Downstairs Bathroom Details

We're done. We're done! The downstairs bathroom is done, and I'm just waiting for the right time to take the tour pics. Bear with me, it's hard to get good light down there. We wrapped up the finishing touches, which was all about trimming. This was our first time with crown molding, and WOW - what a learning curve! I thought it would be pretty simple, you know - corners are 45 degrees, duh.  What I didn't expect was the corner moldings shape when you buy it.  It's not a full corner, it's kind of.. empty behind it once you put it up. If that makes sense. And it threw me for a two hour loop of flashbacks to geometry.  We finally got it figured out, in a very primitive way - I had to pretend the base of the saw was the "wall", and the back of the saw was the "ceiling". It was the only way I could conquer all these angles.  For the rest of you, until I master this technique - I won't even try to explain - here is a fantastic tutorial from Sawdust Girl, that I totally should have studied before I started. Ha!

Picture time.

This is a picture of what I was doing wrong. Can you see the problem? Now that we're done, I totally understand what was going on. Before, it was a mystery.

Here's the room without the crown, it's very.. unfinished looking.

We peeled back our rope trim & got to work (should have waited on the rope trim until AFTER all the crown, no biggie)

We tested each piece in it's place to make sure it was a fit, and then used our new nail gun to throw in some brad nails. We used this nail gun because it was affordable, and it totally did the job. Nail guns, are my new favorite tool. Why did I not try these sooner?!

It all went up pretty easy, then we wanted to fill in the tiny gaps.  We used Wood Filler to fill in the nail holes and cracks, but I've heard a lot of people use paintable caulk, especially on uneven walls like ours.

After the wood filler dries you can paint, and then that's it. The crown really adds a finished touch, and since it was getting dark ALL my photos are night shots. That's winter for you... dark! Oh well - stay tuned for cute daytime shots soon. Sowwy.

Did a little hot glue action for the rope trim, like we did in the Entryway Command Center post.

One last little detail was bothering me, the inside trim on this light fixture:

 This rope I found at Beverly's was the perfect touch, and easy to add while the glue gun was out.

Ok done.  With the final details taken care of, we can wrap up this bathroom. That took way longer than originally planned, but I absolutely love how it came out, and that's the most important part.  So if you're struggling with a project that was supposed to be short, just keep on truckin'. It's worth it.

-Jesse

Leftover things to do in the bathroom:

• Whitewashed Wood Ceiling
• Door! 
• Tear the place apart and patch up the damage
• Paint the back wall dark grey, other walls light grey
• Get a huge mirror & build the frame.
• Build Copper Pipe Towel Rack
• Build distressed wood mock mantle under mirror
• Herringbone Peel & Stick Floor, except, no longer Herringbone.
• New light fixture, something fun & yellow!
• Paint or replace sink & stand.
• Tie it all together with accessories, and ferns! FERNS!

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DIY Air Plant Hanger Collection

Hello again! I'm trapped in the house while a plumber fixes our water heater.   It was a leaky pipe, and while some of you may say "why didn't you try to fix it?!" - well - sometimes you have to know where to draw the line in DIY land. And the thought of us screwing it up and losing hot water all together while we wait for a pro to come clean up the mess, sounded horrifying.  And cold.  Anyway,  I've had a gallon of coffee - what a perfect time for me to waste the morning on Pinterest! As we polish up the details in kitten's bathroom the downstairs bathroom, I really wanted another plant in there.  I was going to do this terra-cotta hanger from Design*Sponge but thought it might be too bulky for that tiny room.  A few brainstorms lighter I realized, what could be lighter than an air plant? And the search began. I haven't decided yet who's taking the lead, or if I'll invent some newbie, but here are my faves:

Did I mention they are mostly D.I.Y.? Even better... I have buckets of craft supplies around this place, I'm sure I can get away with not buying a THING (except for the plants) for one of these beauties:

DIY Himmeli Air Plant Hanger from Smile & Wave

Have you noticed a trend with all the Himmeli stuff floating around? Well, it's popular because it's gorgeous, and this copper & geometric spectacle has taken my heart.  I had to look up what himmeli meant before I would allow myself to use the word, and luckily it's a simple definition:

1. A type of hanging, mobile decoration made of straw or other similar material. (Source)

Hmm, pretty spot on. Easy enough.

