Leaving a house that we had almost “finished” as far as projects go was hard. So much effort had been poured into our home to make it feel like ours. It was really difficult to hand over the keys to someone else. But now we have the opportunity to make this house into our dream home too. And now that I’ve finally finished unpacking, let the projects begin!
Again, full disclosure, house projects with a newborn is rough, so apologies for all of the cruddy nighttime photos.
This was the before on both the fireplace and the shiplap. I just thought since it was a smaller space then what we were coming from that it needed something to brighten it up and give it some focus. I’m doing several wood wall projects in this house, but currently this is the only room I plan to do shiplap in. For now :)
So for my “shiplap” I use a pretreated plywood board I had cut into horizontal strips at 8 inches tall. We actually treated ourselves when we moved and bought a circular saw and a nail gun. We had been using a jigsaw and table saw that didn’t quite work how they needed to give us clean cuts. The right tools really do MAKE SUCH A DIFFERENCE.
I undershoot how much plywood I needed just a bit, so you can see I painted while waiting to find time to go back to the hardware store. So much brighter! This ended up taking about 3.5 sheets of the 4x8 ft Sureply.
Those cuts around the outlets were the only true bear of this project. We just were sure to measure multiple times before making our cuts and it went pretty smoothly!
With the fireplace whitewashed, and the wall shiplapped, I went ahead and painted the surrounding walls gray to coordinate with it. The whole space is just so bright and inviting now, and I love it! And hopefully in the spring, we will have the lighter hardwoods throughout to match the rest of the flooring on the 1st floor. I think that will really help things to look classy and can’t wait! BUUUUT around that same time is when I’ll have to baby proof everything so it’s give and take :)
Love this little reading nook over here. I can see many a winter night curled up next to the fire with a good book there. I’m just on the hunt for a wooden stool to use as a table for my cups of cider!
I actually really like this mantle, and now think it has such better flow. The accent wall really helps you know where to look when you enter the room. I can’t wait to see it all decorated for Christmas soon with stockings and all! We are so thankful to be in this space and creating new memories with Parker as he experiences all of this for the first time!
