Living Room Next steps + Shiplap Tips and Tricks

First some quick housekeeping -  If you haven't noticed, I've been slowly making some changes over here in preparation for a really exciting project I'm going to join this fall (I promise I will tell you all about it soon) and the biggest change was that I've decided to brand this little project of mine with a name - so I am happy to officially introduce you to Hilltown House!  I've got some more changes planned to the look of the page (and am very lucky to have in-house support to help make that happen - thanks husband) so look out for those too.  I've also started to post a lot of progress pics on Instagram (and I am waaaayyyy too into InstaStories) so check me out there to @LindseyJoyDIY

  In the words of my girl Liz Lemon "THINGS ARE HAPPENING!"

Ok, now that that's taken care of, let me introduce you to Living Room v1.5.  For Xmas, my husband gave me 3 weekends to use at my discretion where he would take the boys somewhere far away and I could spend my time tackling some of the bigger projects in the house.  Last weekend I decided to cash one in and spend it on some of the Living Room Checklist items - the Shiplap Wall, the console table, and the picture ledges.  So as soon as 5pm hit on Friday afternoon I got started!

I know I've been promising a ShipLap break down for a while - so here it is!  There are a hundred blogs out there with ways to do this (and there is always the options of going for actual shiplap or reclaimed wood which are of course AMAZING) so I'm going to share with you the tips and tricks that I've learned after doing 3 of these.

First - I use 1/4" plywood use for floor under-layment that I get from Home Depot for about $12 for a 4x8 sheet.  I have them rip it down into 12" strips and then I use my table saw to rip those into 6" strips.  Use a sanding block to get rid of any rough edges or splinters.

Use a stud finder and mark out where your studs are on the wall as that is where you will primarily attach your boards.  It is a very good idea to KNOW WHAT'S BEHIND YOUR WALLS especially if you are thinking of installing in a bathroom or anywhere that has plumbing.  You don't want to end up putting a pinhole into a pipe and starting a slow leak!

Next - it's time to start attaching the boards to the wall. In this case, I started from the bottom for reasons I'll get to - but if you can I would recommend starting from the top left corner and install much like you would floor boards - stagger the size of the starting piece so you have a very random feel to the layout. 

I use my Ryobi Brad nailer and alternate between 1 1/4" nails (to attach directly into the studs) and 5/8" nails (for the ends of boards and anywhere that pops out).  To keep the space between the boards - I just use pennies.  As I go along I find that I don't need to use them for every row, but they help keep everything even, especially if you're doing this solo.

For any outlets, make sure that you use an Outlet Extender box (you can find in the electrical section of the hardware store - they usually come in two packs).  You will need to pull the outlet out from the wall (make sure you turn off the power) and slide through the box.  The top and bottom of the box should rest on top of the plywood - I use a jigsaw to make my cut and you'll see above where I cut the top a little short so I inserted a small strip of plywood behind the blue box to even it out.  Then you can re-attached the outlet with the longer strips provided.  This whole process will allow your outlet to sit flush with the shiplap wall.

Remember that reason that I started from the bottom of this wall?  Well here it is - way back when we installed the new floors, we ran the speaker cords for our surround sound system underneath the boards in hope of one day re-connecting them.  I was originally going to furr out this wall using 1x2s, but since the cord was really thin I decided to see if I could just run behind the boards.  I stapled it to the wall to keep as flat as I could and besides an extremely slight bump in some of the pieces, it's really un-noticeable.  And I'm so relieved to report that the speakers are working just fine!  SUCCESS

Once you get all of your boards up - it's Primer time!  In some tutorials they will prepaint their strips before they install - but after some trial and error I've found it much easier to prime and paint once they're up on the wall unless you have a flat, dust-free place to paint (i.e. not a garage or basement floor).  The primer doesn't have to be perfect, but you do want to get good coverage to make the painting go a lot easier.  After that, I use three coats of Sherwin Williams Pro-Classic in Extra White, Semi-Gloss finish (which is the same paint I use for our trim).  I am actually really digging different color ship-lap these days (especially black!) and considered doing a different color, but the white ties in really nicely to the fireplace.  I've seen tutorials where they use wood filler to make a really clean look - which I also really like the look of - but after getting mine up the wall I was really happy with the rustic look of slightly un-even boards and the nail holes so I purposely left them - but if you want something cleaner then go for it.

