How to Paint Laminate Cabinets without Sanding

How to Paint Laminate Cabinets without Sanding

How to Paint Laminate Cabinets without Sanding



In this post we’ll go over how to paint laminate cabinets. We did this project in one of our vacation rentals, it has builder grade kitchen cabinets that have the laminate peeling for a while now. I tried using different glues to get the laminate to stick to the MDF again but none of the glues were able to do the trick.

The laminate was peeling, but other than that the kitchen cabinets were in fantastic shape.

I really didn’t want to replace the cabinets since that is a pretty penny, and the only thing wrong with the cabinets was the peeling laminate.

A question then popped into my head…. can you paint laminate cabinets? Off to Pinterest and google we went!

Thank God we found this solution to paint the laminate cabinet doors! This was the perfect way to extend the life of my kitchen cabinets.

The alternative would have been to replace all the kitchen cabinets, and that was an expensive project that I was really trying to avoid. 😉

Painting the laminate cabinets was a fantastic way to keep the kitchen cabinets. You can not tell that they are painted. 

 

 

Note: You can click on any of the pictures below to enlarge the pic to get a better look at it.

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. If you decide to purchase any of these products, we earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. We recommend these products only because we have experience with them and use them for our own projects. As Amazon Associates, we earn from qualifying purchases.

The Shopping List

Tools List

Here’s a list of the tools we used on this project.

Affiliate links below may be to similar items when exact items couldn’t be found online.

A cordless drill

a couple high quality synthetic brushes (primer and paint)

a furniture roller with at least two rolls (primer and paint)

little stands to place the doors on while painting

Supplies List

These are the supplies used on this project.

Affiliate links below may be to similar items when exact items couldn’t be found online.

A gallon of Valspar Stainblocking Bonding Primer/Sealer

A gallon of Valspar Cabinet & Furniture Oil-Enriched Enamel in Satin

How hard is it to paint laminate cabinet doors?

Painting laminated kitchen cabinet doors was A LOT easier than I thought it was going to be. The unknown for me was whether or not the MDF doors were going to swell up when the were painted. Another unknown was how smooth the MDF under the laminate was.

Those were huge unknowns in my head, I was very nervous about starting this project, since the MDF swelling up would mean I’d have to replace the doors!

Step 1 – Remove the laminate on each door

I thought I’d need a heat gun and special tools to remove the laminate that covers the cabinet doors, but luckily I thought wrong. 🙂

This part of the project was very easy, no real hiccups at all.

On my doors the laminate on the back of all my cabinet doors was still holding on tight, so I left the laminate on the backs alone. That reduced the time to complete the project quite a bit. Painting the backs would have doubled the amount of time it took to paint.

If The Laminate Is Already Coming Loose

If the laminate is already coming loose, then it’s just a matter of pulling on the loose piece and the rest of the laminate comes with it.

How to Paint Laminate Cabinets - Pealing Plastic Back
Refinishing Kitchen Cabinets - Pealing Plastic

If The Laminate Isn’t Already Loose

If there isn’t an area on the door where the laminate has already loosened from the MDF then you can use a utility knife to loosen it from the door fairly easily.

Just shimmy the blade between the laminate and the MDF. The easiest place to do that is in the corner of the door.

How to Paint Laminate Cabinets - Use a Utility Knife to Separate the Plastic From The Door Then Twist
How to Paint Laminate Cabinets - Use a Utility Knife to Separate the Plastic From The Door

Step 2 – Sand The Doors Where Needed

Once all the laminate is removed, inspect the doors and make sure there are no dents, glue, etc that needs to be removed.

My doors were in great shape. The only part I needed to sand down where I had previously attempted to glue the plastic back to the door…. needless to say the glue didn’t do the trick but I did need to sand down the glue on the door so there wouldn’t be a bump there.

If you do need to do some sanding, stick to a fine sand paper, like 400 grit.

How to Paint Laminate Cabinets - Doors After Plastic Removed

Step 3 – Prime The Kitchen Cabinet Doors

The primer I used was Valspar Stainblocking Bonding Primer/Sealer which I bought at Lowes.

I used a furniture roller and a quality synthetic brush to apply the primer to the kitchen cabinet doors.

First I used the brush to get the paint into the nooks, then I used the furniture roller to paint the flat surfaces.

How to Paint Laminate Cabinets - Kitchen Cabinet Door After Primer
How to Paint Laminate Cabinets - The Primer Used

Step 4 – Paint the laminate doors using a special kitchen cabinet paint

Matching The Paint Color

Matching the paint color to the cabinets turned out to be a pretty tricky task. I first tried to color match the cabinets at Home Depot, but they couldn’t match the color… I mean not even close.

