It started with some house envy, believe it or not. :) Yes, even I see beautiful homes in blogland and sometimes that little green monster starts rearing it�s head. You all know I LOVE our house, so it�s not a big monster, mind you -- just a little one.
I just love little corners, niches, interesting spots in homes, and I adore how some people use awkward spots to their full potential. Like hallways � I just love a long hallway with hardwood floors, a beautiful runner and woodwork as far as the eye can see. Add a gallery of family photos and I�m swooning.
I have a recurring dream about a house we buy and are fixing up, and in each dream I find a new little nook or a tiny room I didn�t know was there before. I LOVE that dream. :)
But alas, we have no nooks, no niches. Not even a hallway. Not one hallway in our entire house. That�s the new open concept for ya � plenty of open spaces (which we love), but sometimes I do crave a little nook.
About a month ago or so, I realized we a needed a storage solution for our son�s dress up stuff. Now, not dress up like princess dresses. Manly dress up like policemen, train conductors and firemen.
(Insert Tim the Tool Man Taylor grunt here.)
So I thunk and I thunk, and I thought of the closest thing to a hallway we have � the half wall in our playroom/loft:
And the idea hit me. I knew exactly what I wanted to do!
First step was to paint the wall out in semi-gloss white:
Didn�t he do a great job?:
I kid! I kid! No child labor here folks.
Mostly because he wasn�t doing it right.
I kid! Not really.
OK, onward! You�ll notice I didn�t even paint the edges of the wall. I didn�t need to because it was going to be covered up with my next step. I took primed mdf from Lowe�s and started installing my vision:
I took some video to give some more detail, but it�s so straightforward � boards across the top, bottom and sides. Then I did some measuring to figure out the spacing between the rest of the boards.
The math went like this � the space between the two outside boards was almost exactly six feet. So I took:
6 feet x 12 (for inches) = 72 inches
The boards were 3.5 inches wide, so I figured out how many sections I wanted (five) and knew that would take four additional pieces of mdf:
3.5 (mdf boards) x 4 = 14 inches
Take the 72 inches minus 14 and you get 58 inches.
Divide 58 inches by the five sections I wanted, and you get 11.6 sections between each vertical board.
Does that make sense? Math and I are not friends, and I swear it�s easy. Once you do it one time, it�ll make more sense for the next time. :) I use that method for any spot where I�m adding molding to a specific amount of space (and I want it to look uniform.)
I took a quick video to show you a couple of my other tricks:
Sooo�anyhoo, after a couple more coats of paint on the mdf, some caulk (remember, it�s your BFF folks!), and hooks � I got this:
Isn�t it gorgeous? I mean, really. I want it all. over. my. house. ALL OVER. It�s just classic and pretty and yummy.
I can�t believe how happy woodwork makes me. It�s just ridiculous.
Now we have a spot for all of the make believe outfits:
I almost hated to cover it all up, but it�s for the sake of my sanity. Those hats have been laying around here and there for months because I haven�t found a good spot for them.
I especially love how it ties into the mdf I added to the staircase last year:
And you smarties will notice that NO, I have not painted that railing yet. Only the bottom section is done:
That is how I roll. :)
I just love how it turned out! I took an empty wall that wasn�t doing anything:
And made it functional and pretty:
Gotta love that!
The wood was el cheapo � I think I spent $15 on the mdf. I got the ORB hooks at Lowe�s as well. Love, love, LOVE!
Now I�m so pumped to get moving on the board and batten in the office! My plan is to get started on that this weekend.
Have a GREAT one!
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