A Better Guest Bedroom

This is the guest room.  BORING

It has been many things. It started out its life as my library - basically just stacks and stacks of books until we bought some Billy bookshelves for the living room.

And that's not all of them

Yeah, somehow all of these once fit in the bedroom.

Then it became our guest room/junk storage room. I believe the bed we had in there was dilapidated futon that our cat eventually peed on so we had to throw it out (I believe she did this for our benefit, as that futon was garbage). Then we started redoing the basement and moved "old bluey", a once comfortable (emphasis on once) extendable bed/couch, into that room. My sister lived in the room for a month or so. Meanwhile, it also became our TV room while the basement was under repair. So, for over a year we watched TV, ate some dinners, and lounged in this room. In truth, we were spending a lot of time in that guest room so we decided to purchase a new couch for it. Out went old bluey to the curb. Or maybe we sold it. I don't remember.

Finally, after the basement was done (other than smaller projects) we had a real reason to update this room, to make it cute and give it a bit of a theme. But though that reason has since been put on hold,  I decided to finish the project anyway, because a) it was halfway done and b) at least we now have rid ourselves of the useless furniture and the room is cheery and welcoming.

Basically we just did the easiest thing you can do to a room: paint it. But, because it's me, we also decided to paint it two colours and add wainscotting.

Steps to prepping a room to paint:

1. Remove any old screws, etc from the walls

2. Use putty (I use Drydex) to fill in any holes

3. After the putty dries, sand it lightly

4. Remove all faceplates from outlets and switches. Tape over the actual outlet and the switch, unless you can be sure you're not going to accidentally roll over them. 

5. Dust the walls (I use a swiffer cloth)

6. Use hammer, prybar and/or slothead screwdriver to remove baseboards  (if needed - other options: a) tape the top of the baseboards with green tape if you're going to keep them b) edge in the paint without taping to keep them  c) Paint first, then remove the baseboards)

7. Lay down a drop cloth and cover any furniture

Now, the harder part. I needed to make sure that the wainscotting we were putting up was level. Luckily, we have a laser level. The great thing about it is that you not only get a level line without having to measure a million times, but you can instantly see if the line looks too low or too high. Despite using the 1/3 - 2/3 ratio, it looked odd. Probably good for a dining room, but for a bedroom it looked too low. So we just eyeballed it, ending up around 3' off the ground.  Then, after fiddling with the settings for awhile, we got green tape on the line and I could get on with my business.

Painted the top coat first, then the bottom, as the bottom required no edging

Steps to Actually Paint:
 
1. You can prime, but the original colour of the room I was painting was beige, so there was no need. Besides, I was  using Benjamin Moore paint (HC-129 Southfield Green and HC-108 Sandy Hook Gray), which I know from experience works fine over old paint. I love Benjamin Moore. Their paint really is fantastic. I don't even look at Behr and CIL anymore.

2. Edge the ceiling and around whatever else needs edging

3. Roll on the paint.  Wait awhile.  Repeat steps 2 and 3.

Painting is by far the easiest part of the job - I love it. I could easily be a house painter and totally enjoy my job.  After this, I painted the wainscotting boards and Rob replaced all the old outlets and switches with nice, new, non-painted ones.

Woo! And Tamper Proof too

Then it started to drizzle, so we decided this would be the perfect time to set up the saw outside (as the garage was occupied by the bar) and start cutting. To make things quicker, I measured and installed the boards (using the nail gun) and Rob cut them.

Installing wainscotting is not hard, but, like trim, it can be tedious and nit-picky. Especially the next part, which was me, getting to use my old friend Wood Filler:

I needed to fill-in the giant holes the nailgun left and the gaps where the trim pieces met. Apparently we didn't have any of the smaller brad nails? *Rolls eyes*.  So, there was a lot of filling, sanding and re-filling, then touch up of the nail holes. Then touch up of the paint around the wainscotting too.

But, as I was doing so, I got to gaze at the lovely canvas print my friend Lindsay gave me of our trip to the Skellig Islands in Ireland.

How to make a frame out of trim:

1. To do this you need a canvas or print with a matte around it, unless you want to cut off some of the picture.

2. Measure the top and bottom (they should be the same but still do it just in case.

3. Cut those pieces of trim

4. Set those pieces where they should go and then measure from the innermost points to get the sides.

5. Cut those pieces of trim

6. One person holds the canvas in place with one piece of trim perfectly set up. The other person nails the board in place

7. Follow the process with the other pieces, the holder smoothing the canvas or print as you go.

8. Fill the holes, touch up the paint, and there you have your trompe l'oeil of a window looking out at whatever you put there

Skellig!

So yeah, that's it!   The finished product.... with no baseboards because we're going to replace the carpet soon so there's no point...

There will also be a new curtain rod/curtains/blinds but I'm a fool and bought the wrong size curtain rod.

We may also replace the fan if we find a sweet deal on one

Next project: Finish the GD bar!!!    Then, THE BATHROOMS... cue ominous music


Tips:
When removing baseboards, start at a corner and then try to find where the nails are, working your way out. Hopefully they used nails and not glue. If they used glue you might as well just burn down your house and start anew.

Don't paint over outlets. It looks like shit once it starts to crack (which is in like 2 minutes). And if you paint on the faceplates you might as well just call yourself Satan.

When using a nail gun to install wainscotting or trim, try to use the smallest nails possible.