Upside Down Air Plant Hangers

Heeey! I love these, and even though I strayed from Design Sponge's other plant hanger, they reeled me in with this one.  Don't those look like ceramic? They aren't.  Check out the full tutorial here.

Wall Hanging Air Plant Sculptures

Now these are different, instead of hanging from the ceiling they took it to a wall mount.  I love the hand sculpted look, very clean & light - which is what I'm aiming for.  Plus, they take very few materials. Nail, Wire, Clay... Hop over to BHG for the tutorial.

Hanging Terrariums on Chive

Ah, nothing better than a classic. These, obviously, aren't DIY at all, unless you're an amazing glass blower - in which case - sister get in touch!  I'd love to learn glass blowing, or at least beg someone who blows glass to make me something pretty.  Found these on Chive.

Himmeli Air Plant Hangers

Keeping with that Himmeli spirit, you have these gorgeous wonders... Now, you may be able to figure out how to make those, but you also may just want to support the person on Etsy who did, either way - these are adorable.  Hey, notice they are using spider plants instead of air plants? I wonder if that would work.. check out their shop. So many Himmeli goodies..

Now this little diddy, doesn't have a source (so frustrating when that happens on Pinterest) but, you can pretty much figure out what's going on here. I like the use of embroidery hoops because they are clean, circular, and something I have too many of.  Yarn, I mean, who doesn't have that lying around? This is definitely a cute & quick fix.

I've saved the best for last...

Gaaah! How do you spell the sound of a jaw dropping? That curtain of air plants is absolutely stunning, and might just end up as an installation on our patio this summer. Scratch that, remove the word might and insert definitely will end up on our patio.  Again, Pinterest failed me and the source led to a close up photo of it, but I'm grateful to have even seen it at all.  It looks like either thread or fishing line, strung around air plants. Fan..tastic. and simple.

What do you think? Air plants gonna make a debut in your home? Don't be misled by the name though, air plants do still need a little water depending on their placement. Whether it be a misting every few weeks, or a 2 hour monthly dunk in a bowl of water.  Whoever you get them from should have plenty of care instructions for your new baby.  There's like 3 million on Etsy, and every nursery in America is probably slinging these things by now.

Which hanger is your favorite? What other awesome plant holders have you made or seen around? 

Enjoy that weekend folks!

     -Jesse

Psst... saw this after I posted, check out Very Shannon's mega round up of DIY hangers... so cool!

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DIY White Wood Ceiling

We're done! Well, sort of. We have to add some trim, but that can be another post. This was so much easier than I expected.  We'd been brainstorming wood ceiling ideas,  and felt pretty confident in tackling this.  I'm so happy with the results, I want to do it to every room in the house!

It's really rustic, but clean, & adds to our mountain-ey, cabin-ey home... while staying light & fresh.  If you want to do something like this in your house, I say do it. It's amazingly easy & satisfying. Here's what you need:

• Wood planks - we were going to use bender board so it would be lightweight, but I couldn't find it. So, we used lightweight cedar fence boards instead.  $1.38 each!
• White Paint (Semi Gloss, Paint + Primer in one)
• Paint gun (optional)
• Nail gun + 2" nails (ours connects to the air compressor)
• Air Compressor (if you'll be using the nail & paint guns)
• Saw (we used our DeWalt Miter Saw, my favorite toy)
• Measuring Tape
• Stud Finder
• Drill + spade bit, if you need to make a hole for wires to come through.

First up, you want to paint your boards.  You could cut your boards first if you like, but we chose to paint them first, so that while they dried we could go in the room and do measurements, etc.

Here's Ralph:

We've had some amazing weather lately, which is good for working outside, but really really bad for California. We are now in a drought, yikes... 

