My computer came back to life this afternoon!  It was dead for the last 3 days. I was getting so frustrated working on my husband’s computer that I went over to mine, waved my arms over it and said -  Abracadabra and wished it would go on as I pressed the “on” button. IT WORKED!!!   I have no idea why it would not turn on the past 3 days, but am so happy to have it up and running again. The past 3 days I have been so out of sorts – like I lost my child.    Dell is still going to replace a few things  to make sure it doesn’t happen again, but this blogger is one happy girl right now!

Anyway, I can access my photos and wanted to update you on what I have been up to besides going to the beach and staying in the AC’d house because of the brutal temps we had here on the east coast over the weekend.  It was way too hot to do much of anything.  It is much better today – lots of rain which we need badly.

I have made a lot of progress on the bathroom I am re-doing.  Now I just have to paint and add the fun stuff – window treatment, shower curtain, rugs, and accessories.  I will post about each of them in upcoming posts.   Here is the before photo of the bathroom in case you forgot (I know it has been awhile).

Before

How To Install Board and Batten to Walls

Supplies Needed:

I removed the bottom trim from the window so the boards would look better against the window. It was an extra step, but I feel it was worth it. It now has a much cleaner look.  I also removed the existing wimpy baseboards as I wanted beefier looking ones. I used 5 1/2″ Mdf boards as my new baseboards.

I painted the top section of the wall first, this makes it much easier than to have to tape everything off once the Board and Batten is up.

I measured and cut all the boards before I attached them to the walls. All of the vertical boards were cut to the same length except for the ones that were under the window, one above the toilet, and two by counter.  The vertical boards are 3 1/2″ wide primed Mdf.  The horizontal ones are 5 1/2″ wide Mdf.

To space the boards evenly around the wall, I used a 12″ ruler as my spacer. Most of the cuts were straight across, I did have to make a few angled cuts on the baseboard and top boards in the corners.

Once I was sure everything was cut correctly, I used Liquid Nails to attach the boards to the wall.  I used a bubble level to make sure I was attaching them straight and even.

Had a few obstacles to work around – the toilet tank and the AC vent.

Looks lovely, doesn’t it?  It will soon.

I was lucky that my 12″ spacing worked perfectly on this wall – no obstacles.

How I Made a Small Window Look Bigger

This is the window before – pretty small.  I wanted to give it more impact so I added molding to the top.

I cut a piece of very smooth plywood the width of the window x the height between the window and the ceiling.  It is the same thickness as the existing window trim.   I used Liquid Nails to attach it to the wall.

I also did this between my family room and kitchen to break up a long wall they share. You can read about that in this post – In A Weekend 123…

I added crown molding to the top of the plywood and a piece of screen molding to hide the joint between the board and the existing window trim.  I needed my friend Karen’s Miter saw to cut the Crown molding. As always – Thanks Karen for supplying me with the cool tools I don’t own.

Now it just needs to be painted.  You can easily see this window when you are standing in my foyer. It will now have more impact and look foyer worthy.

After

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Tagged as: Board and Batten, Decorating with wood molding, DIY Decorating Ideas, DIy Home Improvement projects, Mdf boards, Miter Saw