I'm not usually one to do things twice, but I decided early on in this project that I wanted the material that tops the half wall to be something special. I'm keeping my eyes and ears open for someplace where I can get a one-of-a-kind hunk of gnarly repurposed wood. Like an old, weathered barn beam or something. But, since I figured the search for such a material might take a long time, I needed to top the half wall with something else in the meantime. So, following
YHL's lead, I picked up a super affordable 1x10" pine board. Ain't she perfect?
I had the fine folks at HD cut it to length for me, and my Dad router-ed (routed?) the edges to give it a nice, finished look. Then, I slapped on a couple coats of MinWax stain in Jacobean and topped it with 3 coats of polycrylic. If you remember back when I redid our
kitchen table, I've had issues with the poly in the past, but I'm happy to announce that this time it went on flawlessly!
I left the board 2 inches longer than the wall for a slight overhang. Of course, we didn't want anything hazardous, because the last thing you want to do is slam your hip into a piece of lumber as you navigate through the house with a laundry basket or something. But, there has been none of that. :)
It hangs over about an inch on each side, too. The wall is built with 2x6s, and if I was a super duper carpenter lady, I could do the math and tell you exactly how much overhang there is on the sides, but I always get tangled up with the
actual dimensions of lumber vs what we call them (ex. 2x6 is not
really 6" wide, but then there's 2 pieces of drywall, and of course the 1x10 is not
really 10" wide, either).
On the other end, I just butted it right up against the wall.
Oh, and here's a bonus project! This HVAC in our kitchen ceiling used to be a shiny brass. I pulled that sucker down and gave it about 7 light and even coats of ORB. Goodbye eyesore, hello gorgeous!
So, there you have it! One (small) step closer to our goal!
Last night, I committed to both the paint color
and the backsplash tile and dropped some moolah at HD. It felt great!!
xo,
Emily
That ledge looks beautiful Emily! You really achieved a flawless finish! And I love adding a new texture and finish. And those lights catch my eye every time I see this room - a great choice! I love this project!
ReplyDeleteEmily- That looks wonderful. I think it is the perfect finishing piece and even though it wasn't exactly what you had imagined it does a nice job as is. The grate looks a lot better painted, too. You have come a long way with the remodel. Can't wait to see your paint color! xo Diana
ReplyDeleteHoly cow!! Does that look GREAT!!! What a DIFFERENCE this makes! When did you decide to do all this???
ReplyDelete