Next on the agenda - the console table!  I wanted to build a console table that ran the entire length of the couch and also included storage and a place to plug in my laptop.  I looked through a few ideas but ended up coming up with my own design, and the best part is that I used mostly scrap from my garage to build it!

I used a combination of leftover 2x6s and 2x4s to build some simple frames that would hold the top, but since they would be hidden behind the couch they could look totally wacked.

I also used some scrap playwood and built two boxes that would fit in between the frames and serve as storage and a place to hold an power cord.

On the two ends I built some small bookshelves to add some more interest and also give the kids more space to play with their toys.  I also ended up drilling holes to accommodate the electrical cords.

Once I had all the frames cut, I layed them out in the space and then cut 1x12s for the top and for the two flaps that would open to the storage boxes.  I stained them in my favorite Briarsmoke Varathane to match the coffee table and used my nail gun to attach.  I used some black gate hardware that also matches the coffee table and gives it a little bit of interest.

I still want to add some type of planter and track down some cute coasters - but I'm really happy with how this turned out.  It's already been so nice to have a place to put drinks and not have to worry about the kids or the dog knocking it over.  The lamps are from CB2 and add a nice dose of modern simplicity to the room.  They have a floor lamp version that I'm debating getting, but I have a weird aversion to floor lamps that I'm not sure I can get over.

The last project I tackled was adding some picture ledges to the sides of the fireplace.  Last summer I tacked the fireplace and the built-ins, and as much as I love how it came out, it always felt like something was missing.  After playing around with a few options, I decided that some wood picture ledges would be perfect.

You can buy versions of these in a lot of stores, but they are so easy to make I urge you to try them!  Here is a simple tutorial from Shanty 2 Chic to check out - make them any size or color you want and you'll feel like a rockstar (mine are 4 ft long and I used Early American by Varathane on them to add some warmth to this wall).  I'm not done filling these babies up but I will share when I'm done along with my tips for styling picture ledges.

By the time the boys got home the room was looking much different.  Since the last time I checked in there have been a few more additions besides the new couch from Interior Define.

The new rug is from West Elm and I am obsessed with it.  It's a nice flat-weave wool with a lot of texture and I just love the interest it adds.  They have it in a lot of different colors and sizes and I could buy one of each and feel perfectly happy with that decision.

I also finally started to stock up on pillows for the couch, and tried to grab some pics but someone was not feeling moving out of the way, and I was ready to be done.  The solid gray ones and the macrame are all outdoor pillows from World Market, and the blue striped and multi-colored ones I picked up at HomeGoods to tie in the colors from the kitchen.  Right now it's pretty neutral in here, so now we need to add some fun and some color!

And just like that - the weekend was over.  It was A LOT of hard word and I basically went straight through Saturday without stopping, but it was all so much worth it.  And getting pictures like the one below of the boys having an amazing time with their dad made it so much easier to keep going

Someone asked me on FB what's next - and my reply was "the other side of the room" LOL  So this weekend we will start making the steps to install the new media center, and I still need to finish off a few touch-ups, but we are so extremely close to this room being completely done it's crazy!  Here's an update of what we still have left to do for those of you playing along at home:

1.  New Couch and Pillows
2.  Build new Coffee Table 
3.  Add Shiplap Wall behind couch / hide speaker wires
4.  Build Blanket ladder (I'll share this next time)
5.  Build console table behind couch / hide cords / new lamps w/smart bulbs
6.  New rug from West Elm
7. Window Trim
8. Hang TV and hide wires
9. Build new media center
10. Add floating shelves around fireplace
11. Add art, accessories and plants

Mudroom Final Reveal - one year in the making!

I'm not kidding....this is the smallest room in the house and I've been working on it FOREVER!  I'm honestly not even sure exactly why, but the wait is over and now I can finally check it off the good old list and share some pics.  The room is very hard to shoot because it doesn't get any light and is very small, but I wanted to post the final product because it took a lot of hard work.

The mudroom is the primary entrance/exit for us so and needed to house mine and Eaphis' coats and all of our shoes.  We do have a coat closet between the mudroom and the kitchen, but I turned it into a game/toy closet instead and added some hooks so the boys can hang their coats and easily access them.  The walls I painted in Sherwin Williams Aloof Gray, which is one shade darker than the rest of the main floor, because I wanted something that would hide dirt and scuffs a little bit more.

