This is the before picture of our downstairs bathroom. I've already started the demolition work of removing the baseboards.
This is my baseboard removal technique. I took the widest chisel I had and used it to pry away the baseboards. This worked pretty well because I was able to pound the chisel down behind the board without damaging it before prying the board away from the wall. The idea is to reuse the baseboards as much as possible.
The chair rail for the wainscoating was not a cap rail which looks like an upside down L. I decided against the cap chair rail because of how thin and uninteresting it was. At least the one style that our local Home Depot had was thin and uninteresting. So instead I got the only other chair rail they had. The problem was the bottom detail work of the chair rail was not wide enough to sit over the wainscoat. So I used my table saw to rip off this bottom detail. The picture shows the modified chair rail on the left and the original on the right. One disadvantage to using this chair rail rather than a cap rail is it doesn't hold down the top of the panels so you really need to nail the panels to the studs. It also doesn't allow you to hide the top nail holes under the cap.
The next step was to install this chair rail all around the bathroom. This is the method described to me by the Home Depot guy. "Whacha wanna do is snap a chalk line around and then hang your panels. Then slap the baseboard on the bottom." Well I didn't snap a chalk line because my room was so small. I just used a level and it worked out pretty well. Note if you do decide to snap a chalk line be very careful with the chalk. Only after I used this method in our baby's room upstairs (over the carpet) did I notice that chalk is made out of industrial strength dye that doesn't come out! Another tip is if you use a chair rail with bumps and reliefs like mine, nail it under one of the reliefs so the nail holes are in the shadow when the overhead light is on.
I bought adhesive (Liquid Nails) and applied it to the waincoat panels. Home Depot sells these big panels that you just cut to fit around all your obstacles. It was pretty easy in the bathroom because I didn't have any outlets to worry about. It was a little harder in the baby's room upstairs with the outlets and window sill to cut around. I don't really know how much the adhesive does for you because I think you still really need to nail it up with finishing nails. Try to find all the available studs because it makes it stick a whole lot better!
I cut a few strips of wainscoating out of my scrap to put under the panels. I did this just to support my baseboards when I nailed them to the waincoat panels. One probably obvious tip is to nail the bottom of the panel as far down as you can so hopefully the baseboard will cover the nail hole. That's just one less nail hole you have to fill. I had to trim my baseboards a little to account for the depth of the panels but otherwise they were totally reused. I just snipped off the existing nails rather than pounding them though the front creating all kinds of holes.
The worst part of the whole thing is fill the gaps and nail holes. I used regular paintable caulk and went to work on the whole thing. The Home Depot guy said that pros usually fill the nail holes with drywall spackle but if you aren't doing any drywall then you probably don't have spackle lying around. I found that caulk works ok although you can see the holes if you look.
Here is the painted finished product with the toilet and toilet paper reinstalled. It really lightens up the room which as you can tell was painted in a really dark blue. I hope everyone who uses this room has time to sit and enjoy it! :-)
This is the before picture of our downstairs bathroom. I've already started the demolition work of removing the baseboards.
This is my baseboard removal technique. I took the widest chisel I had and used it to pry away the baseboards. This worked pretty well because I was able to pound the chisel down behind the board without damaging it before prying the board away from the wall. The idea is to reuse the baseboards as much as possible.
The chair rail for the wainscoating was not a cap rail which looks like an upside down L. I decided against the cap chair rail because of how thin and uninteresting it was. At least the one style that our local Home Depot had was thin and uninteresting. So instead I got the only other chair rail they had. The problem was the bottom detail work of the chair rail was not wide enough to sit over the wainscoat. So I used my table saw to rip off this bottom detail. The picture shows the modified chair rail on the left and the original on the right. One disadvantage to using this chair rail rather than a cap rail is it doesn't hold down the top of the panels so you really need to nail the panels to the studs. It also doesn't allow you to hide the top nail holes under the cap.
The next step was to install this chair rail all around the bathroom. This is the method described to me by the Home Depot guy. "Whacha wanna do is snap a chalk line around and then hang your panels. Then slap the baseboard on the bottom." Well I didn't snap a chalk line because my room was so small. I just used a level and it worked out pretty well. Note if you do decide to snap a chalk line be very careful with the chalk. Only after I used this method in our baby's room upstairs (over the carpet) did I notice that chalk is made out of industrial strength dye that doesn't come out! Another tip is if you use a chair rail with bumps and reliefs like mine, nail it under one of the reliefs so the nail holes are in the shadow when the overhead light is on.
I bought adhesive (Liquid Nails) and applied it to the waincoat panels. Home Depot sells these big panels that you just cut to fit around all your obstacles. It was pretty easy in the bathroom because I didn't have any outlets to worry about. It was a little harder in the baby's room upstairs with the outlets and window sill to cut around. I don't really know how much the adhesive does for you because I think you still really need to nail it up with finishing nails. Try to find all the available studs because it makes it stick a whole lot better!
I cut a few strips of wainscoating out of my scrap to put under the panels. I did this just to support my baseboards when I nailed them to the waincoat panels. One probably obvious tip is to nail the bottom of the panel as far down as you can so hopefully the baseboard will cover the nail hole. That's just one less nail hole you have to fill. I had to trim my baseboards a little to account for the depth of the panels but otherwise they were totally reused. I just snipped off the existing nails rather than pounding them though the front creating all kinds of holes.
The worst part of the whole thing is fill the gaps and nail holes. I used regular paintable caulk and went to work on the whole thing. The Home Depot guy said that pros usually fill the nail holes with drywall spackle but if you aren't doing any drywall then you probably don't have spackle lying around. I found that caulk works ok although you can see the holes if you look.
Here is the painted finished product with the toilet and toilet paper reinstalled. It really lightens up the room which as you can tell was painted in a really dark blue. I hope everyone who uses this room has time to sit and enjoy it! :-)
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