Post 29: Half Bath Paneling and Molding

Last time, we showed you how we re-installed our can lights and air vent and then put up new drywall on the ceiling and where the furdown used to be.  

This time, we are talking about paneling and molding installation.

Phase 3: Paneling and Molding

Here's a reminder of the inspiration for this space.

I really wanted a farmhouse feel with clean, white lines.  To achieve this, we decided to install paneling on the walls and ceiling of the bathroom and paint everything white.  (Don't worry, we will add other colorful pieces to the room to avoid a "sterile" feel!)

Removing Baseboards

To install the paneling, first we needed to remove the baseboards so that we could hide the edges of the boards.  While Alan was on a Home Depot run, I decided to try to try my hand at removing them.  There were two pieces that made up the baseboard along each wall -- the baseboard itself and a piece of quarter round at the floor.  I started with the quarter round on all four walls and then went back to remove the baseboards.

I used the crowbar and the hammer to pry each piece away from the wall and worked slowly so I wouldn't mess up the molding.  This took me about 30 minutes and I got to surprise Alan when he got home with one less step of the project to go!

Installing Paneling

I found sheets of paneling at Home Depot for about $18 a sheet.  We needed about 5 for the whole room, so we bought those and corner molding for the ceiling and walls.

We started with the ceiling this time since that seemed to be the hardest section in the drywall phase.  The paneling needed to be cut in one piece, so that didn't leave us much room for error.  We needed to get everything pretty snug along the sides and cut the light and vent holes close enough that all of the edges would be covered up.  My parents had a really good idea to use posterboard and make a template of the ceiling.  We bought a pack of 10 posters from Walmart and they worked great!

We used painters tape and then duct tape (so it would stay together better) to cover the ceiling with posters, cutting out holes for the lights and the air vent with a razor blade as we went.  Once the ceiling was covered and we felt we had a good template, we took the giant posterboard down and used it as a stencil on the paneling.

I marked out where we needed to cut the paneling and then we cut out the ceiling piece with a jigsaw. 

Once we had cut out the holes in the paneling, we were ready to install it on the ceiling. 

Warning/tip: working with giant sheets of paneling/drywall/wood/whatever in a small space can be really frustrating!  It can be difficult to maneuver everything to get it in the right place when there isn't much wiggle room, and sometimes, things get stuck or wedged and they are really hard to get back out.  Alan and I have done a few projects together now, so we knew that holding things above our heads can be really tiring already, so adding in the tight squeeze, we knew we had a mess coming our way!  We decided before we took the paneling into the house that it was us against the board.  Any other way, and we both lose!  It was still frustrating, and we pinched a few fingers in the process, but I'm really glad that we decided to laugh together when the situation started to seem impossible!

We ended up cutting the piece a little too long and we couldn't get it up to the ceiling at first, but that was definitely better than cutting it too small and having to buy a new piece of paneling!  

For the ceiling, we tried nailing the paneling to the drywall, but it started to fall down.  We had to find the studs and nail it in along those for added security.  

The panel was actually just a few inches too narrow to cover our ceiling (the sheets only come four feet wide), so we cut another strip from an extra piece to fill in the remaining gap.  This was the key when we had to piece the paneling together.  We cut it along a groove so that it would look more seamless once two pieces were butt up next to each other.

Once the ceiling was done, we measured each of the walls and pieced the paneling together to cover the room (remembering to cut along the grooves when we pieced the paneling together).  Generally, Alan nailed the paneling to the walls along the far edges of each piece so that most of the holes would be covered by molding.  

Where there were outlets in the walls, we measured where to cut the hole in the paneling and drew it like a stencil before cutting the piece.  We just made sure the holes were small enough that the outlet covers would conceal the edges.

When there was plumbing, we put the paneling on in multiple pieces around the plumbing, cutting along the groove of the paneling to make it easier to fit together and hide the seams.  (This picture is blurry, but you can see the seams around the plumbing.  We just used caulk later on to hide the gaps.)

