DIY Update

Welcome back! I have not posted anything since the board & batten wall, but I have been busy!

For starters, we finally decided to tackle repainting our living room. We live in an open floor plan home. The dining area, kitchen, and living room are all open. And on top of that, we have a two story living room and foyer so the walls are MASSIVE. We can't paint the big walls by ourselves and we are too cheap to hire painters (or we have been too cheap up to this point). When we moved in, everything was white. Or off-white. It's not a crisp white. Ugh. So three or four years ago, we painted one long wall a tan color because I thought I loved warm Earth tones for my house. My husband We picked Sherwin Williams Bagel. And it was not good. I don't want to say terrible, because we certainly could've done worse. But it wasn't what we were hoping for. In some lights, it was fine, but in others, it looked like a Florida Summer home with peach undertones. AH!

I think I see a recurring theme that as first time homeowners, we weren't very good at picking out paint colors...

Anyway, I think we tried to adjust to this paint color instead of just realizing it was not what we wanted and starting over. So it's been that color ever since. And very recently, I realized that gray and white and light and bright and airy is my jam! So after painting the master bedroom Behr Dark Pewter and totally LOVING it, we really wanted rid of that Bagel. And we did it! It was so hard to pick a gray. The first two samples we brought home were so similar, you could hardly tell a difference and we didn't love either one. So we went back for two more and finally picked Glidden Pebble Gray. But we had it mixed in Behr Premium Plus Ultra because it's amazing and we are never going to use another kind of paint! We started painting last weekend, but then I caught a cold from Charli and was down for the count. We painted a little more this past weekend, but have one big wall to go so I will post some before and after pics when we wrap that up this week/weekend.

In other news, I repaired two toilets. All by myself! A while ago, I noticed our toilet kept making a gurgling sound and would take forever to stop running. I consulted with my dad and he said it was probably the refill valve. He bought a replacement, but we didn't have time to repair it that day. Then I got my water bill. And it was HIGH! I decided to try it myself and see how it went. Worse case scenario: Steven and I would be using the half bath when we needed to go. Turns out, it was super simple and took no time!! The key was really just following directions very carefully.

Next thing I know, I'm upstairs and notice THIS toilet making gurgling sounds and seeming to run for a long time. When I lifted the tank lid, it was just slowly trickling water down the over-flow pipe....That is totally efficient. :-| So we got another refill valve kit and I replaced that one this weekend. It's a super easy fix and I really hope to see a big difference in my water bill this month!

And lastly, I learned that not all faucet replacements are equal. I started my faucet replacements with mine, that way if I messed it up, Steven's sink was still in working order until my dad could come down and straighten out my mess. But other than a cross-threaded nut from the previous faucet, it went perfectly! That cross-threaded nut really took it out of me though so I waited a few days before doing Steven's sink. When I felt refreshed, I tackled it with enthusiasm! Thinking, this will be easy-peasy and I'll be done in no time. But it leaked! And no matter how much I tightened everything, it kept leaking! So following advice from my dad, I applied some extra silicone to the rubber ring under the sink around the drain pipe. 30 minutes late, we were leak free!! But I'll tell ya....I am not jumping up to replace any more faucets any time soon.

That's it for this update...stay patient with me as we start the first week of school with students and we are dog tired. We will eventually finish painting our main living area and I will post some pictures. :) Come back soon!

~Kasey

How To: Board & Batten Wall!

Welcome back! I am seriously so excited about this project. I consulted my dad from a distance, but I did this one MOSTLY BY MYSELF! I have always loved the look of board & batten so once we re-purposed the clock from our master bathroom, I had a blank wall and the perfect space to do it!

Here is my before picture:

 

 Please don't judge my bad application of frosted glass film. It was my first time ever doing it and besides, I warned you I'm not a perfectionist!

