Hello! I am excited to be a guest here today with you sharing some how-to tips. I am Casey, creator of Yes to Lovely, a little blog that is my creative outlet in addition to being a wife and momma. After several life upheavals and some loss in our lives, I decided I wanted to focus on whatever lovely thoughts, moments or surroundings I could in order to not let life get me down. Hence, I daily choose to say, "yes!" to lovely and I compile lovely ideas and photos on my blog.
My husband and I recently took out a half wall in our tiny galley-style kitchen, and the project I am going to share with you today is using picture frame wainscoting to make the half wall and lower cabinets appear like an island. I am excited with the low cost and the results!
Our galley kitchen was claustrophobic. With two toddlers, the space was getting nutty with four of us in there at a time. We knocked out part of a full wall and half a wall. This left us with a half wall in order to plug in our stove. We opted to turn the area into an island, and it is still a work in progress with hopes of removing the carpet for tile, adding stools and getting a new stove.
But in the meantime, in place of traditional wainscoting, to fool us all into thinking it looked like a real island cabinet, we mounted a board, stained it and to keep costs down, I applied plain white frames (available at any major home improvement store, I got mine at Lowe's). This was an easier project than I was expecting it to be. I was a little intimidated because measuring isn't really my strong suit. I sew, cook and do paint projects often with little measuring and (usually) it all turns out. That's just the way I think - but using the level and really measuring was quite fun, actually!
To start I made sure to purchase enough frames to fill the space in a design I liked. So I bought four of the large frames, measured to make sure they would be equally spaced and then taped them to the wall using painter's tape to keep them where I wanted. The measuring was a bit tricky because we have an old house, and the floor is a wee bit sloped. So make sure you use a level but sometimes, a bit of eyeballing is necessary to make sure it lines up with baseboard or chair rails.
After taping the frames, I outlined each of the four corners with a pencil and took them off the wall. Originally, I tried using liquid nails to adhere them to the island, but you have to be an octopus to do this. It takes a while to stick and the frames like to pop off. So when the glue was not happening, I switched to finishing nails. Just pounded them in down the sides and on each corner. This step took only a few minutes. It does help to have a second set of hands, but re-taping the frame also works.
Finally, I took some latex filler and covered the nail heads, primed and painted our makeshift island in a rich taupe hue, a contrasting color from our other cabinets.
This project can save you quite a lot of time, money and trouble if you want to use it in place of traditional frame wainscoting. I love how it turned out, if I do say so myself! Super satisfying project.
It has been awesome sharing this today! Thanks for reading and I hope you can transfer this project to your own home's needs as well!
Casey
Wow Casey! That is an awesome repurpose! I truly love how your “wainscoting” turned out! I know my friends are going to LOVE this project! Thanks for sharing it with us today. Be sure to hop over and say hi to Casey @ Yes to lovely
gail
Em
Where did you purchase the frames for the wain coting.
gail@myrepurposedlife.com
Em,
I'm sorry--this was a guest post from another blogger, so I don't have the answer to that question.
gail
Belinda
That's a very nice design. You took out the previous boring look. Thank you for sharing nice idea. I might try this one.
Sandra Brown
I love this idea. Cutting the frames with my plastic miter box is not easy. Were these picture frames or pre made Wainsctting frames? I haven't noticed them at home depot.
Decorella
That looks amazing! Of all of the ideas on Pinterest, this I haven't seen. I must add it to my list http://www.decorellaknox.com/2012/07/not-your-typical-picture-frame.html
Patricia
I agree it is really cheaper that way. Thanks for sharing!
Erin
Absolutely gorgeous!
Sharon @ Elizabeth & Co.
That is such a clever idea! And thrifty too!
Suzanne@Meridian Road
Wow! I love the frames on it, and that dark stained wood plank on top looks great, too.
Love Of Quilts
Just Fabulous!
Toqua's Crafts
WOW! What an AWESOME idea!
Paige @ Little Nostalgia
Smart! It looks pretty convincing to me!
Anne
Now THAT is a great idea!! Easy, quick and no mitering!!!!
Terri
This is brilliant! I have seen other "faux" wainscoting done measuring out strips of molding, but this makes it a much simpler process and it looks great!
Job well done Casey! Thanks for sharing~
✿ⒹⒺⒺ✿@ A Lapin Life
Hi Gail,
Wow! It looks amazing. Casey made it look easy to do. I love it.
Dee