My husband has bad knees!
Um, wow, that sounds like the beginning of an arthritis commercial! Are you envisioning an older woman standing in her yard, holding a pair of gardening gloves, looking straight into the camera!?
Okay, sorry, sometimes funny things like that just pop into my head! Back to what I was trying to say, before I side-tracked myself.
So, my hubby has bad knees; this causes him great difficulty when it comes to going up a set of stairs, which I might add, we have a set of!
Here it comes, wait for it!
I’m standing in the kitchen, doesn't really matter what I was doing I can’t remember anyway, and suddenly, I hear a horrible CRrrrACK!! This terrible sound comes from the general direction of our living-room!
I go running toward the sound, afraid of what I might find! I turn the corner, and there, standing about four steps up, is my hubby!
Not only is he standing there but he is holding our 12 foot long, cast iron railing in his hands!!
The entire railing pulled right out of the wall when he grabbed a hold of it to help himself get up the stairs! Now, when I say it pulled out of the wall, I'm talking four gaping holes in our drywall all the way up the stairs where the supports used to be! Four! What the heck happened? We would find the answer to that question much later!
THE very first thought that runs through my mind? Not, “Gosh honey, are you okay?” Nope! My first thought is, “Guess what thisss means? (Said in a sing songy voice) PROJECT TIME!!
Please don’t think ill of me! I love and care for my husband very much! I DID the right thing, I promise. I asked if he was okay (which he was) and then we laughed our hind- ends off!!
Can you imagine finding your husband with your stair railing in his hands? The railing he pulled out with his bare hands? I’m thinking, DANG, I married the Incredible Hulk!
Now, the stage is set! I have a project that needs to get started! Do I want to use a 12 foot rail again? Do I want to add some decorative element to it? Let the Pinterest-ing (is that a word?) begin!!
I looked and dreamed and looked some more! I love Pinterest without actually having a project to do! Let me tell you, HAVING a project to do makes Pinterest all that more fun! After all of the looking and all the dreaming, I finally decided what I wanted to do.
I really like the look of wainscoting but I’m a keep it within the budget kind of girl! Hello Pinterest, you and I have this covered! Faux wainscoting!! I show hubby my idea and he poo poo’s it (this is not a shock; I am the visionary of the family).
Day one: buy all the materials and have the Lowe’s guy rip my plywood pieces into four inch wide strips!
What I needed:
Plywood (cut into strips. Lowes will do the first cut free and then it’s .$25 a cut after that.)
Liquid nails
Paneling nails
Paintable Caulk
Paint ( I used white but I think a color would look great too!)
Drywall Putty
New Railing/hardware ( I opted to not go with a full length railing and completely lucked out when I discovered three short handrails at a garage sale!)
That’s it! Now…
Go home and get it on the wall.
I’m now a super big fan of liquid nails; it made putting the wood on the wall a dream! I laid out my plan with newspaper before I actually started gluing my boards on. I started this about a week before I bought my materials. Cutting paper is SO much fun, NOT! Totally worth the time though. I liked knowing how it was going to look before-hand instead of after I already had the boards up! NO risk of hating it and it being too late!
Day Two: Caulking around every seam between the wood and the wall! Also, hit those nail heads with the putty! These are vital steps; miss a portion and the wainscoting look is going to have holes in it.
Two days into the project, hubby starts saying things like,
“Are you leaving this like that?”
“How are you going to do this?”
“This isn't going to look right?”
Ho hum, ever the pessimist.
Day three: Wait! No activity! Must be sure the liquid nails and the caulk are completely dry!
Day four: Sanding! This was not the fun part! Didn't seem to take too long though! Next… PAINT! YAY! My favorite part!
Day five: If the paint is dry, hang up that new hand rail! SCREECHING HALT!!
Even without the railing up, hubby is COMPLETELY amazed! He cannot believe how good it looks! I knew it would all along!
Now, here is where my project goes waaaay wrong! I drill my first anchor hole, grab the anchor, start to drill it into the wall, and the drywall just shreds!! Not only did it shred, but the anchor jumped about ½” from the original hole! What the heck?
Maybe it’s too close to the wood and I don’t have enough room. Move over and down a bit, drill a new pilot hole, start to screw the anchor in…the exact same thing happens! Now there are two big holes in the drywall I just painted. I was afraid to drill into the wood because I am beginning to think there is a problem with the drywall!
I cannot afford to replace drywall! Is there mold? Now what?
Well, there was a problem with the drywall…it had gotten wet at some point and was rotten! No mold though, at least not where we looked. Patch the holes we created! Treat with Kilz and pray!
So apparently, my hubby IS NOT the Incredible Hulk!
We cannot put the railings on that wall! Okay, crazy as it sounds, I actually put them on the opposite wall and love them there! Love them there better than I liked them where they had always been!!
The whole process took a little more than a week considering the drywall mess! Not bad!
As far as pictures…not a lot! Sorry, I was really into getting this done and would only remember I hadn't taken pictures after I was done.
Happy DIY!
