I have to say . . . I love ‘friends’ . . . and the titles to all my posts (except Fridays) should prove this . . . I started doing that just a few months into blogging. I thought it would be a nice little ode to the show, it would set my blog apart, I wouldn’t have to think of clever titles every post, and it starts everything off with some humor hopefully.

But it’s not any easier to think of clever things. most of the time it comes out as ‘the one with the exact recipe title’ or ‘the one with jeans and a tshirt’  . . . that’s no fun. So this week I’ve tried to step it up a bit . . . I hope you’ve noticed . . . and yes there is wood in my dining room . . . mind out of the gutters.

 

this awesome picture (below) is how our ‘dining room’ started when we bought the house just 2 months ago (tomorrow is officially 2 months whoo hoo!) It is very open to the ‘living room’ . . . like it’s just the back corner. I just call the whole room the living area. After paint, putting what was the kitchen light fixture in here, and the new floors were put down the corner looked much better and brighter as you can see below, but being the traditional girl that I am and knowing that we would end up hosting a lot of dinners in our humble abode I wanted something to set this part of the room apart. Something that when you looked at it you would say ‘oh, and this is the formal dining room . . . corner . . .  where christmas happens’

insert batten/bead board to the rescue . . . except I didn’t feel like spending lots of money and gluing panels to the wall so we just used some basic wood pieces. It was actually pretty easy . . . we didn’t even use a nail gun. I simply measured out the wall to see where I wanted everything and how much we would need.

We decided on a half wall so 36″ up is where the rail started. We knew those pieces needed to be significantly bigger than the vertical pieces so we chose 1×4 oak boards in 10′ and 8′ since our walls were just a few inches shorter. For the vertical – lattice – boards they actually have boards called ‘lattice boards’ at Lowes which we thought gave it the perfect look. I’m not positive of the measurements but they are found with the other molding boards if you are looking for them.

When we got home we measured twice and cut the 1×4’s on our table with the blade at a 45 degree angle – then we sanded the angle – and painted everything white. Once it was fully dry we nailed it to the wall every 16″ or in other words onto every stud for security. don’t forge to use your level to make sure it’s straight 🙂

then we set up our lattice boards to see where we wanted them. We originally thought every 16″ – at every stud – but that looked too busy so we did every other. We nailed these into the wall once at the top and once at the bottom before painting.

Once everything was good and nailed in and secure, we used Valspar’s ultra white semi gloss paint and primer over the boards and the walls underneath. since we were putting white over poop brown it took a million coats. but once it was all done it was exactly what I wanted for this room . . . corner.

 

there is it an updated dining room . . . corner. next step is to refinish the top of that table I found at a garage sale. i.can’t.wait.

any other housing updates happening?

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 linking up a blossoming life  should be mopping the floor you’re gonna love it Tuesday time to sparkle the scoop jack of all trades wicked awesome Wednesday my girlish whims thursday favorite things pin it Thursday a handful of everything all things with purpose the pin it party the jenny evolution sincerely paula the pin junkie