Gettin' My Plank On

Sooo, we kinda started a house project today.  On a Sunday.  Silly girl.

It's something I've been thinking about doing (and pinning) for quite awhile, but Saturday we decided to just go for it.  The Dad ran to Home Depot for supplies last night and we started in this morning.  I feel like I haven't had a house project in forever!  And now that my house is torn apart, I remember why it's such a pain in the ass to DIY.

The room subjected to my craziness this time is the dining room.  The list of things I've been obsessing about wanting to do are:

• Paint the walls
• New light
• Remedy the ugly ceiling
• Repair and refinish curbside round dining table
• Paint mismatched chairs
• Recover chair seats
• Take out wall to kitchen

I guess that's it.

Today we started with the second hardest item on the list.  The ceiling.  I've been eyeballin' the plank thing for a year or so now, and decided to go with it.  After reading up on what other people have used, we decided to go with the method these people used to plank their walls.  It was the least expensive and sounded like the easiest.

The Dad bought three sheets of the 4 x 8 underlayment and had Home Depot rip them into 6-inch widths for him.  Just FYI, they charge .50 cents after the first two cuts.  That's insanity, if you ask me.  My eyes about bugged out of my head when he came home and told me that.  I told him I should have gone.  :o)  BUT, we got lucky.  The guy screwed up the measurements, so he didn't charge us for any of the cuts.  Phew.  Our room is 8 by 9 and total cost was under $35 bucks.

I originally wanted 3 1/2-inch planks, but The Dad said it would be too busy looking.  And more nail holes to fill.  So I agreed to the 6-inch.

We didn't use glue, in case another wild hair hits someday and we decide to take them down.  A chop saw, measuring tape, nail gun and a paint stir stick spacer were our only tools.  

Two sets of hands are definitely necessary.

 Getting closer...

Wahoo, only a couple more pieces!

So really, it didn't suck at all.

Let me tell you what sucked.

Priming it.

Rolling it was fine - it was realizing that the roller wasn't gonna get in the cracks, and having to paint them with a paintbrush, that sucked.  

Between every single board.

Twice. 

That sucked.

 Annnnd, I'm pretty sure The Dad would tell you that filling nail holes sucks.

Pretty sure.

Tomorrow, I need to figure out what final coat paint I'm gonna use and then go at it again.

 Anyone wanna come paint those spaces between the boards for me tomorrow?

Flat?  Eggshell?  Satin?

We have flat on all our other ceilings, but maybe the planks should be eggshell?

Dunno, whatdya think?

Baby thinks it's a mess in here.

Avert your eyes if you're superstitious.

Oh, and one more thing, it's a good idea to plan on take-out when you're knee-deep in a dining room project.

Clearly I wasn't thinking when I pulled a prime rib out of the freezer to defrost Saturday morning.

Sooo, we had prime rib, parsnip-potato mash, roasted beets and bread.

How do you eat dinner when you don't have a dining room?

Haul the table into the only open floor space and gather 'round:

Think she cares?

What about her?

Here's dinner on my plate:

Cross your fingers that Baby cooperates tomorrow and lets me make some more progress.

To see the room's progress, go here.
To see my dining room chair mini makeover, go here.

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