Remember the wall I started redoing in my Getting Ready for Christmas post? Well, I finally finished! It’s just in time to hang my stockings for Christmas. I really love how it turned out and I also discovered something interesting about the wood on the wall. This probably would have taken less than a day to complete if I’d had a whole day to dedicate to it. I just did a little everyday, with some minor setbacks, until it was done. Now it’s time to reveal my completed wall makeover and see what y’all think!
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In the Beginning
Here’s a little reminder of what the wall looked like before. Lovely faux paneling and wall paper over sheet rock. We painted the upper portion years ago in order to hide the hideous wallpaper. There’s also a pipe sticking out of the wall that used to go to a gas heater.
The door to the kitchen is to the right and the door to the hallway is to the left. I’m hoping to open up these doors a little one day to have a less “closed in” feeling. There’s a door or window on every wall in my living room!
After removing the sheet rock it was apparent the popcorn ceiling was sprayed prior to putting it up. With a little elbow grease, I scraped it all off, along with some of the paint. It created quite a mess!
Originally I had planned on sanding down the white paint to reveal some of the wood. That was until I realized there’s another layer of beige paint underneath the white paint! I decided to just clean it up and leave it be for now. It still looks much better than the faux paneling!
Hanging the Mantle Shelf
I didn’t want to use standard hardware to hang an extraordinary shelf. These bronze finished coat hooks seemed perfect for the job!
This is where I ran into the “minor setback”. I also realized the boards that cover 90% of the walls in my house are not regular pine, but fat lighter. Sometimes it’s called “heart pine” or “lighter wood”. Basically, it’s really old pine wood that’s also highly flammable and very hard.
This revelation is making me feel like sleeping with a fire extinguisher! It also explains why I have such a hard time attaching longer nails and screws to hang things up.
I could only get the screws for the coat hooks in about half way, even with an electric drill. It was time to break out the big guns – my main squeeze – Mr. Cook! He had to drill a hole (should have thought of that) before putting in the screw and it still took some force.
As much as I appreciate his help, I get really annoyed (with myself) when I have to ask him for help. In my mind, I am Super Woman!
Anyway, he got the hooks up for me and my marvelous mantel shelf (made by my dad) now adorns my fat lighter wall!
I was a little concerned about the white on white, but I’m adding some color with decorations. Here’s the whole wall with the shelf up.
The little wire shelf in the picture is leftover from rearranging my “office” space. I have no where else to put it at the moment so I need to disguise it. It will also help cover up the pipe until it can be cut – don’t worry, there’s no gas hooked up! That was gone long before we moved in. 🙂
The Decorations
This was the most exciting part for me! Now I have somewhere to hang the Christmas stockings and it’s much better than hooks in the wall. I covered the wire shelf with a piece of burlap to make it blend in a little better.
The shelf on the mantle is very narrow, so I used light weight and slim decorations. The metal feather I made from old flashing is a perfect fit!
I smile every time I look at this wall now! I’m sending out lots of love and thanks to my dad for giving me this mantle shelf. He’s been making some awesome things since he’s retired. You can check out my Facebook page for some of his other work.
That’s all for this fabulous Friday! It’s only 8 more days until Christmas – are you ready?
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