FIXING OUR HOUSE! DIY Home Makeover + Projects That Didn’t Go as Planned

Hello y'all, welcome back to a new video. Today we are fixing a DIY project that I did not do properly the first time. So we're gonna fix it up today and refresh my bathroom. Thank you guys so much for watching and I wanted to give a huge shout out to Lowe's for sponsoring today's video. This bathroom has needed a makeover for a while, specifically this board and batten wall. Honestly, I did this years ago and I didn't know that there was a way that you could make the wall look smooth. We have very textured walls and I ended up just doing the board and batten wall right over top of the texture. At that time, I hadn't painted a darker color so I feel like it was a little bit more forgiving and now that I've been going through painting the house, it was such an eyesore. You could see every imperfection, all the texture, the wood that I used at the time was cheap lumber so it just, it doesn't look that great and it's time to do it the right way and I'm gonna show you guys how to do that. But first, we need to make a trip to Lowe's to get all of our materials. Today's video is sponsored by Lowe's and y'all already know I'm really excited to be working with them because I do so many projects around our house and I would not be able to tackle half of them if it wasn't for Lowe's. Lowe's has always been and will always be my go-to for our home projects, whether we're doing basic home maintenance, giving a space a little refresh, or tackling a bigger remodel, they have such a great selection to choose from at prices that make these projects feel a lot more doable. Most of the time, I personally love going in-store, I just like shopping at Lowe's, everyone is so nice and helpful. However, you can shop however's easiest for you and that includes shopping online right at Lowes.com. You can get free shipping on qualifying orders over $45 and they even offer same day delivery on eligible in-stock items when you order by 2 p.m. Since we are working on that bathroom project I told you guys about, I need to get some trim, I need to get a wall board to create a smooth background, I also had to pick up other supplies like brushes and rollers and things like that. Oh, and I almost forgot, I did find a new mirror for the front bathroom because the one we have just does not fit the space very well and this one was such a great price, I couldn't pass it up. I was able to pick up everything I needed today for this project right here at Lowe's as a one-stop shop and I'm super grateful Lowe's sponsored today's video. Thank you for that. I will have all the links to everything I use down below along with a couple other videos where I have done some really great makeovers with the help from Lowe's. Thank you again for watching and trusting my recommendation. As always, let's get right into this project. First up is demo and believe it or not, these boards were on here so good. I must have used 100 nails on each board. I don't know what I was thinking. And not to mention, we have layers and layers of paint, there's also caulk all in the seams, so this part was not easy, but it was kind of satisfying to rip it up. This is like, anytime you get to do a demo job, I feel like it's so much fun. I am gonna be honest and just tell you, I wasn't too worried about damaging the wall. I knew it was already gonna be damaged and I was like, you know what, forget it. Let's just hammer away, get these boards off here in whatever way possible. I planned on putting a board up anyway to cover it all, so nobody's gonna know this is here except for me and you, so it's fine. We'll cover it up, call it a day and it did look a lot better, so don't worry. I know it's gonna look a little crazy, but this is just part of the process. It's always gonna look worse before it looks better. Like I said earlier, I didn't worry about the damage, so yes, I am going in here with a flathead screwdriver and a hammer just to kind of pry it apart and then I'm just ripping it out. Now, if you're trying to do as less damage as possible, I definitely recommend scoring all the edges with a razor knife and then using something a lot more meant for this type of job, like a mini pry bar or utility bar, whatever you wanna call it, a flat bar, or just grab a butter knife, just kidding. I'm totally joking, kind of. But anyway, I am just gonna ripple this out. I think I mentioned it a few times, but I do plan on replacing all the trim in the house and I'm going with more of a modern style just so that way it's a little bit more timeless. I actually love the trim we have in the house, but it is very expensive, so instead of having to go through and spend a ton of money, I actually like the look of just basic square trim, so that's what I plan on using. So I am gonna be adding trim to the bottom there, so that's why I ripped that piece off. But anyway, we're gonna go ahead and cut the wall board. I did have my husband's help for this. I do not like using a skill saw. I've shared many times, I just, I don't like it. It's the one job that I asked my husband to do, so he did cut that for me, very thankful for that. And I just measured it for this space, so once I got it measured, the only thing you really have to do is just hold it up and nail it in. It's that simple. I do not use liquid nails. Some people would say use liquid nails behind this, but what's the point? It's not gonna go anywhere when you add some brad nails to it. So just nail her up and leave it be. Now moving on to the trim, I am gonna go ahead and cut the top board. So these are one by four by eight primed spruce pine common softwood boards. I know that's a mouthful, but that's what they're called, and I will have these linked down below. These are my favorite type of trim boards. I used these in the new edition when I trimmed out all the windows, and they're easy to cut. I feel like they look really, really nice whenever they're painted and all the seams are filled in