping up to the plate to admit you are my favorite design writing girl.
    Funny as H#LL…and always with good points.

    For the past 5 years I was following this other girl who is a self proclaimed decorating expert.
    She does some nice work, but wow her personality is so abrasive and not fun.
    Like a cat that doesn’t want to be pet..after awhile it just became a drag.

    So Laurel, thanks for the friendly insightful info you share. I enjoy everything you have to say.

    🙂
    Deb

    1. Thanks so much Deb. I’m sure that I’ve rubbed some people the wrong way too. But one thing I’ve learned is that I can’t please everyone. I’d like to, but it’s not possible. And, because every once in a while, someone gets their jollies out of sending me a swift cyber-sucker-punch, I actually feel anxious when I read the first few comments. I have to rely on my own inner-editor. Some have said that I write with “no filter.”

      Errrrmmm… no, this IS the filter! LOL

      But, I’m incredibly grateful for all of the kind replies and support which out-number the nasty ones by about 500 – 1.

  12. I love 16-the fiddle leaf fig in the green pot. I’ve ordered a couple fake plants only to be disappointed. I returned them both. Can you suggest places to purchase the best looking artificial plants? I couldn’t find any discussion of that in your past blogs. These sunroom ideas are so helpful and gorgeous!

    1. Hi Lorrie,

      Thanks so much. Here’s a whole page of ’em on Wayfair. Generally, I read the reviews which I find helps to make an informative decision. And if they are negative, why are they negative? Is it that the lead time took too long and the rude customer service rep had her period? lol Fine. Welcome to my world. But that’s not the product. Hope that helps!

  13. Wow! That was one amazing post, Laurel! I have been drooling over Tory’s sunroom forever and your finds are perfect! I cannot believe the price on that rattan console table. If only I had the room for that beauty it would be on its way to my home. Thanks so much for this post. That was a fun read! Warmly, Mary

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Hi, I’m Laurel, and Laurel Home is the website and blog for Laurel Bern Interiors.
I’ve been creating new-traditional interiors since 1988. The blog is where I share all.

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