Supplies you will need:

• Lattice strips (can also use 1x2 boards, but I didn't want my battens to stick out far from the wall since it's over the bathtub)
• 1x3x8 board (This is the top ledge. You could definitely use something fancier/larger/smaller depending on your budget or your style.)
• Liquid Nails
• Wood screws
• Drill
• Staple gun
• Studfinder
• Rulers/Measuring tape
• Level
• Some type of cutting tool. I used a miter box with a handsaw, but there are tons of options for this. (You also could have the wood pieces cut at the hardware store if you are prepared and know all of your measurements. I was not. And later, I was thankful I didn't have all my lattice pieces cut to the same size!)
• Painters tape or something else to temporarily hold the lattice in place while you decide what looks best to you.
• Sandpaper
• Caulk
• Spackle
• Paint

It seems like a lot of supplies, but I only had to purchase the lattice strips, the 1x3 board, and the liquid nails. I had the rest of the supplies already so I completed this project for about $30 including the white paint.

Step 1. Measure the length for your top board.

I was only doing a small section over the bath tub, so I started by measuring the length of this area and cutting my 1x3 to fit snugly, but still have room for expansion. If you are doing a longer space and need more than one 1x3, make sure you leave a small gap between boards. If you butt them together tightly, they will buckle eventually!

Step 2. Locate studs. 

I am using the top board as a new towel holder so I wanted it in studs to make sure it could withstand the weight of towel hooks and wet towels or robes.

Step 3. Determine how high you want your top board. 

This seems to be personal preference to everyone. I have seen some board & batten walls with really high top boards, and some that weren't so high. I just had an idea in my head of about where I wanted it so I held the board up, made sure it was level, and screwed it into the studs.

Step 4. Determine the location for each batten.

This was the most time consuming part for me. I really wanted my battens in the studs as well so I could just use my staple gun to attach them to the wall and call it a day. However, I am learning in all my projects, that studs are rarely where you want them to be. Ours seemed to be spaced awkwardly so if I put my battens in the studs, they would be closer to the window than the shower. I am extremely OCD about being centered and square so this bothered me. I ended up dividing out my total length of area by 4 (because I was using 3 battens and wanted 4 equal spaces between shower and window) and marking those spaces evenly. Then I marked the center of each lattice strip width wise and lined that center mark with the marks on the wall. After lining the pieces up, make sure they are level vertically, and attach them to the wall with painter's tape. This allows you to step back and make sure you love the way it looks before you commit to anything permanently.

As you can tell in the picture, the battens were not evenly spaced. I took this picture when I had the battens lined up with the studs, which obviously would've driven me crazy had I left it this way.

Step 5. Attach the battens.

Since I couldn't just attach them to the studs, I ended up using interior Liquid Nails. You simply use a caulk gun to apply a thin line of glue to the back of the batten. The glue does not set right away so once you apply it to the wall, you have a little bit of wiggle room to make sure you are lined up correctly and level. To hold the battens in place until the glue set, I put about 4 staples into each one. I pressed my battens firmly to the wall and used a damp paper towel to wipe up any glue that squeezed out from the edges.

Step 6. Caulk and spackle.

I caulked all the seams where the boards joined the wall and each other. I did not caulk the top seam of the top board because it will not be visible to anyone at its height, but if you are doing a lower wall, you will need to caulk there, as well. Caulking all the seams makes it look like a uniform piece and a lot more professional. Spackle over all the screws and staples to ensure a smooth finish.

I forgot to take a picture of this step. Sorry!

Step 7. Sand.

Sand your boards nice and smooth and sand any spackling smooth.

Step 8. Paint!

I used Behr Premium Plus paint + primer in one in Ultra Pure White so I did not prime my boards before painting, but that is an option if you would like to do so. Hubby did 3 coats of paint for me. He's the best! :)

One coat of paint down, it took a total of FOUR coats! Stupid, shiny, blue paint. It has got. to. go.

Step 9. Step back and enjoy your handiwork!

I just love the new wall. I really like the way it looks and the way it updates the bathroom!

And see, I covered up my bad frosted film with a roman bamboo shade so you can't even see it. From the inside. :)

So thanks for stopping by! Come back soon because we are not done with the master bathroom yet! Yesterday I learned how to change out a faucet. It nearly whooped me, but I conquered it. One more faucet, changing out the light fixture, and covering up the blue paint are all that's left! :)

~Kasey

ps. pin this post on pinterest so you can find it later!