Not sure if it was the paint, the color matching equipment or just operator error but Home Depot was not getting the color to match.

I then tried Lowes and the color matched with them on the first try.

I don’t mean to rip on Home Depot, but if I had to get the cabinet color matched again… I’d just go to Lowes.

Here’s a picture of the paint I used along with a picture of the color matched code. If you have the same cabinets I do that barcode will match the color perfectly!

 

How to Paint Laminate Cabinets - The Pain Barcode In Lowes
How to Paint Laminate Cabinet - Kitchen Cabinet Paint Label

This part takes a while.

You’ll have to apply at least a couple of coats of paint to the cabinet doors, preferably 3 coats, and of course you also need to give the paint time to dry between the coats.

First, I used the synthetic brush to paint all the n

First I did the nooks and crannies, then I went over the flat surfaces with the roller.

I used a small furniture roller to apply the paint on the flat surfaces and a quality synthetic brush to apply the paint in the nooks and cranies of the door.

Doing that left a beautiful smooth finish.

Tip: Take your time on this part and use a good brush and roller to apply the kitchen cabinet paint

How to Paint Laminate Cabinets - Kitchen Cabinet Doors After Kitchen Cabinet Paint Applied
How to Paint Laminate Cabinets - Kitchen Cabinet Doors After Kitchen Cabinet Paint Applied 2

The Kitchen Cabinet Doors Are Done!!

The cabinet doors are all finished! It took about a day and a half from start to finish to complete, and a lot of that is simply drying time.

I couldn’t be happier with the results!

I was really worried that I was going to mess up the doors by painting them, but they came out SOOOOOO nice!

It Also Works With Laminated Bathroom Cabinet Doors!

They looked so nice, I decided to also do the bathroom cabinet doors. They also came out fantastic!

How to Paint Laminate Cabinets - Finished
How to Paint Laminate Cabinets - I also did the bathroom cabinets

Did you like the post? Was it useful? What would you do different?

Let me know in the comments below!

Thanks!

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How to Paint Laminate Cabinets without Sanding

Converting A Box Spring into a Platform Bed

Converting A Box Spring into a Platform Bed

Converting A Box Spring into a Platform Bed



Let me first say that converting a box spring into a platform bed is not as difficult as you would think.

When we bought our first vacation rental in Kissimmee all the beds had regular beds, meaning they had box springs. Box springs are okay when they’re new, but after a few years, they start squeaking.

When our mattresses start showing their age, we convert the standard bed to a platform bed by removing the box spring. Then replace the mattress with a 14″ Novaform Comfort Grande King Memory Foam Mattress.

We love this platform design because there are no feet on the supports in the middle of the bed. It just gives the bed a nice clean look. Just about any king bed frame you find has those feet and we definitely prefer not having them.

We’ve done that with all of our vacation rentals. We’ve converted box springs to platform beds about 10 times now. Since this was the last box spring to do, it made sense to document how I converted the box spring to a platform bed and write a post about it. 🙂

 

 

 

 

Note: You can click on any of the pictures below to enlarge the pic to get a better look at it.

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. If you decide to purchase any of these products, we earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. We recommend these products only because we have experience with them and use them for our own projects. As Amazon Associates, we earn from qualifying purchases.

The Shopping List

Tools List

Here’s a list of the tools we used on this project.

Affiliate links below may be to similar items when exact items couldn’t be found online.

A cordless drill

drill bits

Miter Saw

a hammer

a level

Circular saw

a 4′ straight edge

a speed square

a pencil or marker

A sander (if you want to sand the slats smooth)

Supplies List
These are the supplies used on this project.

Affiliate links below may be to similar items when exact items couldn’t be found online.

4 – 2×4

2 – 2×2

1 – 1/2″ (or 15/32″ in our days) sheet of plywood

4 – 2×4 metal joist hangers

1 – box of 2″ cabinet screws

1 – box of 3 1/8″ multi-purpose screws

Is Converting A Box Spring into a Platform Bed Difficult?

Like I said, It’s actually much easier than you would think. It takes me about 3 – 4 hours from beginning to end.

If you are somewhat handy and have power tools, you will breeze through this project.

Here’s a curve ball. This turning a bed into a platform bed project won’t work if you have one of those rolling metal frames.

Those are a whole other can of worms!

