It’s all about that baseboard

Now that a lot of the big things in the house are finished, we’ve been focusing on the detail work. Boring and nitpicky, but it has to be done.

Right from the start, I knew I wanted to keep the trim work simple. For the baseboards, I envisioned something plain and square, but with a little bit of detail to keep them from being boring. Luckily, there’s no shortage of inspiration pictures out there, and when I came across this baseboard, we had a winner.

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Of course, when I showed Brian the picture, his reaction was “I can make that.” ARGH! Is there anything the man can’t make?! Anyway, yes, as it turns out, he can make it. And I have to admit, he came up with a genius way of doing it. Don’t ask me why or how this idea occurred to him, but he took a piece of shiplap, cut off the bottom 1-1/2 inches, and then put the 1-1/2” strip on top of the wider strip. Voila, groove. Then he angled off the top edge of the thin strip, and plain and square baseboard with a touch of detail done!

All the trim in the house is Delicate White, which is a PPG Pittsburgh Paint colour that I’ve had colour-matched to Benjamin Moore paint. I’m using Advance in a satin finish on the baseboards and all the other trim. It’s a bit finicky to work with, but once you get the hang of it, the painting goes quickly and you end up with a really nice and durable finish.

If you’re installing new baseboards, take my word for it, paint them before they’re installed. It makes life so much easier. Once the baseboards are in, you just need to fill the nail holes and then paint a quick coat or two to finish them off. And here’s a tip for getting a clean line between the baseboard and the floor…

Cutting in without taping off the floor takes forever and if you’re anything like me, you’ll get paint on the floor no matter how careful you are. Taping off the floor is pretty much guaranteed to end up being a mess, because no matter how careful you are, paint will find a way to seep under the tape in places. So here’s what to do – tape off the floor, but bring the tiniest bit of the edge of the tape up onto the baseboard. Like this:

Then roll or brush on your paint without worrying about getting it on the floor (the wider tape you use, the better!)

As soon as you finish painting, pull up the tape. And voila, perfect clean line!

Of course, you have to paint your baseboards before they’re installed to do this, otherwise you’ll end up with a noticeable line where the tape came up onto the baseboard.

I’m really happy with how the baseboards have turned out. I just wish they were all done!

OK, off to do more priming and painting!

Shiplap Ahoy

Before we had even officially bought our lot, I was saving house inspiration pictures on Pinterest. One thing I knew I wanted in our house was horizontal planking on the walls. Well, I called it horizontal planking, the more common term is shiplap. Authentic shiplap is planks of wood with rabbets on each side that interlock and create a small gap between the planks. It was originally used to clad building exteriors, but it’s made a big move inside over the last few years.

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We cheated a bit and used MDF shiplap. Not quite authentic, but a real time-saver because it comes primed and ready to paint. And there’s no danger of knots showing through the paint years down the road.

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I kept debating what walls to shiplap. I love the look, but didn’t want shiplap overload. So I decided to put it on the three walls in the main living area.

And I didn’t want it all to be white. So I decided to paint the shiplap on the wall looking out to the water white (Pittsburgh Paint Delicate White, otherwise knows as Derelict White) and the staircase wall and opposite partial wall navy blue (Benjamin Moore Van Deusen Blue).

       

We ordered a bunch of 7-1/4” shiplap planks – I think 91 (everything they had in stock) – from the hardware store, and then I got to work painting one coat on the planks before we installed them on the walls. This way I’d be sure to get the grooves properly painted, and it was easier to paint the planks on solid ground that up on a ladder or scaffolding.

And then the shiplap went up. It was fairly easy and straightforward to install (she says when it was Brian who did all the installation!) The rabbets keep the planks evenly spaced, so no need to use coins or spacers. Once the shiplap was all installed, it was my fun job to fill all the nail holes. I used Polyfil and a putty knife and did two fillings and two sandings, then wiped the walls down with a microfibre cloth.

Remember, you have to get through the ugly before you can get to the pretty! And voila, finished shiplap.

I love how the white and navy blue look together. I do have a thing for white and blue :-)

Another job down and 58,000 more jobs to go!

Feelin’ the navy & white vibe

It may be cliché, especially in a coastal house, but I love the combination of navy blue and white. Fresh white and rich navy blue together looks so crisp and classic.

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I keep wavering between different ideas for how to paint the main living space in our house. First I wanted shiplap, then I didn’t, and then I did again. And now we have 91 planks of the stuff, so there’s no turning back! I was going to paint it all white, but I had some Benjamin Moore Van Deusen Blue left over from painting the guest bathroom in our rental house and thought I’d try painting a few planks to see how they’d look.

And I loved them! So I painted a few more…

I think shiplap painted a dark colour gives it a more modern look.

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And seeing as the style of our house seems to be evolving into sort of modern industrial casual coastal, I think the navy blue shiplap fits right in.

And one of the best things about putting up the navy shiplap is that we finally have some colour in the house now – well, besides the lovely pink insulation :-)

Moving Day! Well sort of…

First we were going to be in our rental house for one year. Then it was two years. Then it was two and a half years. And now, after two years, two years six months and eight days, we have to get our butts out of here because someone else is moving in. But as you can see, our house isn’t exactly move-in ready.

This is the front entry.

These are the bathrooms…

These are the bedrooms.

And the kitchen.

And the staircase.

And the living room – at least we have a fireplace and the shiplap is finally starting to go up.

At least the utility closet has been painted :-)

Yeah, so, as you can see, our house isn’t exactly liveable at the moment! Luckily we have a friend who’s currently back home in Germany and she’s very kindly offered up her house here till our house is ready.

So today isn’t quite the moving day I had envisioned. Our furniture and the rest of our crap gets to move into our house today, but Brian and me and the dogs have one more stop to make before we can move in. Oh well, as our friend said, at least we won’t be living under a bridge ;-)