Fun on a pretty summer day

Is it just me or is it super hard to get motivated to do housework on such a pretty day? With my new job keeping me super busy, the hubby and I decided to take the weekend off and go visit my dad at the house he is building on the lake. He is building the entire thing on his own (you see where I get my love of DIY now??) He also just got a new puppy, an english bulldog, named Duke. I thought it was an excellent opportunity to try out my new work camera and get some practice taking photos. Here are a few of my favorites.

Simple Summer Centerpiece

I  thought it was time to freshen up my dining room table. I was tired of dusting around the plates so I went with a simple clean look this time.

The runner was a steal at Home Goods for $12 and I already had the vase and the fake hydrangeas.

Sometimes simple and clean makes the biggest impact!

DIY Faux Board and Batten and Update

Good morning! Whew has it been a week. Since I last posted, I have quit my day job and accepted a new position that I am scheduled to start on Monday. This is an exciting opportunity for me to grow a career that is actually in line with my communications degree.

In the mean time, I have had a week vacation that is wrapping up. You know I couldn't sit home for a week with out a project so I decided to install Faux Board and Batten in our dining room.

[caption id="attachment_728" align="aligncenter" width="346"] BEFORE[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_827" align="aligncenter" width="345"] AFTER[/caption]

Since we already had a substantial chair rail and good baseboards, I wanted to add to the existing trim, not completely replace it. (And I didn't want to drop hundreds of dollars on this project) After wandering around Lowes and Home Depot for longer than I'm willing to admit, I decided to use 1.5 inch lattice strips.

I gave the wall a good coat of primer and then measured  each wall to determine my spacing. Then I measured again. Then I messed up and had to measure yet again. I stress measuring because I ended up making 3 trips to Home Depot for lattice and several trips to the in-laws to re-cut boards that were not the correct length. It was easiest for me to make a drawing of the room with the measurements and then label each piece with the letter of the corresponding wall on my drawing. You think you will remember which board goes where, but they start running together very quickly. I used my nail gun to attach the boards adding a top and bottom piece as well as a vertical piece every 2 feet. 

Then I caulked around the edges and painted the wall and all of the trip in a gloss white. I took a step back, looked at the wall...... and HATED it. Yep, it looked like I had glued yardsticks to my wall. See how rough it looks in the pic above?

What to do.... What.... to.... do?

I searched the internet and found where others have tried this project using MDF boards. Perfect. Except when I went to buy said MDF boards, I couldn't find 1.5 inch anywhere except online and that just wouldn't do.

The next morning, I got really friendly with my sander and spent a good amount of time sanding the crap-ola (yes, that is my technical term)  out of the boards until they were smooth.

 Then I re-primered and painted and now they look much better.

I can't wait to finish the room and do a results post! Now that my week off is over, I'm having a hard time finishing it up.

I hope you have enjoyed it!