Molding Wall Tutorial

Our guest room has kind of become the catch all room.   Please tell me I am not the only room with a place in my house like that! After my nephew (who lived with us for 3 months) moved back home I had a hard time entering the room because I missed him so much.   Fast forward a year, and with the exceptions of Grandma coming for visits, I really haven’t ventured in there much except to toss a piece of furniture I was no longer using.   But the time has come for a fresh start on the room again.   What better way to chance the look of a room than with come molding and paint?

Supplies:

Chop saw or miter box and saw

Pre-primed 4†(actually measures 3 1/2â€) MDF

Tape Measure

Air Nail Gun with Compressor

Caulk (I used Alex Plus)

Wood Filler

3M Sanding Sponge

Jigsaw

Level

Vacuum

This is the first wall you see as you walk into the room.   I am loving the character all the molding added to the room.   It is a huge welcome to the guests staying in the room.   I also am a big fan of the contrast of the gray paint against the cream molding.   I used Stonewall Jackson by Dutch Boy.   It is a perfect gray with not a hint of blue in it.   It is just a really beautiful color and looks wonderful in all lighting.

The wall of molding cost me right at about $115 for the preprimed 4†MDF ($6.32 for an 8’ board) for the 15’ x 8’ room.   But since it is an investment in the room I didn’t think that was too bad.   Plus you could do it even cheaper if you used regular pine wood.   However, for me, when I am taking that much time to hang it all, fill the holes, caulk and paint it the pre-primed MDF is the way to go.

I am also the type of person that if I do a project like this I don’t skimp or cut corners (ok well I did have to cut the corner…but that is a whole other issue ;).   Therefore, I removed the old baseboard on the wall of molding and replaced it with the matching MDF.   I know some people keep their old baseboards and butt the molding up to it but it would bug me to know that there was that gap there.   So it was a bit tricky.   I ended up having to use my jigsaw and cut a slight curve in the MDF to fit it to the adjacent wall’s baseboards.

1.   My first step was framing out the wall and cutting the curve I just mentioned.   So then there was molding at the top, bottom and both sides of the wall.   Then I measured and hung all the vertical boards.   It is very important to measure each board.   Sometimes your wall is not perfectly square.   It is easier to cut it 1/8†less or more than to have to recut or caulk the heck out of it.   Measure twice, cut once!

2.   Then I hung all of the horizontal boards. Make sure you use a level for each one before you nail it in. I also literally measured each space and marked where it needed to be nailed in.   Believe it or not it seemed like every single one of them was off by 1/16†of an inch of so.   So again I say…measure!

3.   Now steps one and two are the fun part.   Now for the not-so-fun part.   Filling all the nail holes and caulking, caulking and more caulking.   This isn’t very fun and very time consuming (took me 2.5 hours) but the most vital step of the process.   You want to make sure everything looks seamless once painted.

I filled the nail holes first and then sanded them all done.   Then I vacuumed and washed all the dust away before I caulked it.   When doing this project it is really important to keep a tidy workspace or you will have dust embedded into your finished product.

Tip: The way I caulk is to make sure you cut the tip at an angle.   Squeeze out the caulk onto the crack and then dip your finger into water and smooth it out.   It gives it a nice appearance.

4.   I used Scotch Blue Painter’s Tape with Film to tape off the wall, ceiling and carpet.   This stuff is pricey but awesome. Then I used my paint sprayer and sprayed the wall with some custom tinted paint to match the rest of the molding in my house.

The only part I am unsure about is how I ended the molding at the window.   Being that it is so close to corner I felt this was my only option.   However, I am wondering if I should have just put molding around it.   Hmmm…not sure about that one.

If you aren’t afraid of power tools this isn’t a difficult project.   I did it by myself with the exception of the measuring part because my arms were not wide enough.   It took me about 8 hours start to finish.

Stay tuned tomorrow as I reveal a little more of the room and give one of my readers a $100 Wal-Mart gift card.