Wainescoting in Master

Alright here is my Husbands favorite project of mine. 

This was my first project after moving into our home so I don't have any progress pics. 

Therefore I will try my best to explain the process.

At the time I had never done molding before. So I called over a friend of mine and together we tackled this room. She did all of the cutting and I did the nailing...I got the easy job :)

The first step was to measure. We wanted to keep it as simple as possible and tried to use nice even numbers. So we decided to put the chair rail at 35" that way we could do 20" squares with a 6" spacing between the baseboard and chair rail. The chair rail was simple. We held up one side, made sure it was level and then nailed it in with a nail gun. Then we would go down the line making sure it was level and nailing it in place.

Once the chair rail was up it was time to do the boxes. Now I'm not sure if this is the "real" way to do wainscoting but its how we did it and it worked great.

The first step is to measure the wall you are working on.

Once you have your measurement you need to decide how many 20" boxes can fit on your wall. 

The wall behind my bed is 202". I did 6 boxes at 20" which was 120". I then subtracted 120 from 202 and got 82. Then I divided 82 by 7 (the number of sections between boxes). This final number gave me my spacing between each box. I then proceeded to do this for each wall.

Once all of your measuring is done (make sure you measure twice!!) you can start the boxes.

Now House of Hepworths has a great tutorial with step by step pictures to help explain this better. The following 2 pictures are courtesy of House of Hepworths.

The best way is to start with the top piece of pencil molding.

Make sure its level and nail it in place.

The next step is to put up one side piece, making sure it is level and nail it on top and bottom. Then move onto the other side. Make sure you only put one nail in at the top.

Now put the bottom piece up and attach it with one nail in the corner of the fully attached piece. The reason you do it this way is because sometimes your measurements are slightly off. This will give you a small amount of wiggle room to make sure your corners match. 

Now nail both pieces in place and your done!

Just caulk and paint and your room can go from this:

To this:

Now our room is still a work in progress, its a big space and needs lots of furniture, so these are the only pics you get...for now :)

10,000 and beyond!

Wow!! I am in shock right now.

My blog just reached 10,000 pageviews! 

Woohoo!!

Here is a thanks to all of you for the wonderful comments. I really can't believe how many people are out there that like my work! 

And here is another thanks to all of my new followers!! You all are so awesome!

I went from 0 followers to 90 in 24 hours and I couldn't have done it without House of Smiths! 

Ok, I have had a few questions in my comments that I wanted to take a sec to answer.

1) What color did I use on the walls in my son's big boy room?

I used Dutch Boy Refresh brand and just matched it to the quilt. I like the refresh because its a low odor paint, which I needed being pregnant at the time :)

2) Where did I get my ironing board cover?

I answered this in a comment but thought others might be interested. I got it off of ebay. I searched and searched all over the internet for a damask ironing cover and the best deal I found was $20 shipped on ebay.

3) How did I make the edges/sides of the cabinets look finished?

For this I took my electric sander and just sanded all of the edges. It made a HUGE mess, but in the end it made all the difference. I then caulked any holes or uneven areas and sanded again. Once that all was done I just went over it with some white paint. Its not perfect and could probably use another coat of paint, but it works for now :) 

Alright that is enough for now.

Please stayed tuned for what is coming next...my Husband's favorite project so far!

the laundry room

My laundry room is probably my least favorite thing about my house. When I first saw it on our first walk through it was almost a deal breaker! Our house has a huge master bedroom and bath, both with wasted space and it was crazy to me that they put the laundry room in a closet. It sits at the very top of the stairs in straight view from the front door. 

After we moved in we started thinking about possibly remodeling and moving or expanding the laundry room. Both options required extensive work and really we weren't sure if it was worth it. So I started adding a few cute things here and there to make it a space that I would love. I can now say that I love my laundry room!

Before I show the before pic, I must warn you! It really was bad. I think I used half a bottle of bleach to clean this room! Ok here it is:

Gross I know!

And the after:

Originally I wanted to take the shelf and cupboard out and replace it with some nice new cabinets. That was really pricey so I just got some molding and my miter saw and went to work. 

 

This is a close up of the cabinet before. It is pretty much the cheapest thing you can find. To dress it up I bought some beadboard for another project and had Lowes cut the leftover piece to fit the cabinet doors. I then got some wood glue and stuck it straight to the surface of the door.

I couldn't for the life of me get these doors off the hinges so I had to work against gravity and glue these while they were still attached.  I used a clamp of each side and let it dry for 30 min.