stuff. I just, I love these. You can actually buy, I think it's called, they're called MDF boards. I do not recommend those for any type of trim, especially around windows or doors, anything, just because if they get wet, they swell. So make sure that if you are ever buying trim, you get actual wood trim. I'm on the way to Lowe's. I have to get a bigger piece of trim. I messed up. I knew I was gonna forget something, but one of my trim pieces are not wide enough to cover the base of the area that I damaged, so it's okay, it happens. I'm gonna go get that, and I'm also gonna grab me a Coke because I deserve it. I'm working so hard, and I need something. I did end up grabbing my Coke, and I got the right size trim. So this is a one by six, and I'm actually going to be cutting this down for the bottom piece, and gonna go ahead and get this nailed up. I immediately, as soon as I put this up, number one, it's a lot wider than the old trim, and it just makes it look so much more high end. It is only like a little bit wider, but it made a world of a difference. I definitely recommend going with a wider trim if you can afford it. I know it's a little bit more expensive, but sometimes some things are worth spending a little bit more money on. And then, basically from here, after you get your wall board on, your top trim on, and your bottom trim, you're then gonna cut the boards for in between. Now, in this case, before, I had multiple little boards. Now that I have one by fours in between, I really only needed to cut four of them, one for each side, and then two for in the center. And you just measure them out, and make sure that they're all spaced out evenly. I feel like from this angle, it looks a little weird. It's because my camera's zoomed out, so just know it's the right measurements. It just looks weird when you zoom out the camera. And then to add a little detail, I did decide to use a one by two here at the top. This just gives that little ledge look, and I, oh, I just love the way this looks. It looks so good. Now, this style of trim is called craftsman style trim. Craftsman style uses a lot more of a simple, flat design. There's not a lot of curves, or it's not like a traditional style trim. I personally think that craftsman style is the most timeless design. It can go with any style. That's just my opinion, and that's why moving forward, this is the style I'm gonna go for throughout the entire house. That way, as the years go on, and styles change, or if my style changes, I know that the trim work that I chose is gonna work for any of those styles. Board and batten wall is done. Everything is nice and smooth now, and it's not all bumpy and lumpy with the old lumber that I used, so that looks great. But now, we're gonna put some wallpaper up. So I ended up picking this up from Lowe's as well. These are the Scott Living brand. It is the textured surface seagrass natural. I did end up getting two boxes, and I'm just gonna do this one wall. Kind of just has a little bit of an accent, so I think it's gonna look real good. And obviously, I'm waiting on this, all the caulk and stuff to dry, so that way I can paint. So just bear with me, it'll get done. Just gotta let it all dry first. I have done wallpaper many times, and I've learned a little tips and tricks to get it to stay up. One of the biggest struggles with peel-and-stick wallpaper are that the corners sometimes tend to lift if the bathroom gets a little bit too much heat or too cool, the corners can lift, and the next thing you know, the whole thing of wallpaper's falling down. So what I do is I actually caulk all the seams. Now, I know that whenever you go to peel it off later and change it later, it is going to leave a bead of caulk at the top. However, you can just take a razor knife and cut that off, and it peels right off really easily. So I don't worry about that too much. I am more so worried about right here, right now, how do I get this wallpaper to stay without having to use spray adhesive? I cannot stand the smell of spray adhesive. To me, it smells like vinegar, and it does not go away for a long time. And I actually use the spray adhesive for the wallpaper in my bathroom, and it has left a residue behind that no matter how many times I paint over it, you can see the residue eventually seep through the paint. It's awful. So what I do is once I get all the trim, or I'm sorry, all the wallpaper up, I then just take a very thin bead of caulk along the top of the ceiling, where it meets the wallpaper, and at the bottom, very thin layer, and it just seals the wallpaper to the wall. So it doesn't get any air under it that can cause it to peel up. By the way, you don't have to use white caulk either. You can use the clear stuff, so that way it's not noticeable at all at the top or bottom. And that is also really, I'm not gonna tell you to do this at a rental because I don't want you to damage anything, but just saying if I was in a rental and I needed the wallpaper to stick and I couldn't use adhesive, the wallpaper wouldn't stay, I would either use a little bit of hot glue on each little edge, like a little dollop on each side, or I would use the clear silicone caulk, and then before I peel down the wallpaper, I would make sure to use a razor knife to cut the edge off. That way it peels off seamlessly, but do all that at your own risk, okay? I don't wanna get in trouble, and I don't want you guys to get in trouble or lose your deposit, but there is a risk anytime you do any type of DIY project, so always keep that in mind. As far as wallpapering the rest of the wall, I am kind of considering going up around the door. Again, I actually had wallpaper there before. The only reason why I decided not to do it this time around was because I planned on painting the door and the trim, and I wasn't, at this point in time, I didn't plan on painting the door and the trim today. I was gonna save it for another day when I redo all that trim, but that's why I didn't end up continuing