Insert Tongue Into Groove (Part Two)

I could subtitle this post so many things. . .

   "Why Spackle is Your Friend," or

   "Installing Molding Sucks," or even

   "#&@^%#^%$@#!!!!!!!!"

All I can say is that I am glad I am done with this part. Cutting and installing the molding was a complete pain in the butt. Of course many of the problems I had could have been solved by using power tools instead of a plastic miter box, but again, surprisingly I did not lose any blood, so I guess it worked ok.

Because of my complete lack of mitering skillz I ended up with horrendous corners that sported large gaps that didn't even come close to lining up.

(P.S. Yes that is a fossilized cornflake - I unearthed it when I took off the previous baseboard and shoe molding.)

(P.P.S We don't eat cornflakes, so I don't even want to know how old that is.)

I somehow forgot to take pictures of the worst gaps and cracks between the boards on the peninsula, but you get the idea.

So this is where the "spackle is my friend" optional title comes into play. Like a sculptor, I carefully filled the cracks with spackle using a screwdriver and my finger (rather than the suggested putty knife) and voila!

Yes that is the same area! Spackle is my friend, folks. I even got it to work where it really shouldn't have. Exhibit A:

Here is laziness at it's finest. I had already spent an inordinate amount of time on the other two areas where the bead board meets the wall - trying to cut a sliver of the existing baseboard out with my stupid humongous hand saw (again, I am impressed there was no bloodshed) only to be forced to pry off the whole thing, which of course won't go back on after cutting it, and the baseboard doesn't slide in there as perfectly as I expected so the gap is then excavated with screwdrivers, utility knives, you get the picture. Wayyyy more effort for minimal effect. So I get to the last one with the board that is a leftover scrap that I mitered the wrong direction for its original spot, and I just said ^%#$ it. I will spackle it.

And it worked - just don't take a magnifying glass to it or anything.

Spackle saved me one last time by filling in the gaps between the bead board and the cabinet (due to my faulty cutting . . . again. In my defense, this was where I had to rip the boards down the center of the plank with just a hand saw, so it turned out good considering.) Anyways, here's the before/during spackle:

and the after spackle

The finishing touch involved caulking a few of the seams and then I was DONE!!

So let's take a look back to our kitchen before anything was done. . .

And what the kitchen looks like now. . .

It's starting to look like my Microsoft Paint rendition, don't you think? My South Park-esque kitchen drawing is coming to life WAH HA HA!!!!!

So next on the list is my cabinet transformation!!! (aka painting the cabinets white and adding hardware) Stay tuned!!

Insert Tongue Into Groove (Part One)

It's bead board time!!!

If you thought this post was about anything other than bead board, you should be ashamed of yourself. Just kidding. Well, at least it got you to read this far, right? :)

The title is just one of many lame jokes you will probably encounter as you read Part 1 of how to install bead board that doesn't look like crap. It turns out it is a relatively easy project (relative to what, I am not sure) that gives you a pretty big visual bang for the buck. So here goes. . .

If you remember my previous posts about my ideas for redoing the kitchen, we originally were going to have a cabinetmaker make new shaker doors and drawer fronts and paint everything white and whatnot. Well, we are still going to paint everything white, but for budget's sake, we are going to stick with our current cabinet doors and paint them and see what happens. If we like it, it will save in the neighborhood of like $1200, so it definitely is worth a try!

"So where does the bead board come in?" you say. We were planning on doing it regardless of the cabinets because it is a good way to cover up the old ugly laminate and/or veneer panels. Yes, we could just paint it white, but that would be too easy. Plus, I like me some fancy.

I thought perhaps it would be a good idea to install all this stuff first and then paint everything all at once. So that's what I am doing.

Before I begin, I want you to know that my way is not probably the official way to install bead board. In fact, I know it's not. There are a great many tutorials on the world wide web that can help you become the Martha Stewart of bead board. I, on the other hand, am kind of lazy when it comes to projects - my husband suggests I should "embrace the journey". I am more of an "embrace the destination"kind of gal, aka I just want it done already so I can move on with my life. So now that you are familiar with my DIY philosophy, let's commence. . .

When I paint the cabinets, I am going to be using the Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations, which supposedly does not require sanding or priming and gives a professional finish without the mess or harsh fumes. I will believe it when I see it, but I thought it was worth a try, especially if it works!

Even though it states that you don't need to prime first, I swear I remember reading somewhere on the internet blogosphere that if you are using raw wood it is a good idea to prime it first. (I didn't exactly go back to verify this fact - hey, when has my memory ever failed me. . .) Since I decided to use the raw pine bead board planks (for ease of use - the planks were small enough that I could cut them with a handsaw and not have to spend money or lose fingers on a table saw) I figured it couldn't hurt to prime.