I’ve done that a couple of times, but it’s much more involved. You’re basically replacing the rolling metal frame with a wooden bed frame. Like I said, much more involved, maybe I’ll do a post on that too later.

 

 

 

 

 

Converting a box spring to a platform bed. The finished product

Step 1- Removing The Old Box Spring Supports

The existing supports are usually either metal bars or wooden slats that go across the width of the bed frame.

You can remove them from the frame since you’ll be using your new supports to hold the platform.

For my example, it’s the metal bars the red arrows are pointing at in the picture.

Converting a box spring to a platform bed. Step 1 - remove the old supports, the red arrows in the picture

Step 2 – Installing The Left & Right Platform Supports

The first supports we’ll be installing are the left and right supports, we’ll use the 2×2’s for those supports.

Tip: The side supports are glued then screwed to the side bed frame boards.

We want the platform to be flush with the sides bed boards. So the supports will be 1/2″ below the top of the side bed boards, the thickness of the plywood.

When measuring the length of your 2x2s make sure you leave enough space on both ends to allow taking the bed apart later if you need to.

Do this step for the left and right sides.

Installing the left & right platform supports
Make sure to leave space on either end of the support

Step 3 – Installing The Top & Bottom Platform Supports

Now that the left and right supports are in place, it’s time to do the head and foot supports.

For those supports we’ll use 2x4s.

The tops of the 2x4s are level with the tops of the side supports from Step 2.

Again, make sure to leave space on both ends for the board’s hardware. So you can still take the bed apart later if you need to.

Converting a Box Spring To A Platform Bed - Installing the top platform support
Converting a Box Spring To A Platform Bed - The bottom platform support installed
Converting a Box Spring To A Platform Bed - bottom foot board screwed in diagonally

Step 4 – Installing The Middle Platform Supports

Now we’ll install the two middle supports, also using 2x4s.
Using the metal 2×4 brackets, we connect them to the headboard and footboard 2x4s.

Space out the middle supports evenly. The easiest way to do that is by dividing the length of the bottom or top supports by 3.

Let’s say the bottom support is 75″ long. Then the spacing would be 25″ for each (75″ / 3 = 25″).

Now, using that example again, you’d mark 25″ from one edge and 25″ from the other edge. That’s the placement for each of your middle supports. Easy Peasy ?

Using the metal joist hangers, connect each end of the middle support to the head and foot platform supports. Making sure that the top of the middle support is flush with the head and foot supports.

Use the 2″ screws in the hanger holes that are flush with the head foot supports.

And the 3 1/2″ screws in the hanger holes that are on the sides of the middle support. The screws go diagonally threw both 2x4s giving that joint plenty of strength.

Converting a Box Spring To A Platform Bed - The middle platform supports
Converting a Box Spring To A Platform Bed - Spacing out the middle supports

Step 5 – Making The Platform Slats

The slats are made by ripping the 1/2″ plywood length-wise into 3″ strips. The strips don’t need to be perfect. You can even have the person at Lowes or Home Depot cut it into strips for you.

If you can get the home improvement store to cut the slats for you, that is the easiest option.

They probably won’t do a great job, but it would be a lot faster and easier for you.

If you can’t get them to do it then you can do it yourself. It really isn’t that hard, just takes a little time.

This bed frame needed 14 platform slats.

This is how I cut the platform slats

I cut the plywood in the driveway with it resting flat on scrap 2×4 pieces. I then set the blade of the circular saw to barely go beyond the depth of the plywood.

I used the speed square to mark 3″ from the edge along the length of the plywood. Then used the straight edge to mark a cut line. Using the circular saw I cut on the cut line (kinda sorta).

Did I mention it doesn’t need to be perfect? 🙂

Rinse and repeat over and over until the entire plywood sheet is cut into strips.

To figure out the length of your slats, measure the space between the two side bed boards. Cut them to length using a miter saw.

Converting a Box Spring To A Platform Bed - Measure the space between the side boards

Tip: We used the cheapest 1/2″ plywood sheet they had. If you want a nicer finish you can opt for the furniture grade plywood. We didn’t do that since it’s MUCH more expensive and no one will really see the slats anyways. 😉

Step 6 – Making The Spacers For The Slats

The platform strips are going to be spaced out evenly. The spacers will help keep the slats in place.

To make the spacers take a couple of the scrap pieces of the slats and cut them into 1 1/2″ pieces using a miter saw.

For this bed I needed 24 spacers.

Dry fit everything first, then add a little glue behind the spacers to make sure they don’t shift with time.