Anyway, everyone all lined up on a giant dropcloth:

I adore my paint gun. It attached to the air compressor, and makes painting 3 million times easier.   Here's the one we use: HVLP Paint Gun.  Not paid to tell you that either btw, it just really has saved me hours of time! You want to mix a little floetrol in with your paint first, so it runs out of the gun easier & spreads out on your surface better.

It's about a 1:4 ratio.  1 part floetrol to 4 parts paint.  

• TIP: If you want stark white boards, seal or prime your boards FIRST.  Cedar fence posts are amazingly thirsty, and sucked up a LOT of paint. Luckily we liked the look, or it would have been frustrating.  I think any seal would do, even plan white glue would have been fine I bet.

 Boards all done, see how thirsty they were:

Now while that dries, pop back in the house and start planning out the space.  You want these  boards to stay in the ceiling, so find the studs.  Our boards will be going the shorter distance of the room (across), which is perpendicular to our studs, which go the length of the room.  This way we can nail through the boards at each stud, making it sturdy.

***If your studs are not going perpendicular to the way you want your boards, put a few small pieces of wood before the planks that DO nail into the wood. In short, you're making a second set of studs, that connect to the ones under the drywall, but these will be outside the drywall, giving you a strong set of beams to nail into. Email me if that totally didn't make sense.

Here's our nasty ceiling, with our matching nasty light: 

 The texture wasn't sitting well with me, and Ralph agreed. Nast.  But makes a great before shot.

Use your stud finder to find your studs. This is a great time to make jokes about the stud finder. Heh...

Run the stud finder along the ceiling, and when it beeps to tell you there's a stud, make a mark. Doing this over and over all over the place will quickly give you an idea of where & which way the studs lie. Draw lines along the studs so you know where to nail. 

Paint dry on your boards? Great. Start measuring your ceiling and cutting boards. You probably want to cut one at a time if you think your room isn't exactly straight, like ours. Hold each piece in place before you nail, to make sure it fits. 

Now gear up with lots of protection.  This was my first time using a nail gun, and I was a little nervous after reading the warnings.  They really put the fear in you in those manuals! 

Safety first.. ha! So dorky, but at least I have my eyes and ears unharmed.  I tested the nail gun on a few scraps to make sure my settings were correct (read your manual), and then nailed each board one by one. 

Nail guns are amazing! So fast.  Our studs were on the sides (pretty common) and one down the middle. 

Once we reached the light fixture, we paused, turned off the power to the room, and finally took down that hideous fixture! 

Beautiful. 

Now we were going to keep the electrical box in it's place, and run a chain to our new fixture.  So, with the power off, we measured the distance from the wall as well as the adjacent board, to the wires, and knew that was where we needed a hole in our next board. And, it worked:

Don't turn that power on until your wires are sealed up! Don't risk it with electricity. After we ran the wires through the hole, we put the new light up & temporarily connected it.  We sealed everything in electrical tape, so we didn't accidentally touch it. 

Then, we just... kept going... here's a thousand pictures:

I love it! The only things left to do is add some trim so it looks built in, and put a mounting plate over our electrical work. Did you notice a few paw prints in the photos? Yea... while our boards dried, a lovely raccoon came by and walked all over them. This was also after we cleaned up all our paint, of course! We figured we'd paint over it later, but now... I kind of want to keep them? Hehe...See if you can find them.

So that's it! This was really easy, and the crown will be the perfect finishing touch.  What do you think? Wanna do it?

Have a great one!

-Jesse

Leftover things to do in the bathroom:

• Whitewashed Wood Ceiling
• Door! 
• Tear the place apart and patch up the damage
• Paint the back wall dark grey, other walls light grey
• Get a huge mirror & build the frame.
• Build Copper Pipe Towel Rack
• Build distressed wood mock mantle under mirror
• Herringbone Peel & Stick Floor, except, no longer Herringbone.
• New light fixture, something fun & yellow!
• Paint or replace sink & stand.
• Tie it all together with accessories, and ferns! FERNS!

Linkies: Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, Subscribe & of course, Email me.

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