These hooks are one of my absolutely favorite things in the house!  They are shaped like Bees and were designed from two of my absolutely favorite bloggers/designers from Young House Love.  I bought them from Target before we even moved and hoarded them until I figured out where I wanted to use them.  To line the walls I used floor to ceiling beadboard;  unlike the bathrooms, this kind is made out of MDF so it's a little bit thicker.

Under the coat hangers, I built a simple farmhouse bench based on these plans from Shanty 2 Chic and painted it in white chalk paint.  The baskets below are from Micheals (I got them at the end of the summer for 80% off - so they cost me 15$ total!!!!  The stripes were originally magenta, but I took a few hours in front of the TV and painted over them...well worth it to save so much on this size basket).  The rug I just picked up from World Market for only $12 (!!!).  There's a lot of white in this room, but knowing it would be full of so much stuff on a daily basis (as if you couldn't guess we have more than one coat/scarf/hat hanging up regularly) using so much white keeps it from looking more cluttered.

Up top, I built a very simple floating shelf (again, check out Shanty 2 Chic as they have TONS of floating shelf options) which was sooooooo easy that I will be doing it again and again and again!  I printed and framed these awesome vintage inspired posters from NASA that Eaphis found a few years ago - they add the perfect amount of color and the perfect amount of nerdiness.

The light I found at Home Goods (I actually found two of them and put the other one in my upstairs bathroom).  I hesitated getting it because I don't have any other brass fixtures in the house, but they were just so perfect - I think they look like old oil lanterns - that I said screw it and just went with my instinct.

On the opposite wall I have a huge chalkboard that has been up for over a year - in fact the frame on this was actually the first thing I ever built!  I used magnetic paint topped with chalk paint - but if I had to do it again I would actually have used a piece of sheet metal painted with the chalk paint.  The magnetic paints works somewhat, but you have to have a VERY strong magnet.  Also, the little metal buckets that I hung to hold the chalk are cute (and only cost $1 each) but they are very dinged up from getting banged by the door over and over again.  The door is painted in Sensible Hue (which is one shade darker than the walls) and is the same color as the inside of the front door.  I love the way it looks, but the paint also gets dinged from metal buckets.  It's not terrible so until I think of a better solution we'll stick with it.

It's a small room, but it's one of the most used spaces in the house and now it functions the way we need it too.  Now time to fill it back up with stuff : )

Built in Heaven

Last week I took my 2nd annual stay-cation - and the project I decided to tackle this year was a big one....re-tiling my fireplace and adding built ins to either side.   The "bigness" of this wasn't so much the size, but the amount of detail and planning that was involved in each part of it.

 I started with the fireplace and after a lot of discussions between me and myself (and some helpful input from Eaphis!) I settled on a white small subway tile for the surround, and a marble herringbone for the hearth - I know, FANCY right!!  I had re-done our fireplace surround in our first home while we were getting ready to sell it so I had some good experience behind me for that part, but the hearth was a new one.  It took quite a few hours of cutting and pre-fitting everything, which is why this was a perfect thing to tackle when I could give 100% focus to it.

Next it was onto the built ins...I really thought a lot about getting something pre-made and fitting it into this space, but the height/width/depth I wanted was such an usual size that in the end I decided to build them myself.  In all honesty, I was really nervous about this part and wasn't sure if I could pull it off.  I had to be very careful to keep everything extremely square and then make 4 sets of pretty exact doors - which was a challenge all by itself!  Mother nature must have been smiling on me because in the midst of a crazy heat wave, she gave me two beautiful days to work in the garage and crank these out.

Now that they're in and have the doors on I'm really happy with how they came out.  They're not perfect, but I think they're pretty damn good for a first attempt at cabinets.  We used to have 10 year old DVD racks on either side (which fit surprisingly well) but were extremely skinny and couldn't hold that much.  Now - we have more than enough space to store all of the boys toys that seem to accumulate in the living room no matter how much I straighten.

To finish this project off, I added a faux shiplap feature over the mantel where I could finally hang my antique window frame like I always intended.  I wanted to keep the mantel really simply so I took a bunch of different candle holders I've been collecting and sprayed them all with gray chalk paint (finished with an antiquing wax) and got a lot of white candles from World Market.  I'm now obsessed with them and think I'm going to keep on collecting them until I have enough to spread across the tops of the built ins!