Converting a Box Spring To A Platform Bed - The slat spacers

You’re Done! You finished converting a box spring to a platform bed!

Yippeee! You finished converting your box spring into a platform bed! Now, you can get rid of those creaky box springs!

All that’s left is to pick out a nice memory foam mattress to put on your new platform bed. 🙂

What memory foam mattress do we use on our platform beds?

The memory foam mattress we’ve been buying for years and LOVE LOVE it is the

 14″ Novaform Comfort Grande King Memory Foam Mattress

The link above is from Amazon. We’ve been buying our Novaform mattresses from Costco for like 10 years now and swear by them.

Converting a Box Spring To A Platform Bed - the grande finale

Did you like the post? Was it useful? What would you do different?

Let me know in the comments below!

Thanks!

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Converting A Box Spring into a Platform Bed - Portrait

DIY Wainscoting – Part 2 – Cutting The Frames

DIY Wainscoting – Part 2 – Cutting The Frames

Easy To Do Wainscoting - Cutting the Molding



In the first post I went over how you go about designing the wainscoting, what things you should consider and how you go about laying it all out.

Now that you’ve designed the layout of your wainscoting, it’s time to get cutting!!

The cutting is one of the two areas where you can save TONS of time… if you use the tips that you’ll find here.

 In this post we’ll cover cutting the moldings for the rectangular wainscoting frames. Since the wainscoting frames are rectangular, all the moldings used for these frames will have 45 degree angled cuts.

 I’ll probably do a post on the non-45 degree angle cuts later. Those are much trickier. The frames that we installed in the stairs have a non-45 degree angle to follow the lines of the staircase.

Anyways, Let’s get to the tips!

 

 

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. If you decide to purchase any of these products, we earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. We recommend these products only because we have experience with them and use them for our own projects. As Amazon Associates, we earn from qualifying purchases.

The Shopping List

Tools List

Here’s a list of the tools we used on this project.

Affiliate links below may be to similar items when exact items couldn’t be found online.

Cordless Finish Nailer

Extra Battery For Finish Nailer

Miter Saw 

Supplies List

These are the supplies used on this project.

Affiliate links below may be to similar items when exact items couldn’t be found online.

4″ Polyester Synthetic Brush – 4 brushes to apply the poly

6 Gauge 1 1/2″ Finish Nails

Why You Need To Make A Jig

I’m sure this isn’t a surprise, but when doing wainscoting you are going to be cutting A LOT of molding. Many of the pieces you’ll be cutting will also be the same length.

By spending a little time in the beginning creating a jig, you’ll save a TON of time cutting those same sized pieces to length.

The jig basically extends the miter saw platform and allows you to add stoppers at the length of the molding you want to cut.

By using the jig you’ll only need to measure the molding size for the first piece of molding.

Then you’ll use that piece to set the stopper and all the other pieces of the same size can be cut by butting the end of the molding against the stopper and cutting.

No need to measure after that. 🙂

 

Making The Cutting Jig

This is what my jig looked like. Here’s a breakdown of the pieces of wood used:

A scrap piece of plywood acts as the base of the jig. The plywood keeps everything lined up. The miter saw and the pieces of wood used for the jig are all screwed into the plywood.

A 2×4 standing on it’s end acts as an extension to the miter saw base.

A 1×4 screwed into the 2×4 acts as an extension to the miter saw backstop.

There really is no right or wrong way to make the jig.

As long as:

  • it’s longer than the molding pieces you’ll be cutting
  • the base extension is at the same or similar height to the miter saw base
  • backstop extension lines up with the miter saw backstop
wainscoting - molding jig with details
wainscoting - molding jig from behind with details

Using Your Cutting Jig

Now that you have a jig made here’s how you use it.

1- Cut The First Molding

You’ll need to cut your first piece of molding to the size you want first. Once it’s cut you’ll use that molding to set the stopper.

Once the stopper is in place you’ll be able to cut all the other same sized moldings without having to measure again.

2- Use The Closed Blade To Keep Molding In Place

To set the stopper, place the miter saw in the closed position and place the molding you cut in step 1 against the blade.

wainscoting - using the cutting jig place molding against closed blade

3- Set The Stopper

With the molding placed snug against the saw blade you can now set the stopper on the other side of the molding.

I marked the end of the molding on the back stop with a pen and lined up the edge of the stopper with the pen line and screwed it in place.

Now that the stopper is in place you can cut all your other same sized moldings without measuring.

wainscoting - molding jig setting the stopper 2

Tip:  I also wrote the molding measurement on the backstop (as you can see in the picture) That way if I needed to cut another piece of molding the same size again I’d already have the stopper placement without having to measure again.

