It's Finally Finished! 

And we are so happy with the results.  It has added so much elegance to the room....and the new wall color is the crowning jewel.  WARNING, there are a lot of pictures!

I've put together a tutorial that I hope is somewhat easy to follow.  When building wainscot, we built the frames and installed it as one piece instead of adding each piece separately.  By doing it this way, the joints are much smoother and even.  

The first step was to measure all of the walls to determine how big each box would be.  We used 1x4 pre-primed wood for the frames. 

To join each piece, we used a pocket hole joiner to put the frame together.

After the frame is screwed together I got the palm sander and sanded the joints to make sure that everything was completely smooth.  

This is one frame that has been nailed to the wall after being built and sanded.  

Don't forget to use your leveler.

Picture of another wall with the framing up.

  As you can see, I had a problem with the original wall paint.  When we were ripping down the old chair rail the paint decided to peel off with it.  I was literally ripping the paint off in sheets.  Don't really know why this happened but I had to spackel and sand about 8" above where the original chair rail was.  This did not make me happy since I am not a fan of spackling.  

After the frame went up it was time for the new chair rail to be installed.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of this part. This is a two piece chair rail.  You can get a better idea of what it looks like in the next picture.  

After the chair rail went up, we installed the trim inside the boxes.  This adds some nice extra detail.  I've also started priming since I was starting to loose my patience at this point and wanted it to be done already.

After the inside trim was installed, the base moulding and quarter round or shoe moulding were installed.  

After is was all done being installed I got the caulk gun out and caulked away.  I painted it the same color to match all of the trim in our home, BM semi gloss white.  Tools we used for this project were miter saw, nail gun and compressor, leveler, pocket hole joiner and hand sander.  

So, what do you think?  Now all I need is for the furniture to come in and I can't wait for that!

Thanks for stopping by.

A Simply Classic Home

Met Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

Mrs. Hines Class

Is it Spring Yet?

Can you believe this gorgeous weather.  My thermometer hit almost 80 here in central New Jersey today.  Oh how I wanted to go out and play in my garden.  And yes, things are starting to sprout around here!

I think I'll go Pansy shopping tomorrow!

Have a nice day!

Blog Hop at It's So Very Cheri

In With The New.....

So what have I been doing........PAINTING!  The living and dining room...and I'm happy with my choice this time.  Don't tell my husband,  but I'm seriously tired of painting this room.  He doesn't seem to understand the reason why I have painted these rooms five times in 101/2 years.  My mom tells me that I'm not supposed to do that, why, I ask her.  They say it's not good for the walls.  But mom, "who is they"?.....  which she can not come up with an answer to.  Honestly, I'm really praying that this is the right color.......finally.  This is one of the reasons I enjoy blogging......everyone on here understands why I keep painting the rooms in my home!

The color I chose is BM Shaker Beige....a very nice neutral color which goes with everything. It actually looks like the color of burlap.  Let me know what you think!  It's a little darker than I wanted but looks gorgeous when the sun is shining in the room.  Actually, since the room does get minimal sunlight everything looks dark so I just need to accept that.

I know, you must be tired of this china closet by now but I wanted to show off the new wall color.  

       Walls with new color BM Shaker Beige.       Old color lighter and more yellow.

This is a better idea of what the new color looks like. Since there is much more wall space in the dining room I'm able to take better pictures.  No, the wainscot is not done yet.  Mike's been in India on business so he'll finish it up when he gets home.


So, where did I move the smaller hutch that was originally in the living room.....The Office!  Love it in this room but obviously the wall color needs to be changed.  The wood tone clashes with the walls.  Since I am going for a lighter look in my home these days, it's time to change the color anyway.

For obvious reasons I moved this piece into the office.  Couldn't really look at circa "1960's dorm room" any longer.  The office is the one room in the house that is still filled with furniture from here, there and everywhere.  I think that I'll look for a small farm table this summer to turn it into a nicer desk.  You can see the corner of the desk in the second picture....yes, "circa 1970's formica"....UGLY!

So, I think this is enough moving furniture around for awhile.  I can't wait for the big reveal of the dining room which should be within the next few weeks.  

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Where Did All the Dining Room Furniture Go?

A couple posts ago I gave you a preview on what is going on with my dining room.  Since we ordered new furniture I still had old furniture to deal with.  When I say old, I mean that the stuff is 70 years old. The reason why we wanted to replace it was mainly because the chairs were falling apart as was the table.  I also wanted a larger china closet.  The question was, what do with do with the old set.  We tried Craig's List and Ebay with no luck.  We finally decided to split the set up and low and behold, I was able to sell the table and chairs to someone that wanted a very old set.  We are keeping the sideboard and buffet but I still have this hutch to deal with.

What to do.  I liked the cabinet that was originally there, but thought it was too small and I wasn't thrilled with the scrolls on the top.  So I got my handy dandy floor sliders out and started to move furniture.  The minute I put the china closet in this space I just knew that it belonged.  It was a perfect marriage!

So, what do you think.  Did I make the right choice moving the china closet into the living room?

I started to add some of my favorite things but it still needs a lot of tweaking.  I'm thinking a couple of small wicker boxes might do the trick and I'm sure I'll change it around a dozen times before it's complete!

I now have only one dilema......what do I do with the first cabinet?  Wait until you see my next post on this room.  I painted it today and boy am I tired!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

I'll be linking up with:

A Simple Klassic Home

Met Monday

Table Top Tuesday

WOW Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Bunny Jean Bunny Hop