Installing Molding

I already loved the way the paneling looked.  It was so much brighter than the wallpaper!  The edges didn't come together perfectly, though, so it was time to cover the seams with molding.  

We bought scotia molding (basically, concave quarter round) to cover up the corners of the room.

We started with the ceiling, cutting the molding at 45-50 degree angles depending on each corner and nailing each piece up against the ceiling.

Note: I've seen a lot of beadboard/paneling ceilings done with much wider molding around the edges than what we did (see the House of Smith's tutorial link below).

I think that would have been much easier because then we could have cut the paneling for the ceiling smaller and had a lot more wiggle room.  The problem that we ran into was that our vent was too close to the edge of the wall (see picture below) and we didn't have a wide enough space for very much molding.  We chose to use the quarter inch molding instead for this reason.

Unfortunately, with how close the vent cover was to the edge of the room, even the molding we chose wouldn't quite fit around the vent cover.  We had to get a little creative with how we cut the piece that went along this edge.  Here are the steps we took to cut the molding to fit around the vent cover:

1. Take measurements.  We measured where on the molding the vent was (left to right) and then how far from the vent sat on the ceiling.  We made a mark on the molding to show where we needed to cut (left to right).
2. Mark.  We turned the molding over and measured from the 90-degree corner and made a mark (using the measurement of how far the vent was from the corner of the ceiling).
3. Cut.  Using a jigsaw, we cut out the part of the molding that would make room for the vent cover.

Voila!  No more issues.

Next, we reinstalled the baseboards.  Since the paneling added an extra width to the walls, we had to cut down some of the baseboards about a quarter of an inch to fit within the room.  We nailed the main pieces first and then went back and added the quarter round.

Finally, we cut molding to run vertically in each corner and nailed each piece into place.

So that's the room just about ready for paint!  Remember where we started?

Stop by later to see us put on the finishing touches!

Post 28: Half Bath Re-routing and Re-installing

In our last post, we showed you how we tore down the furdown in our half bath.  

This time, we are talking about how we started to put everything back together -- "Phase 2."  I must warn you, this isn't a "pretty" post, but we do end up with four complete walls and a ceiling!

Phase 2: Re-routing and Re-installing

Re-routing Wires and Installing Can Lights

If you remember, when we took down our furdown, we realized that there were wires that were previously hidden by the furdown box.  

Now that the box was gone, we weren't sure if we could make holes in the studs without compromising the structural integrity of the room, so we called an electrician to make sure we were doing the job right.  He offered to re-route the wires and install upgraded can lights for a decent price, so we took him up on it.  Only thing was, we had to take down the ceiling to knock a few hours off of his price.  Alan agreed and brought down the ceiling in about 30 minutes!

This part of the project was done entirely by our electrician, but we paid close attention to see what we could do ourselves in the future.

To re-route the wires, he notched out a small section of the studs in the corner to fit the wires in, then he hammered in metal plates to cover up the holes in the wood and hide the wires.  (We are pretty certain we could do this part.)

Instead of re-installing our can lights, the electrician installed lower-heat LED bulbs that he said would last longer and take up less space in the ceiling.  Basically, he hooked up the new lights to the old wiring and screwed them in to the studs by their metal bars.  He placed the two lights caddy-corner across the room from each other so that the whole room was lit up.  (We probably could have done this ourselves since we were essentially just moving the lights that we had, but if we ever want to add recessed lighting to a room that doesn't already have it, we will definitely hire him out again.)

Mounting the Air Vent

Before putting the walls back up, we needed to re-mount the air vent in the ceiling.  Before, it came down through the furdown, so we just moved it directly up into the ceiling and faced it down instead of out.  Alan used a few nails to hold it into place and we were good to go!

Installing Drywall

I thought this part was really fun.  (Okay, I don't want to do it every weekend, but it was a pretty cool part of the project.)

We bought drywall and measured the ceiling and walls where we needed to put it up.  Then we measured where we would need to cut holes to leave openings for the lights and the air vent.  I made a drawing to reference to make this a little bit easier.