4- Cut The Angle That Will Be Against The Stopper First

I’m finding it tough to explain, but you want to cut the angle that would end up against the stopper first, then place that angle against the stopper and make the cut to size.

With my jig, since the jig is on the left I needed to do the left angle on my molding first.

So I set my miter saw to the 45 degree mark to the right and cut the left 45 degree angle.

Wainscoting - the first angle to cut with details

5- Place The Molding Against The Stopper To Cut To Size

Once the left angle is cut, spin the miter saw to the 45 degree mark on the left, place the molding against the backstop and the left angle against the stopper.

Now cut the second angle – which also cuts the molding to the correct length.

wainscoting - molding jig setting the stopper details 2

Tip:  Instead of cutting the left angle then the right angle on each molding, it’s faster to cut all the left angles first, then spin the miter saw to the other side and do all the right angles.

Otherwise you spend a lot of time just spinning the miter saw left and right.

There You Have It

Now you can cut all the moldings you need for the rectangular wainscoting frames. In the next post I’ll share how I nailed the moldings to the wall.

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Easy Way To Do Wainscoting - Cutting the Molding - Portrait

DIY Wainscoting – Part 1 – Design And Layout

DIY Wainscoting – Part 1 – Design And Layout

Easy To Do Wainscoting - Design And Layout



If you look on Pinterest for wainscoting you’ll find all kinds of different styles and versions of wainscoting, from the super simple to the incredibly ornate.

I wanted a wainscoting design that looked fancy without going over the top and I didn’t want it to be too difficult to install.

I think what we chose did just that, it added a ton of style and character and looks great. And it didn’t take a ton of time to do.

I did the wainscoting in the downstairs first, then about a year later I decided to also do wainscoting upstairs. If I added up the time between the upstairs and the downstairs it probably took a total of roughly 2 weeks for both… but keep in mind they are pretty big spaces.

In this post I’ll go over what we did and why we did it. No matter what style you choose, you’ll find tips in here to make your install go smoother.

I think the secret to installing wainscoting is using templates and spacers. Since most of the pieces of the wainscoting are the same size you can make templates to cut them faster and spacers allow a consistent spacing without having to measure every space.

Using templates and spacers with your diy wainscoting will make a huge impact on the length of your installation time.

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. If you decide to purchase any of these products, we earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. We recommend these products only because we have experience with them and use them for our own projects. As Amazon Associates, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Deciding On A Wainscoting Style

We looked at a lot of Pinterest pins of wainscoting to find one that fit the style we had in mind.

Honestly, if you don’t know what style you’d like, doing a search on Pinterest is a great way to find out what choices you have.

Of course if you like the wainscoting layout and moldings we used, feel free to copy what we did. 🙂

So Many Options

There are so many wainscotting ideas out there, and they all look great in their own way.

Take a look a the different wainscotting layouts that exist on Pinterest, do a search and you’ll find countless wainscotting designs.  If you don’t find exactly what you want, come up with your own wainscoting flavor that’s a mix of one or two designs you like.

Here are a few wainscoting designs that we liked:

wainscoting paint colors
wainscoting paint colors
wainscoting paint colors
wainscoting paint colors

The Pin The Inspired Us

This is the pin that inspired our flavor of wainscoting design. We loved how it looked and loved the second horizontal molding between the boxes or frames and the chair molding.

wainscoting paint colors

The Wainscoting Design We Used

Our flavor of wainscoting differs from the pin that inspired it in a few ways – but I think you can see the similarity.

The differences:

  • Uses a heftier second horizontal molding (it’s the same one we used for the wainscoting frames)
  • Has the chair molding higher (so it lined up with the kitchen bar downstairs and the half wall upstairs)
  • Use rectangles standing up instead of the squares or rectangles that are laying down (which seems pretty common)
  • Our spaces around the squares are 3 1/2″ (the width of a piece of 2×4)

 

wainscoting - molding the design we used

The Style

We looked at a lot of Pinterest pins of wainscoting to find one that fit the style we had in mind.

We liked the wainscoting frames to be more rectangular than square and taller rather than wider.

Initially, we were going to only have the chair molding on top of the frames, but after trying it we realized it needed an extra little something, so we added another horizontal molding between the chair molding and the frames.

The Wainscoting Height

How high do you want your wainscoting to go?

I came across a post that discusses wainscoting height in detail. Her tip was to use the rule of thirds, meaning the wainscoting shouldn’t go higher than a third of the way up the wall.