Once both doors had beadboard I decided to add a trim around each door. I used leftover lattice wood from my bathroom redo found here.

Again I just glued and clamped each section for 30 min.

Once the trim was done, I caulked uneven spots and sanded the whole thing. Once that was done all it needed was a fresh coat of paint and some new knobs and it turned from this:

Into this:

For the shelf I just cut a piece of molding the exact size of the shelf and stuck it right in front. No glue or nails needed. 

On the shelf I have my favorite linen water spray that I used for ironing instead of starch. Its rose scented from L'Occitane.

On the dryer I have a tray with glass canisters holding dryer sheets and detergent. 

On the side wall I made an ironing board holder. I got the idea and vinyl from House of Smiths. Seriously best idea ever! If you haven't checked out their blog then you are missin out!!

The hooks on the opposite wall are used for hang drying clothes.

And here is everything put together.

Eric thinks I should paint the walls, but I'm not sure yet if I want to. The room is so small that I am scared of making it darker than it already is. He says a light gray would be good, but I'm not sure. So far I love it!

This post is linked up to Beneath My Heart's, and House of Hepworth's link party. Check it out :)

Big boy room

Alright here is the last of the "finished" rooms in my house. I have one more room that is almost done that will be my next post and I am so excited to share. But first is my son's big boy room.

Here are the before shots:

This was the only room in the house that the previous owner decorated and they went with a lovely fishing theme. The worst part was the molding. They painted the chair rail and the baseboards a puke brown...
it took 4 coats of paint to cover up!!

and the after:

I made the bedding for this room. I searched and searched for the perfect bedding for the perfect price but never had any luck. So I found this fabric and thought it was just right.

Here's a tip for any mom's out there struggling to keep their kids in bed at night. Tatum almost every night would come into our room and sleep in our bed. He would toss and turn and eventually one of us would give in and sleep in the other room. I finally said enough was enough and headed to Walmart to fix this problem. I bought some bed raisers to give his bed a little lift, then bought a foam mattress pad to make his bed more comfy and then got some more fluffy pillows.  I came home and put it all together and Tatum was so happy to have a big bed like mom and dad's. That night he was so excited that he went to bed an hour early and hasn't come in our room since!

The dresser Eric made in his high school wood shop class. I added some cute knobs from Hobby Lobby to make it easier for Tatum to open. Eric thinks they are a little clownish, but I beg to differ!

 

 The piggy bank is from Hobby Lobby and the car was given to Tatum by his Great Grandfather. I used leftover fabric to cover these star boxes and the glass jar keeps all of Tatum's "treasures" safe.

 On both sides of the window I put up pictures of Tatum growing up. I got cheap frames from the DI and painted them white and backed the pictures with brown paper to make a fake matting.

  Then I repainted these plaques from Tatum's nursery to match his new color scheme. 

and lastly I made a curtain out of left over fabric from his bedding to cover his window.

After all of the little changes I made I finally feel like it is the perfect big boy room for my perfect boy. 

main floor bath

Here is yet another before and after. Our main floor bathroom is right in the middle of the house. Its the room that all of our guests use and it needed some major attention. 

Alright here is the before:

Not to bad, no major problems in here except white white white everywhere! 

And now the after:

One day I just decided that this room would be my next project. I went to Lowe's and got all the paint and wood and got to work. I did it all in one day before my Husband got home from work and man was he impressed!

I used lattice wood for the board and batten. It super cheep and easy to work with. I just used a miter box saw to cut it and nailed it right to the wall.

Easy enough right??

This was my inspiration for the room. It was the exact color that I wanted for the walls.

I got this a few years back from Walmart of all places.  It has been the perfect piece for our guest bath and it matches our cherry wood floors really well.

The Nursery

I  love this room!

It is definitely my favorite room in the house. 

I think the reason why I love it so much is because I did every single thing in this room by myself! 

First of all here is a before shot of this room when we bought it. 

Plain white walls, scuff marks everywhere and lots of holes were in the wall.

The first step was to paint the walls. 

I painted the whole room with a semi gloss the color of sky blue.

Then I painted stripes in the same color but with a high gloss instead.

Before I started this room I found a picture from Pottery Barn that I used as my inspiration.

The tree was exactly what I wanted for my baby boy's room. 

So I got out my brushes and craft paints and went to town. 

 

After the walls were done it was time to add all the little details.

I made the curtains, pillows, and growth chart.

 I put up shelves to display a few keepsakes.

For the 4th of July all of the neighboring elementary schools made these firecrackers for the new moms in the hospital. 

This boy loves his room, almost as much as I do :]