Dining Room Picture Rail

As promised, I have been working hard on the house, particularly the dining room.  As you may remember, I debated whether or not I should paint the woodwork and then install board and batten or just a picture rail.  I decided to go for it!  After all, if I didn't like it, I could always sand it down and re-stain.  And that's sayin' somethin' since you know how much I dislike sanding.  

Jump to today.  I looove the dining room!  The white woodwork brightens up the space and makes it so much friendlier.  I decided against board and batten, only because our walls are pretty wavy.  Well, that and because Brett moaned and groaned (not in a good way!) over how much work that would be.  So I'm sticking to the wavy wall theory.  Up went the wood for the picture rail.

Follow along for my steps.  I can only hope that you complete your project faster than I did mine.  Overall, I think it only took about 2 months.  I guess that's not too bad considering I stopped quite often to play trucks or read Brown Bear, Brown Bear with Dominic.  And, I have to remind myself that I tried to work only when Dominic was napping.  Of course, that is easier said than done.  Why is it that when you want the kid to nap, all he wants to do is run around.  And when you want to run to Target or the children's consignment store, he's zonked out for hours?!?!  It's all good though because he always wakes up happy from those super-duper naps.  Gotta love it!

Step 1:

Paint the walls semi-gloss white.  I chose Moon Rise from Behr.  It's a warm white.  Plus, it's what we painted our kitchen cabinets.  While I don't usually go for matchy-matchy, this is one case where it's a must.

Step 2: Do as I say and not as I do: Do not "live with it" for awhile.  Just do it!  Measure and buy the dang wood already.  You'll like the results!

Step 3:

Tape the upper-portion of the walls along the woodwork.  Then paint away.  Oh, I forgot to mention to sand first.  See how my brain automatically ignores that step?  Oh, how I hate it!  Oh, how important it is.  That is, unless you want your brand new paint to peel off within days of your hard work.  It's up to you, really.

Step 4:  Prime and paint.  Again, do as I say and not as I do.  Prime!  For some reason, I decided it wasn't necessary for this project.  Not true!  Because the stain was so dark, it kept bleeding through.  Some areas are now sporting 5 coats of the white.  

I like to use a small, angled brush for trim work.  This brush is a little wider than many angled brushes so it covers more with less effort.

Step 5:  Install the boards for the picture rail.  We used 5 1/2" boards for the main piece, 3" boards for the cap, and decorative trim for the trim.  The cost for screws, Liquid Nails, paint, and the boards was $140.  We did buy a few extra boards just in case.

Dominic checking out our handy work.  5 1/2" board up.  We tried to find the studs to screw these into.  However, it seems our lovely house builder wasn't so great at math.  The studs were not evenly spaced... and we tried many different intervals.  As much as possible, we only screwed into the top of the board so that the screws would be hidden by the trim.  You know what that means!  Less finish work for me!  Yeah!  We used Liquid Nails to secure the trim to the other two boards.

Notice the edge of the cap board here.  Brett mitered it at 45 degrees so we wouldn't bump our pretty little heads on the corner when we walked by.  You can't really see it in the picture below, but the boards are mitered at each end of the doors.

Step ??:  I lost count already!  And, this step is probably only for me, the weirdo.  I emptied the room, swept and swiffered really well, and then thought about where I wanted the furniture to go.  We have an extra couch in here that was intended to go in the basement.  Except that we couldn't get it down the stairs.  So here it sits.  I moved it into the living room for a week and had two couches facing each other flanking the fireplace.  I actually kind of liked it!  It was nice to have the space for all of us to stretch out and relax.  We just don't seem to use the two chairs we have in the living room, so having an extra couch encouraged relaxation. 

But... when I started to move furniture back into the room, it seemed too empty and white without the couch.  Yes, I have a thing about white walls, so this is a big change for me!  Painting the walls green, red, yellow or blue?  No problem!  Painting them white?  Big, fat N-O.  So I'm getting used to it.  I do like the freshness of it.  I may have to add battens to break up the white a little...  Time will tell!

Anyway, back in went the couch.  And out went the beautiful but huge buffet.  

I love the way it turned out!  The dining room is now focused on the table and it actually invites you to sit down, have a meal, and share good conversation.  But I'm making you wait to see the final product.  I promise I'll post the pictures asap.  I won't keep you waiting long! 

And because no post is complete without Dominic photos :), I had to share these gems.  Yes, he got out the paint tray and roller all by himself and went directly to the wall to "paint."  I love how he rolled it in the tray first and then made the "w" shape on the wall.  Such a pro!  And so serious too.  As soon as I can teach him not to finger paint in wet paint, I'm going to hire him to do all of my painting!

This last one is just because.  I walked in to the living room from the kitchen and didn't see Dominic.  I heard him though!  As I turned the corner, I saw his feet sticking out of the buffet.  He had climbed into the door and scootched (yep, it's a word now!) himself all the way in.  By the time I got the camera, he was most of the way out.  Love the concentration with the tongue!

Remember, check back soon for the final dining room reveal.