Here’s the link if you’d like to find out more.

I didn’t come across the article until I started writing this post, but even if I had come across it before, I probably still wouldn’t have followed the rule of thirds. That’s because for each floor we wanted the wainscoting height to line up with something else in the space – and that didn’t line up with a third of the wall height.

On the first floor it was the kitchen bar top and on the second floor it was the half wall in the loft space.

If you’re trying to figure out a height to use try the rule of thirds, or line it up with something else in the space, or if there isn’t something in the space that you’d like the wainscoting to line up with then you can use the measurements we used as a starting point and adjust however you need to. 🙂

The height (from the floor to the top of the chair-molding) on the 1st floor was 41″ and the height on the 2nd floor was 41 1/2″.

Figure Out The Frame Width

This was one of the biggest stumbling blocks for me when I started this project. How was I going to make all the frames the same width?

Since all the walls are different sizes it seemed impossible to make them all the same width… and well – it is.

I figured out in the end that every wainscoting frame doesn’t need to be the same width or even the same height –

I didn’t want the frames to be square-shaped if I could avoid it and based on the height of the wainscoting I aimed for frames that were around 18 inches wide.

The Space Around The Frames

The spacing between the frames is THE thing that needs to be consistent.

As long as the spacing around the frames is the same everything will flow.

For ours, we chose a spacing of 3 1/2″ all around each frame, that way we could use pieces of 2×4 as a spacers. 😉

The Molding We Used

We used two different pieces of molding for the wainscoting, one for the chair-molding and the other for the frames and the horizontal molding between the chair-molding and frames.

We bought both of them from Home Depot. Here they are, you can click on the image if you’d like to get the same molding. 

The Chair Molding (Top Molding)

This is the chair molding. There was a poly version of this molding which is much cheaper but the features were a bit more exaggerated and we liked the look of the wood version better.

The Molding For The Frames

This is the molding we used for the frames and as the second horizontal molding (below the chair molding).

It’s a poly molding so it was really inexpensive… luckily because we bought A LOT of it. 🙂

Our Colors

For the wall colors we chose greige colors (a mix of grey and beige).

A lot of wainscoting pics we came across left the wainscoting frames white on a different colored wall.  That makes the wainscoting frame pop out more, but we chose to paint the frames the same color as the wall instead.

Painting the wainscoting the same color as the wall gives it a built-in look, which we liked.

If you’d like to use the same colors here are the two colors we used:

 

Bottom Paint Color

Sherwin Williams

Aesthetic White (SW7035)

Showcase

Interior Satin

Top Paint Color

Sherwin Williams

Anew Grey (SW7030)

Showcase

Interior Eggshell

wainscoting paint colors

The Wainscoting Measurements We Used

The picture has all the wainscoting measurements we used.

Because each wall has a different width, the wainscoting dimensions for each wall have to be different.

All the dimensions of the wainscoting frames on the same wall are the same.

We knew the total height of the wainscoting was 41 1/2″ (to line up with the height of the half wall in the space) so we worked backward from that measurement.

We placed the top of the chair-molding at 41 1/2″ and placed the smaller horizontal molding below it to see what spacing between it and the chair-molding worked for us. We came up with 3″.

Because I also knew I was going to use pieces of 2 x 4 as spacers I could now figure out the height of the wainscot frames.

Here’s how we figured out the height of the wainscot frames is:

 

The total height of the wainscoting 41 1/2″
Minus The chair molding thickness – 2 3/4″
Minus the space below the chair molding – 3″
Minus the second horizontal molding thickness – 1 1/4″
Minus The spacing above the frame 7- 3 1/2″
Minus The spacing below the frame – 3 1/2″
Minus The thickness of the baseboard – 4 1/2″
Equals The Wainscot Frame Height = 23″
Wainscoting Measurements

Figuring Out The Width Of The Wainscotting Frames

Ok, you’ve figured out the style, molding, height, spacing and the colors – now it’s time for some math!

This part may feel a little intimidating but trust me, it’s much easier to do than it seems. 

Like every other aspect of this project, there are probably a million other ways to figure this out but here’s an example of how I measured it.

 Let’s use the wall in the picture for the example, the wall measured 124 1/2″ and I ended up using 6 wainscoting frames.

Wainscoting Box Measurements

Calculating For The 6 Frames Shown

First, I subtract the left spacing from the total, which for me is 3 1/2″ or 3.5″, take a look at the picture for more of a visual.