BEFORE

AFTER

I love how bright and cozy the living room feels now - all of the white and shiny surfaces just reflect the sunlight throughout the whole room.  I can't wait until it's cold enough to light the fireplace and all of the candles......I am also very relived to be done!!!!!!!!!!!  I have a lot to still add/replace in this room, but have taken a huge step forward and now I feel like I can sit back and relax for a little bit.

Big Boy Bedroom - The Final Reveal!

No more #SundaySneakPeak's for this one - officially moving the boys room to the done pile!  I was on a tight deadline to get this room done before Blake's bday week, and I finished right on time.  I decided just to share a blog of this room all at once instead of breaking it down, so check out the included links if you want to see the step-by-steps for all the projects or feel free to shoot me a msg and I'd be happy to share my method!

I pushed myself building-wise with this one and am actually very proud because I think I was able to bring my skill level up quite a few steps.....the biggest challenge of course was the bunk bed for my little monsters.  Even though we have the space for both of them to have their own room, I really wanted the boys to share a room while they're small to 1) give them a chance to become closer but 2) be able to give them a dedicated play space, which is what Blake's room will eventually become. 

 

 

To fit them in the smaller of the two rooms, I decided to go with a loft twin bed / full bed inspired by this Pottery Barn Kids photo.  Our crib was this model, and the headboard is designed to turn into a full size bed, so I used the plans from the awesome Ana White to build a full size storage bed to attach it to - bonus is that I can use the storage underneath to serve as GOB's dresser!  For Blake's bed, I modified Ana's plans for her Camp Loft bed and raised it up about a foot.  I love this design because I didn't feel comfortable having Blake climb a steep ladder to get to bed each night, so the stairs in front give an easier climb and a place for them to hang out (another bonus - Cash the Dog's bed fits right underneath the platform so he has a perfect place to cuddle up at night and help "protect" the boys as they fall asleep).  I painted the whole bed, and the headboard, with gray chalk paint to tie it all together.  I'm beyond happy to say that the whole thing is incredibly sturdy and both the boys (and myself) can safely sit, lay, and hang on all parts.

The other really big project in this room was the Shiplap wall behind the boys bed.  I usually like projects that are fast, cheap, and easy - but sadly this project does not fall into any of those categories!  To be honest, it wasn't terrible, but if you want to take on something similiar just be prepared for the long haul!  There are a lot of different ways that I've seen to achieve the same look, but the basic method I used was to cut 1/4" plywood down into 6 inch strips and then use my nail-gun to attach to the studs in the wall (I'm still planning on writing a full blog post outlining my exact process when I do the playroom so stay tuned if you want the details).  Once it was all said and done, I love the way it came out!  I think it ties the bedroom to the rest of the house perfectly and adds the perfect amount of character.  I also took this room as my chance to test out adding window trim, which I eventually plan to do to the whole house especially after how good it turned out here!

To round out the other walls in the room I put together a mix of new and old and tried to go for a room that is perfect for two little boys, but also one that will grow up with them.  One wall holds our old Pottery Barn bookcase, but also some small book ledges that I built to hold some of our nicer books and pictures.  I also added some big canvas baskets I found at Michaels to hold stuffed animals, a stuffed dinosaur head and dog lamp from Target, and I finally got to hang the super cool growth chart my dad got the boys from Australia.

 

On the other wall, I used this idea from my favs at Young House Love to turn two Ikea bookcases into one large desk that they could share and found some small metal schoolhouse stools on Amazon.  I framed out some cork board that I snagged a while back at Michales for super cheap to have a place to hang artwork (those green baskets were also a super cheap Michael's find!) and tried my hand at some string art for the boys initials (The blank spots on the wall are for some special artwork that we're planning on getting the boys for XMas : )  Oh, and if anyone cares about paint colors, the door is painted Sherwin Williams "Sensible Hue" and the walls are "Nebulous White" which is a really light blue-gray. 

I finished out the room with some handmade artwork - which I try to put in every room.  The star print has their zodiac signs and a Galileo quote that I just love, and the Scrabble tiles are a little nod to both Eaphis and my grandmas who loooovvveeed to play scrabble.  It's so great to watch them climb, play and draw in this space - and to hear them have little conversations with each other as they fall asleep.  This is when working on my house goes beyond just making things look pretty....it goes to making this a happy home where we can create memories to last forever!