Bathroom Redo Reveal

We are finished with our spare bathroom makeover! What a process this has been. I will preface this project by saying that things rarely go as easily as I dream them to and sometimes you just have to live with the finished project, even though the little OCD bird in my head is screaming to make it better.

The first task was to remove all the baseboards. This was not too difficult and I quite enjoyed ripping them out. I felt rather empowered. I tackled the shoe molding first. I hammered a screw driver between the shoe molding and baseboards to loosen it up. Then ripped it the rest of the way off with my hands. I used the same method between the baseboards and wall. I was careful not to damage the wall too much, but it didn't matter because the new board was much taller and you wouldn't see the damage anyway.

Then came the fun part of sanding the walls. If you remember from my last bathroom post, the walls were covered in horrible sponged-on spirals in various colors. I had to sand them all down as the sponged effect had left a bit of raised paint texture. After sanding them all I wiped down the walls to remove any dust and then vacuumed the floor really well. After a quick tape job, a coat of primer went up to cover those spirals. I only did one coat of primer.

Next we decided where we wanted the board and batten to be placed. The only difficult part about this step was trying to work with the existing light switches. We did not want to have to cut a hole in the middle of a board to accommodate the switch. We wanted to place the boards around them instead. We took measurements and decided how high up we wanted to take it. I wanted it to go higher then the normal chair railing height, about 52 inches, so it would make the small room seem taller. After marking the wall with a line as to where the top board would be placed, I started painting.

I only painted the top portion of the wall at this point. I decided to paint the bottom portion after we got the boards up on the wall. I taped off the shower and door frames and everything else was pretty straight forward. Knowing the boards we were using were about three inches wide I wasn't too worried about going too low with the paint as long as I stayed close to the line we had drawn for the placement of the top board. I did two coats to ensure even coating and that the spirals were all covered.

Then we ventured to our local Home Depot. We had gotten several gift cards over the holidays for Home Depot and it is also our home improvement store of choice. We looked around at our board options. We scoured the aisles looking for the right board and price combination. I stumbled upon some pre-primed boards that were close to the measurements we had used at home. These boards also happened to be on clearance. Sold! We gathered a few boards and took them to the self cut station. There we spent the next two hours or so cutting all the boards into the lengths we needed. 

Now, onto the most frustrating part of the project: getting the boards on the wall. We started off by placing the bottom horizontal board first. We slapped some glue on the back and put it in place. It stayed... perfect! Now onto the vertical boards. There would be three boards sitting atop of the previously placed horizontal board. We chose a board, slapped glue on it and put it in place. Then Christian got out his hammer and the nails we bought for the project. The nails would not go all the way through the board no matter what we did. We tried a few other places in the board, nothing. Then we got out the drill and tried some screws. We tried putting a screw in by itself and into pre-drilled holes. Nothing seemed to be working. To say the least, I was very frustrated. A few choice words may or may not have slipped from my mouth (they totally did!). We decided to just glue the boards up on that short wall between the shower and the door frame and see if they stayed there all night. So we put the three vertical boards and the top horizontal board up with glue only. Let us keep in mind, that if we had a nail gun, (like all the tutorials I read had) we probably would not have had this problem. Christian says they are too 'dangerous', I say blah blah! I've been watching HGTV and other home makeover shows since I was in high school! Surely that is enough experience around a nail gun to know how to properly and safely use one! Right!... right?... maybe not!

Anyway, rant over! The next morning we woke up and all the boards were still on the wall! YAY! So we did the other two walls in the same style. We had to make a few minor adjustments to some boards. Seems measuring is not the best skill in this household! A few more small cuts and some sanding and we were in business. There were a few gaps between the top of some of the vertical boards and the top horizontal board. I decided to fill them with caulk and wood putty the best I could. There really wasn't another option.

We let the glue dry for a few days. Then I caulked around all the edges and the gaps. I filled in the few holes in the board we had tried to nail and screw into the wall. I let that dry for a few days then sanded for smoothness. Then it was finally time to paint the bottom portion of the wall! I taped the shower and cabinet off and used Behr's Polar Bear in satin. I used a brush for the corners where the board met the wall and a small roller for the boards and the section of wall between the boards. I also went ahead and painted the door frame and the back of the door so all the whites in the room matched. I did two coats on the white.

And now, for the grand reveal...

               

 

            

 

I still need to put up a few accessories to give it some personality, but I am happy with the over all product!