That gives me 121″, now divide 121″ by the number of frames you think would fit. In the pictured example I used 6.

 121″ / 6 = 20.16″

So each frame + it’s spacing on the right would equal 20.16″ in width (The red arrows).

So the frames size would be 20.16 minus the spacing on the right.

The frame size would now be 20.16 – 3.5″ = 16.6″ (The blue arrows)

Since I wanted a rectangular shape, 16.6″ worked well. Basically, I try the same formula with an additional frame or minus a frame, and figure out the one that looks best.

Wainscoting Box Measurements

Let’s Say We Calculated for 5 frames

If I tried 5, it would be 121″ / 5 = 24.2 That means each frame + the spacing on it’s right would be 24.2″. So the frame size would be 24.2″ – 3.5″ (the spacing size) which would be 20.7″

The thing to keep in mind there is no right or wrong for any of this. I wanted my frames to look more rectangular in shape than square and a width of 20.7″ would be pretty close to the height of 23″ so instead of doing 5 frames I opted for 6.

Converting Decimal to Fractions

So now you know the frames should be 16.6″… how the heck do you figure that out on a tape measure?!

Figuring out the numbers was definitely easier using a calculator but I ran into a problem of converting the decimal from the calculator back to a fraction I could use with a tape measure.

The answer was a widget I came across that converts decimals to fractions that can be used with a tape measure.

Feet and Inches Calculator

How To Handle Windows

This is something I thought of afterwards. If the window goes below the height of your wainscoting then it would be best to measure that wall in sections, with the space below the window as it’s own section.

 

I’ve seen some wainscoting pics where they kind of use “L” shaped frames to conform around the window… I don’t think it looks that great.

 

I think it looks more put together if the frames under the window are a different width and height – as long as the spacing around the frames is the same as the rest of the wall it will all fit together.

 I don’t have any windows to show an example but I think I’ll draw a diagram to explain it a bit more.

That’s It For The Wainscoting Designing And Layout

That’s it for the designing and laying out your wainscoting diy. Now that you figured out all the nitty gritty for your wainscoting it’s time to start cutting some molding! I’ll cover that in the next post!

 

DIY WAINSCOTING – PART 2 – CUTTING THE FRAMES

 

 

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Easy Way To Do Wainscoting - Designing and Layout

DIY Home Theater Final Reveal

DIY Home Theater Final Reveal

DIY Home Theater Design - The Final Reveal



It took quite a bit of research and effort to get the theater done and it is finished!

Actually, the theater was finished a while ago but I realized that we never had the reveal along with additional pics of the finished theater.

So here it is, the home theater final reveal!

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The Home Theater Final Reveal

This was a pretty big project, it took loads of research, calculations and choices to get to the final product. We decided to do all the work ourselves, which saved us a ton of money and also gives us a sense of accomplishment. 🙂

We love, love, love our theater and use it regularly. For the most part there isn’t much we would change.

There are a couple of things, which I’ll cover at the end of the post.

The Beginning (ish)

Unfortunately, we don’t have any before pics and very few during pics. 🙁

We started the home theater project before we had the idea of starting a blog, and apparently we didn’t do a good job of taking pictures.

Anyhow, here are a few pics of the work in progress. 

Laying Out The Home Theater Seating

Before the room was transformed into a home theater, it was a clean slate for us to work in. It was a regular rectangular room with no closets.

You can get an idea of what it was like before in the picture below.

We ordered the seating before we did anything else. There was a sale so we pulled the trigger.

We ordered the seating based on the measurements that they had online. Needless to say we were a bit nervous that the measurements would have been off… luckily everything worked out. 🙂

Once the layout was ironed out I started work on the theater room riser a.k.a. the home theater platform.

And before I got too far into the home theater seating risers construction I tested the height of the risers with the chairs to make sure things were still lining up the way I wanted it to.

That’s me in the last pic testing the home theater riser height with the chairs in place.

Laying Out The Home Theater Seating
Testing The Home Theater Seating Layout With The Height Of The Risers
Laying Out The Home Theater Seating

Working On The Theater Riser

Now that the riser height was ironed out I could finish the riser.

Before I added the plywood flooring to the risers I needed to I relocate the cable line from this room out into the hallway closet, where all the theater equipment was going to live.

I also needed to add outlets to power the recliners and the LED light for the riser stairs.

I put two on the bottom of the back wall, and two in the center of each step. 

Adding Lights In The Risers Steps Portrait
The Riser Flooring For The Home Theater Is Installed

Time For The Good Stuff – The Projector, Screen and Speakers

This part took a lot of research and calculating. Check out these posts for details on the projector, screen, remote, home theater system and speakers.

