Will this ever be finished?????

The bar is set too high, but I try!

My very first post was about my obsession, click here to referrence where this whole thing started and where I want it to go. 

One of the main factors in making a room feel French is the trimwork on the walls and ceilings.  You have work with what you have, so I set out to fill the living and dining rooms with as much trim as I could. 

I knew hiring someone to do this would be out of my budget, so I have no other option than to do it myself.

 No, I haven't ever hung trim before.  No, I don't know how to use a compound miter saw.  No, I don't know how to use a brad nailer.  No, I don't know how to use an air compressor.

No problem.  That's what YouTube is for, right?  No kidding.  I borrowed the tools and watched countless videos on the subjects! 


Miter saw on our balcony.

The first step was to put crown moulding in the dining room.  The living room and bedrooms already had crown, so the dining room had come catching up to do. 

As mentioned in a previous post, the dining room had a paint treatment that you could see AND feel.  The striped walls also had a heavy texture.  I bought a hand-held orbital sander and spent several hours taking that texture off.  I look forward to painting over those stripes, but trim is next. 



The new table became the work station. 

We started hanging crown and realized caulk was going to have to hide a multitude of sins!  That's okay, we got it up and then jumped on to the chair rail.  It was rewarding to see it going up, but nothing felt as good as completing what's called a "dead end" in moulding.  It's where moulding ends, but there's no wall for it to run into.  You have to create an "ending".  


Impressed, aren't you? 



Crown and chair rail complete!!

The chair rail had to continue into the living room and so was a pretty big job.  I won't begin to tell you how many times we had to do a piece over, or rely on caulk to hide things like uneven walls, but I think it turned out great!

Okay, now for the real transformation trim......this should be a snap!!!  I got this!!!  I can get this done in the afternoons before the hubby even gets home!!! 

OMG.

First I had to measure for this small, inexpensive trim and go buy it.  Let's see, measure, measure, measure.  Wait, that's over 1000 feet.  Can't be right.  I'll measure again tomorrow. 

Yep.  Over 1000 feet.  No matter how cheap it is per foot, anything multiplied by 1000 is A LOT!!!  Holy freaking cow! 

Uh and yeah, Home Depot doesn't just keep over 1000' of any trim in stock.  You can't just go in the store, grab one of those crazy flat carts and load up 1000' of trim. 

Who would even think you could?  Me, that's who.  I totally did not think that through.  Did I think it would fit in my suv...my small suv? 

Turns out you have to order it from Home Depot and if it's over $45, they ship it for free!!  I know!  Yes, it was over $45.  Don't ask. 

After many, many, many hours, I finally finished this trim work!  At times, I regretted starting it.  It was as if I would never be finished.  It's back-breaking, tedious work. 

Do I regret it now?  H. E. Double hockey sticks NO!  I love it and it's not even painted yet!!! 

There's no time to relax though, I now have to caulk over 1000 feet of trim.  Will this ever be finished?




That's a lot of squares!




This may be my favorite part.