the wallpaper, because I didn't wanna get paint all over it and stuff. I don't know. I don't know if I'm going to. I do like the way it looks currently. I think it's just enough texture and just enough color for this space without becoming too overwhelming. This bathroom is itty-bitty. It's so tiny, and sometimes when you add too much stuff, it can just be too much, so I don't know. We'll see, but I do like how it looks currently with just it being on this one wall, and then there was a little bit of overlap, so I just take the razor knife and cut just a straight line all the way down following the ceiling and the corner, and then you just gently peel it off, and that's it. At this point, once I get it all peeled off, I do go through and really rub down the wall. You want to make sure that there is no air behind the wallpaper. There's actually a tool for this. I did not buy it, but I just use my arm. I'm gonna be honest. The heat of my arm kind of helps the wallpaper stick, and keep in mind, my walls are extremely textured, so that's another reason why I like to use my arm to kind of heat the adhesive up, and it helps it stick, but anyway, moving on, we're gonna paint. I'm using the Valspar Reserve. This is my favorite paint ever. I also got a new paint kit. This is just so convenient to just get a new one, and I'm using the color Alabaster in a semi-gloss finish. I was actually a little surprised that this was not as, I'm sorry, that is my dog snoring in the background. He gets louder sometimes when I'm talking. It's like he wants to be heard, but as far as the glossy finish goes, I thought it was gonna be a little bit more glossy than it is. I actually think that they messed up and put the gallon size that I ordered in the glossy finish, and I think this is the satin, but it's okay, it'll work. In the bathroom, I would typically go for more of a semi-gloss or glossy finish, but satin also works fine. I like satin because I think it keeps the true color of the paint. That is something a lot of people don't realize is that whenever you start picking out a different sheen, so super glossy is going to reflect the light differently, and the color's gonna look different. Remember, whenever you're watching people's videos or seeing a color on Pinterest, make sure that you find the sheen that they have, and keep in mind that everybody's lighting is gonna be different. There is no natural light in this bathroom, so I feel like the Alabaster color does look a little bit different in here than it does in the main living space, but either way, it still turned out really beautiful, and so anyway, I'm gonna move on to replacing the mirror. This is the new one that I got, the Origin 21. I love how this mirror fits better, and honestly, I feel like it almost, it doesn't, what's it called when it's not magnified? It almost zooms out. It's great. I don't know how to explain this mirror or why it looks the way that it does, but I feel like when you look in the mirror, you almost look like you're standing further back, and I think that helps create the illusion that the bathroom's bigger, and it could be in my head, but the old round mirror zoomed everything in. It was so odd, so yeah, I like the new mirror much better, but then I decided to go ahead and paint the door and the trim in here. Like I mentioned earlier, this was not part of the plan. I planned on doing this later because all the trim around the doors and everything in the house is getting replaced, but I was like, you know what? I cannot continue this project without doing that because it just looks so odd, so I went ahead and painted the trim in the door. All right, the wall is done, and it looks incredible. I'm so happy with how it turned out. So much more professional looking. It looks complete and finished in here. It doesn't look like a bathroom that was like thrown together, so very happy with how this turned out. The wallpaper looks really beautiful as well. I gotta find some art. Not sure what I wanna put on the wall just yet, but I'll figure it out, and when I do, I will share that with you guys. I'm not in a hurry. I'm gonna find the perfect piece to fit here, so bear with me. I will find it. I just gotta hunt for it, but yeah, that'll go there, and it will take away from the seams. I feel like right now you can really see them just because there's nothing else on the wall, but once you put art up, don't worry about the seams, they're fine. So anyway, that looks really good. Over here, I did change out the mirror. What a difference the shape of this mirror is for this vanity. The old one was like more rounded, y'all remember, and it just, I don't know, it just wasn't working for the space, so I'm really happy with how that turned out, and then also, I feel like now when you look in the mirror, like from behind, this looks complete and finished instead of it looking, I don't know, before it just looked like a crappy DIY job, so now it looks like the bathroom is finished, and it looks so beautiful with the new tub. I'm really, really excited about the bathroom, and I just gotta get all this cleaned up. It's a little cluttered right now. I didn't clean in here, so don't mind it, but anyway, that is how the bathroom turned out. Now, the next step is gonna be trimming out around the windows, and then I'll be starting to paint in here, and boy, do I have a lot of work. I have all my trims stacked up, so I'm gonna get busy on that today, and we'll all share that in a future video, so stay tuned, because all of this is about to be repainted. All right, y'all, that's gonna be it for today's video. Thank you so much for watching. I hope you enjoyed seeing how to create a more professional board and batten wall, and also enjoyed seeing the wallpaper go up, the new mirror. I love how everything turned out, and I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Don't forget to subscribe, share this video with a friend, and I will see all of you guys in my next one. Bye, y'all.