I decided to use the Zinsser B-I-N Primer because it is supposedly very good at blocking stains and knots. And the planks I bought happened to be particularly knotty, so I'm glad I did. And I have to say, I really liked using a foam brush for this - not only are they dirt cheap, but they don't leave crazy brushstrokes.

After one coat of primer, you could still see some of the knots . . .

So I followed up with a second coat and that seemed to do the trick - 

I let them dry about an hour and they were ready to go! Now for the installation - here is a picture of the main area before (the "wood" doesn't look that good in real life, so don't feel bad that I covered it up - trust me, I don't.)

The instructions for the bead board say to make sure to leave a gap of 1/8" for expansion/contraction of the wood. I had no problem with that, because the plank was like a few inches too short to cover the whole thing from top to bottom. But I will be adding molding at the top and a fancy baseboard at the bottom so no worries.

I took the first plank, squirted some Liquid Nails on the back, and just kind of stuck it up there.

Should I have used a level to make sure it was straight? Yes, probably - but it was all the way out it the garage and I didn't feel like going out there to get it (remember, I'm the "just get it done" kind of girl), so I just eyeballed it. So I just added a plank at a time, gluing the back, inserting tongue into groove, and so on.

As it turned out, however, Liquid Nails worked more like Liquid Molasses and the boards slowly oozed down the wall (which, duh, should not have surprised me since there was nothing underneath the boards to support them), so I added a nail towards the top of just about every other board, and that seemed to work. You can see it is certainly not perfect, but my friends, that is the beauty of adding molding on the top and bottom that will (I hope) cover all that mess up.

Then, TAH-DAH! This part was done!

The other sides of the cabinets were a little more challenging. Of course, they required me to have to rip (that's construction lingo for cut lengthwise) the boards to get stupid slivers to fill in the gaps. Hopefully, once everything gets spackled and caulked, no one will be the wiser. . .

The way I had to handle that handsaw to make those cuts, it probably after all would have been safer for me to use a table saw, but I managed to escape unscathed and with pieces that, though not perfect, would work. I'll clean up the mess tomorrow.

But for now, I can look at my finished bead board (that is, except for the molding!)

Stay tuned for Part 2!!

Recipe Post: Nutella + Bananas = AMAZING

I've been doing a lot more cooking from scratch recently as things have been getting slightly more back to normal after the move, and I thought I would post this amazing one I came across:

Nutella Banana Bread

I found this recipe on this awesome website called Six Sister's Stuff - I linked to the main recipe list.  The website was actually sent to me by my own sister, and I went there on account of their Freezer Meal Ideas (you spend a couple hours preparing everything then putting the meals in freezer bags, and when you want to cook one, you just pop it in the crock pot. Awesome.) And I have to say, I have actually cooked two of the pre-prepared meals so far and they were awesome (I wonder how many more times I can use the word awesome in this paragraph.) In case you are interested I made the Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas and the Chicken Broccoli Alfredo with Easy Parmesan Knots. Yes, you guessed it - awesome.

Back to Nutella Banana Bread. It is definitely a sweet dessert bread, but you can pretend that it is super healthy because it is made of bananas and because Nutella (with toast) is a staple of a French breakfast (so says my 9th grade French teacher. . . who also forced us to sing the French song Alouette with her in class. Which was rather difficult because she was tone deaf, and she would get mad at us and make us start over if we didn't sing it "in tune" along with her. True story.) 

P.S. I am aware that the above ad is not in French. At least I got that much from French class.

Though people around the world eat their Nutella on toast, I prefer a healthier alternative by reducing the carbs and eliminating the toast all together and just eating the Nutella out of the jar with a spoon. I know my body thanks me for being so health-conscious. (Actually, I think there's a class action lawsuit against Nutella for making claims of it being healthy - it can't be any worse than Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal - its downfall comes from it looking a little too much like chocolate frosting.)

Ok, enough jibber jabber. Here's the recipe (in case you have actually made it this far without just simply clicking on the "Nutella Banana Bread" link at the very beginning of the post.) I did modify the recipe a tad (including the cook time - I prefer my bread to be cooked) and I eliminated a few extra steps I was too lazy to do (why add eggs separately? It still tastes good when I dumped both in at the same time).

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
3 ripe bananas, smushed
1/3 cup skim milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 heaping cup Nutella 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 8×4-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking soda & salt.
3. In a separate large bowl, beat sugar and butter with an electric mixer at medium speed until blended. Add eggs and beat well. Add banana, milk and vanilla. Beat until blended.
4. Add flour mixture, beat at low speed just until flour is incorporated (don’t over mix).
5. Spoon Nutella into a small dish and soften in the microwave for about 15 seconds. Add 1 cup of the banana bread batter to the Nutella and stir until blended well. Spoon Nutella batter alternately with plain banana bread batter into the prepared pan. Swirl batters together with a knife.
5. Bake 60 - 70 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool for at least 15 minutes in the pan, and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Voila!! Chocolatey-bananaey goodness! Bon appetite!