Sunday, March 27, 2011

{Wainscoting Adventures: Day Tres}

It continues, my lovelies!  I'm OK with it. We got a lot done today between eating 8-10 cookies a piece thanks to my momma, breaks to watch the big miserable KU game :-( and meeting with the deck guy! Holler!

Firstly, WE BOUGHT A SWEET NEW COMPUTER! Look what this chick will be blogging on. Yes, the MacBook Pro! I love it.
Our New Baby!  What a great computer! We wanted this one so bad & we got it! Apples are the bomb dot com.


Look at that dreamy keyboard.  It's like typing on a cloud...
Next, we talked to a builder today about a NEW deck.  As most maybe none of you know, Spring is the best time of the whole wide year to build a deck.  We wanted to do it last year, but never got around to it with the wedding and all that jazz. Our rinky-dink deck is seriously, no seriously, 10x12.  It's re-deck-u-lous (pun intended), people.  So friggin' small. We can barely fit our small table on it. L.A.M.E.  If you know us, then you know we love to entertain.  We love having people over and we love hanging out on our deck.  If the weather is nice and the Chiefs aren't on that's where we hang out.  In fact, in the summer Mr. Le Inspired Nest and I eat more dinners outside than inside.
It's only fitting that we need a larger deck.  Enter Larry Swain (our super-duper deck builder).  We are going from a 10x12 box to *drum-roll* AN 18X24 BEAUTY!  I wish I had before pictures. I guess I could go and take some.  To be honest, I'm pretty comfortable and it's snowing outside. And it's spring. And supposed to be about 65-70 degrees.  Sorry, folks, no deck pictures tonight.  Try measuring it out if you want to see how small it is. 

We decided to get iron spindles (my favorite touch), and a wide stairway (4 ft.) going out to our huge backyard (P.S. Why such a teeny tiny deck for such a HUGE back yard? I never can understand that...) Needless to say, I'm pret-ty excited about it. 

Next topic, wainscoting...Come on, people, give a sister a break.  I've been working.  Slowly but surely!  We didn't finish today like I had hoped.  But, hey, that's life!  It never goes as planned, and I can deal.  Hopefully Tuesday we'll be done.  I make no promises.  We are still progressing and here are some highlights.

Primed.  No molding up yet.  We still need to miter cut it.  See that green tape? Amazing!

The boxes by/under the window.  I think I did such a good job! YAY! Still painting the trim around the windows and doors.  And, yes, that is paint *gasp* on the floor.  It comes off of wood floors so easy. 

Taking the tape out from underneath the baseboards after painting!

Spackling IS FUN!
Spackling smooths out the rough edges and the corners that don't meet perfectly.  There were quite a few, but now it's like they always met perfectly!
I am so excited to see the final product! My mom came over today, fattened us up a bit with some delish chocolate chip cookies (going to get my ninth (? lost count) one now....) and she said she "loved it" and that it looked "perfect".  I love my mommy!

The two items that have helped me so much on this project: Frog tape and Liquid Nails.

1. Frog tape: The green tape in the pictures above.  Please! If you are doing any painting at all, USE. THIS. TAPE.  I will never go back to that blue tape.  It may be cheaper but what's a few dollars more when the paint bleeds underneath it.  I wish I could show you a paint line with the blue and then with the green tape.  Such a difference! GO GREEN, PEOPLE! You'll totally thank me later and I'll say "told ja"!

2. Liquid Nails: It's not literally liquid nails (that'd be weird), but seriously this stuff is AH-mazing.  I wanted to use a nail gun but my mom was basically like "Are you friggin' crazy, lady?" and was probably going around telling random strangers that I'd lost my marbles, or fallin' off my rocker or something of that nature.  It was almost like a "You'll shoot your eye out" moment from A Christmas Story.  She literally said to me " No, nail guns kill people."  Mom, nail guns don't kill people, people kill people.  Athankyou.  Long story short.  I ended up with Liquid Nails.  We have used it before on our mirror in the master bath.  I liked it then and I like it now.  One tube put up all of the boxes.  I bought two but know I will use it eventually.  It makes the wood stick...well...like nails. :)

The single most important advice for this project: MEASURE TWICE, CUT ONCE! Heed this advice and all *should* go well.  Measuring is so important if you plan to do this project! Send me a message if you are interested in doing it and I can give you numerous tips! Have a beautiful day, and thanks for tuning in!

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