Robyn
Um, wow, that sounds like the beginning of an arthritis commercial! Are you envisioning an older woman standing in her yard, holding a pair of gardening gloves, looking straight into the camera!?
Okay, sorry, sometimes funny things like that just pop into my head! Back to what I was trying to say, before I side-tracked myself.
So, my hubby has bad knees; this causes him great difficulty when it comes to going up a set of stairs, which I might add, we have a set of!
Here it comes, wait for it!
I’m standing in the kitchen, doesn't really matter what I was doing I can’t remember anyway, and suddenly, I hear a horrible CRrrrACK!! This terrible sound comes from the general direction of our living-room!
I go running toward the sound, afraid of what I might find! I turn the corner, and there, standing about four steps up, is my hubby!
Not only is he standing there but he is holding our 12 foot long, cast iron railing in his hands!!
The entire railing pulled right out of the wall when he grabbed a hold of it to help himself get up the stairs! Now, when I say it pulled out of the wall, I'm talking four gaping holes in our drywall all the way up the stairs where the supports used to be! Four! What the heck happened? We would find the answer to that question much later!
THE very first thought that runs through my mind? Not, “Gosh honey, are you okay?” Nope! My first thought is, “Guess what thisss means? (Said in a sing songy voice) PROJECT TIME!!
Please don’t think ill of me! I love and care for my husband very much! I DID the right thing, I promise. I asked if he was okay (which he was) and then we laughed our hind- ends off!!
Can you imagine finding your husband with your stair railing in his hands? The railing he pulled out with his bare hands? I’m thinking, DANG, I married the Incredible Hulk!
Now, the stage is set! I have a project that needs to get started! Do I want to use a 12 foot rail again? Do I want to add some decorative element to it? Let the Pinterest-ing (is that a word?) begin!!
I looked and dreamed and looked some more! I love Pinterest without actually having a project to do! Let me tell you, HAVING a project to do makes Pinterest all that more fun! After all of the looking and all the dreaming, I finally decided what I wanted to do.
I really like the look of wainscoting but I’m a keep it within the budget kind of girl! Hello Pinterest, you and I have this covered! Faux wainscoting!! I show hubby my idea and he poo poo’s it (this is not a shock; I am the visionary of the family).
Day one: buy all the materials and have the Lowe’s guy rip my plywood pieces into four inch wide strips!
What I needed:
Plywood (cut into strips. Lowes will do the first cut free and then it’s .$25 a cut after that.)
Liquid nails
Paneling nails
Paintable Caulk
Paint ( I used white but I think a color would look great too!)
Drywall Putty
New Railing/hardware ( I opted to not go with a full length railing and completely lucked out when I discovered three short handrails at a garage sale!)
That’s it! Now…
Go home and get it on the wall.
I’m now a super big fan of liquid nails; it made putting the wood on the wall a dream! I laid out my plan with newspaper before I actually started gluing my boards on. I started this about a week before I bought my materials. Cutting paper is SO much fun, NOT! Totally worth the time though. I liked knowing how it was going to look before-hand instead of after I already had the boards up! NO risk of hating it and it being too late!
Day Two: Caulking around every seam between the wood and the wall! Also, hit those nail heads with the putty! These are vital steps; miss a portion and the wainscoting look is going to have holes in it.
Two days into the project, hubby starts saying things like,
“Are you leaving this like that?”
“How are you going to do this?”
“This isn't going to look right?”
Ho hum, ever the pessimist.
Day three: Wait! No activity! Must be sure the liquid nails and the caulk are completely dry!
Day four: Sanding! This was not the fun part! Didn't seem to take too long though! Next… PAINT! YAY! My favorite part!
Day five: If the paint is dry, hang up that new hand rail! SCREECHING HALT!!
Even without the railing up, hubby is COMPLETELY amazed! He cannot believe how good it looks! I knew it would all along!
Now, here is where my project goes waaaay wrong! I drill my first anchor hole, grab the anchor, start to drill it into the wall, and the drywall just shreds!! Not only did it shred, but the anchor jumped about ½” from the original hole! What the heck?
Maybe it’s too close to the wood and I don’t have enough room. Move over and down a bit, drill a new pilot hole, start to screw the anchor in…the exact same thing happens! Now there are two big holes in the drywall I just painted. I was afraid to drill into the wood because I am beginning to think there is a problem with the drywall!
I cannot afford to replace drywall! Is there mold? Now what?
Well, there was a problem with the drywall…it had gotten wet at some point and was rotten! No mold though, at least not where we looked. Patch the holes we created! Treat with Kilz and pray!
So apparently, my hubby IS NOT the Incredible Hulk!
We cannot put the railings on that wall! Okay, crazy as it sounds, I actually put them on the opposite wall and love them there! Love them there better than I liked them where they had always been!!
The whole process took a little more than a week considering the drywall mess! Not bad!
As far as pictures…not a lot! Sorry, I was really into getting this done and would only remember I hadn't taken pictures after I was done.
Happy DIY!
Robyn