Sunday, November 7, 2010

a decision and some board and batten

thanks for the input on my small counter top dilemma. 
while the difference in wood doesn't bother me i have decided
to do bead board. i think the 1x4 would have shortened
the wall once we got the open shelving up and the whole purpose of doing
this was to create a feeling of more space.  kinda like
someone with short legs wearing a large cuffed pant, it shortens an already
short leg. or something like that.

while going back and forth on this decision i couldn't just sit idle so here's what i worked on
over the weekend.


a faux board and batten treatment.
try not to be distracted by the mess in the foreground and background.
our focus here are the two walls on each side of the
room opening.

to the left, just out of the picture is our front door.
so when you walk in the house the sitting room is on your left and the dining
on your right. after we opened up all this space
if left a very non-distinct entry. i wanted to do something that
defined the space and give us a place to hang
stuff.


this did the job. using mdf we just cut it to size and
put it up with a bit of glue and a nail gun.

i put it on the short wall just to the right of the door which you cannot
really see, the wall behind the door and to the left after walking in, just past
the sitting room.


after the mdf was attached i caulked it, primed it, and painted it with
a semi gloss ultra white, same as the trim.

also, don't mind the little boys wandering around aimlessly
wondering what mom is doing now.



i added some hooks for our coats and bags
and they will never come down because. . .  putting screws
into mdf? kind of a mess. at least for me. but they are in there
good!




it's certainly not perfect but i'm pretty happy with it. the mdf
was cheap and i was able to get all my cuts out of one sheet.
the horizontal pieces are 3.5 inches and the verticle pieces are
1.5 inches.

after it was nailed to the wall i applied putty and sanded. i found the mdf to be pretty hard to sand.
as a result it is not as smooth as i would like and those flaws really
show with a semi-gloss paint. i may try to go back later with my palm sander
 and smooth out the imperfections and repaint. but for now this will
be just fine.

i will be doing the same treatment in our hall bathroom (and those cuts have already been made out of the same sheet purchased for the entry) so i'll have
another chance to work out the kinks.



also, i hung this guy. little by little we
are replacing all the brass light fixtures in the house.

we can't afford to buy the fixtures i really want from barn light electric
so, for the entry, i settled for an outdoor light from lowes.
it works just fine. and, i hung it myself. that was a first for me. :)

think i'll link up at cottage instincts!



8 comments:

  1. Looks great, you are one handy girl!

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  2. Yay! I'm gathering inspiration for doing this in my hallway, and I love the two horizontal boards making a square at the top!

    So glad you could Mi4M!

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  3. the board and batten look great! such a handy spot for hanging coats...and the light fixture looks great, too!

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  4. So cute! I love the pics with the boys hanging around!!! :)

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  5. The board and batten looks great and love your new light fixture...I'm getting all my brass fixture out too!!!

    Blessings,
    Linda

    Need some Christmas cash? Hop over and enter my gift card GIVEAWAY!

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  6. It's amazing what some mdf and hooks can do.

    So much character to that little space, now!

    It looks great. :)

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  7. This is just super! You did a fantastic job, and added tons of character to the space. Thanks for visiting House Revivals -- the book wreath tutorial should be up next week (as well as part two of the woven star tutorial).

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  8. I like your board and batten. I keep wanting to do something like this in my dining room. And your kitchen is looking good too!

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