Once all the calculations were done I tried everything out before making any holes in the walls.

After testing the projector location, I mounted it to the ceiling and ran an electrical outlet right next to it.

Testing The Projector Location
Installing The Wiring For The Speakers
The Home Theater Projector Screen Is Up

The Home Stretch, The Home Theater Entrance Sign and Painting

The entrance sign was not a very hard part of the project. The hardest part was finding the right sized letters to put above the doors.

It did take a while to find the right-sized letters to use, I was able to find these at Target.

Once I found the right letters I:

  • Removed the existing top door molding
  • Cut out a piece of 3/4″ plywood to fill the space between the top of the door and the ceiling
  • Added a crown molding around the top of the plywood and a small piece of molding on the bottom of the plywood to give it more of a finished look.
  • Then centered the letters and painted, voila! 
Testing The Letter Size Above The Home Theater Doorway
The Home Theater Riser Is Complete - Still Need To Paint
Installing The Home Theater Entrance Sign

The Finished Home Theater

Here are a bunch of pictures of the finished home theater.

I love the way the theater came out, it’s even better than I was expecting.

There are a few more things I still need to do, like making a home for the remote control, something like a cubby hole or shelf where it can be charged.

DIY Home Theater Entrance Sign
DIY Home Theater Entrance Sign
DIY Home Theater Entrance Sign From Front
DIY Home Theater Design - The Final Reveal

What I Would Have Done Differently

If we had to do it all over again, there are a few things I would have done differently. Overall, it would be the same home theater – with a few tweaks.

The Stair Lights

I installed lights in the stairs, which is a look that I thought would be great.
The lights I bought were low voltage, which means they have a transformer, and that means they aren’t dimmable.

In the end, I rarely use the lights in the stairs because they are too bright. If I did this again I would buy regular voltage lights that are dimmable. 

The IR Repeater

I bought an IR repeater to have the remote’s signals sent to the closet in the hallway, where the theater equipment is.
The IR repeater worked great, but it turns out the Logitech remote I bought to replace all the remotes uses a radio signal to communicate with the hub (which is in the closet with the equipment) so I no longer need the IR repeater. 

Getting 4K HDR Streaming Content

This was an expensive lesson. The projector itself doesn’t do any streaming, you need to have a device connected to it that will do that for you.
My idea initially was to get a 4K DVD player and that will have 4K streaming. The first DVD player I bought supported 4K Netflix but the Vudu app on it did not support HDR.

I was building up a movie library on Vudu and wanted to have it in HDR if that was a possibility. So I went on a quest looking for a 4K DVD player that supported Vudu in HDR.

I found one and it worked great, but it was a bit pricy and the menus were kinda slow to get to the streaming apps. I tweeted the macros on the Logitech and got it to work correctly, but slow. As a DVD player it was really good, and the streaming apps were there – just slow to navigate the menus.

Then for some reason, I went and bought a Roku.

Holy cow, that was a game-changer!

It supported 4K everything, HDR everything, and was lightning fast!

If I had to do this again I’d get the cheaper 4K DVD player to play the Ultra-HD DVDs and use the Roku for any Streaming apps.

 

The Entire Shopping List

Here’s a list of everything that we are currently using in our home theater.

You can click on the picture to buy the same one for yourself.

Projector

Designing a Home Theater - The Video Projector - Epson Home Cinema 5040UB 3LCD Home Theater Projector with 4K Enhancement

Projector Screen

Designing a Home Theater - The Fixed Projector Screen - Elite Screens - A Fixed Projector Screen

The Projector BackLight Kit

Designing a Home Theater - The Fixed Projector Screen - The LED Kit

The Amplifier

Designing a Home Theater - Home Theater System - Yamaha TS-R7810

The Remote

Designing a Home Theater - Home Theater Remote - Logitech Harmony Elite Remote

The Passive Amplifier

Designing a Home Theater - Home Theater Subwoofer Amplifier

Roku Ultra

Roku Ultra

The Speakers

Designing a Home Theater - Home Theater Speakers - Acoustic Audio HD728 in-wall ceiling home theater 7.2 surround 8 inch speaker system

DIY Home Theater – Finished!

There you have it, pics of the home theater, during the construction and after the DIY home theater was finished.

I hope you find some ideas and tidbits of info in our project that will help you with yours.

What would you do differently in your home theater? Let me know in the comments below!

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DIY Home Theater Design - The Final Reveal - Portrait