We marked this out on the drywall and used a jigsaw to cut the pieces.  Smooth. As. Butter.  I loved it.  We made sure to wear goggles and masks (that stuff sends powder everywhere).  

After we cut the pieces, we used drywall screws to secure each piece to the studs.  This really helped us see how much bigger the room looked without the furdown and made us feel like we were making progress.

One problem we ran into during this stage was that the holes for the can lights didn't line up exactly.  Even with all of our measurements, it was really easy to cut the holes a little bit off.  We were able to move the lights on the metal tracks and use the jigsaw to open up the holes a little bit, but we were going to have to figure out a way to fix this when we cut the paneling.  More on that later!

We taped and floated the seams of the drywall and then we were ready to install the paneling.

So again, we haven't gotten to a gorgeous room... yet!  Next time, though, we'll show you how we installed the molding and paneling and the room starts to come together!

Post 27: Half Bath Demolition

Thanks for stopping by!  Last time, we talked about re-doing our dining room table.  Today, we are showing you a room in our house that is desperate for a face lift -- our half bath.  

Our half bath was one of those areas where we knew we needed a change, but we weren't quite sure what it was.  The room was a little dark and dated, so we decided the best direction to go was bright and new!

To pick apart the room a little bit, here is our list of things we weren't crazy about:

• Dark wallpaper
• No mirror over the sink
• Dim lighting focused on one side of the room
• Furdown over the sink
• Lack of storage

Way back when we were working on our dining room and removing wallpaper like we were wallpaper ninjas, we thought we could just mosey on over to the half bath and peel off that paper in nothing flat.

WRONG.

The wallpaper in the bathroom came off in strips about an inch wide and not much longer.  That was when we could even peel it away from the wall at all.  Yikes!  (The pictures below are after working for several HOURS!!)

We needed a plan B.

I really like the way farmhouse bathrooms look with white shiplap or paneling covering the walls, so I thought that would be a great solution to cover up our stubborn wallpaper. 

Before we started putting up paneling, we needed to remove our furdown and adjust our can lights on the ceiling to brighten more of the room.  This was our first real "demolition" experience in our house, so we put it off for a while... for over a year!  But one day, Alan got really brave and decided that worst-case scenario, we could call in a professional to fix any damage we did, so we got to work.

Like our dining room, this was a long project, so I broke it out into phases.

Phase 1: Demolition -- Removing the Furdown

Before I explain phase one, let me answer the question, "What is a furdown?"  I googled the definition with very little luck, so here's the Sulak definition.

Furdown: noun /fər-doun/: a section of the ceiling that is dropped lower than the rest of the ceiling, typically to house duct work or fill the gap between the ceiling and cabinetry; similar to soffit.

Our furdown held two canned lights and an air vent, so all three of these things would have to be moved into the wall/ceiling after the furdown was removed.  We weren't sure how all of these were mounted, so we had to figure it out as we went.

We started by removing the vent cover and canned light covers so that we could unhook the cans from the ceiling.

Next, we removed the drywall from the frame of the furdown.  

Once we did this, we could see that the air vent was nailed to the framework of the furdown and the can lights were screwed in and hung by metal bars on the frame.

Alan disconnected these from the frame and took the lights out completely so that he could remove the wooden frame more easily.  

This is when we thought a sawzall/reciprocating saw would come in handy, but we didn't want to spend the money and the project wasn't huge, so we used a hammer and a crowbar to pull down the wooden frame of the furdown.  (A few times, we used a jigsaw to divide the boards and remove smaller pieces at a time.  A sawzall is pretty much made for this, so we may invest in one if we take out more furdowns in the future.)

Once the furdown was out, we realized that there were some wires that would need to be re-routed before we put the drywall up.  (Basically, there were wires that were hidden in the furdown, but since that is no longer there, they didn't have a place to hide.)  

We weren't sure if we could make holes in the studs without compromising the structural integrity of the room (or starting a fire), so we called an electrician to make sure we were doing the job right.  He was a ton of help and we learned a lot for future projects. 

Drop by later to see what we found out and see how we start to put the room back together.