Let's have a quick reminder of what my living room started out like..
Progress is well under way here on the living room project! Oh how I
love a good project! Here's what has happened so far.
I've brought the paint up and over the dividing
wall and painted to where the trim will meet.
All of my supplies I got at Lowe's. I was really debating what to do with the baseboards, I wanted to beef them up but wondered how I would do that. I didn't really like the idea of ripping all my existing baseboards out and starting over.. too much work. So after much deliberation and lots of research, I decided on a really simple 4" baseboard like this one:
I flipped it upside down so the top would be meet up better with the existing baseboard.
And I love it!
It adds just the right amount of height that I was looking for and really brings weight to the entire project.
I measured the distance from the base to where I wanted the top of the trim, drew a level line measuring every foot or so, and then glued and nailed a plain 4" board all along the wall.
The reason I used nails and glue, is because I knew much of this trim project would not be anchored to studs, and the glue gives it extra reinforcement. I glue I used was Titebond wood glue click HERE.
It worked great!
Once the base and the top were done, it was time to move onto the fun part!
For the trim I used an 8X5 ft sheet of 1/2" MDF and had the guy at Lowe's cut it into 3" strips for me. I thought my miter saw was cool..this guy's saw is the ultimate!!!
I measured every 24" and drew a vertical line where the center of each board would go. Then, I used the same wood glue and fixed it secure with nails. Once the vertical boards were up, I began cutting my horizontal boards and added them about 22" from (the bottom of) the top trim piece. Does that make sense? I just eyeballed it to decide how big I wanted my panels to look and decided 22" was my personal preference.
I capped the top trim off with a little piece of 2" to give it a nice finished look.
The same stuff that I used on my stairway wall in this picture below.
Just look how great it is looking!!!
At this point I think I was beginning to drool from the mouth...
On to nail holes.
I found the best EVER spackle and wish I had known about this stuff when I started my other projects! Dry Dex, where have you been all my life? There are some seriously bad spackling products out there, but this is a dream!
I love how it goes on pink and so smooth, then turns white when it dries. Once it dried, I gave it a good sanding and started the painting process.
Oh my heart is a'flutterin! Check back to see the finished product!
