Baseboards, Nosing & Thresholds

Check out our finished floors!

It's been about three months since I posted anything. I don't really have an excuse. We haven't been busy redoing our kitchen or away on a fabulous vacation. I took a little blogging break but I'm back and I'll be posting about stuff that happened months ago. Better late than never right?

Back in December I shared our flooring progress. Even though we finally had gotten around to actually laying down the floors we still had work to do. As much as Jonathan and I both wished that laying the actual flooring down would have been the whole project it wasn't. We still needed to install baseboards, stair nosing and thresholds.

In same ways this was the more diffcult part. First of all, choosing our baseboards was really hard. We wanted to get some that were on the taller side to cover up the damage our leaky fridge caused. There are so many options and I was having a hard time visualizing how it would all turn out. Once I picked them out we had to get them home. Neither one of us has a car big enough to fit them (they are 16 feet long) so we had to borrow my dad's. Jon and I also liked the look of a thicker baseboard. Baseboards only come in certain measurements so to create the effect we decided to add quarter round in front. Then everything had to painted and obviously it didn't just need one coat.

After all the prep work was done Jon could start measuring, cutting and nailing everything in. Since we had only purchased a little bit more than we needed he had to be really careful with his cuts. Jon and my brother went around the room installing the baseboards. My mom and I followed with caulk to cover all the nail holes and to fill the gaps along the top and at the corners. Then we did the same thing with quarter round. This part probably would have taken us forever to accomplished if we hadn't borrowed a nail gun and air compressor.

We did all of that the weekend before Thanksgiving. Since we were getting ready to host (for the first time!) we had to get it all done before our guests arrived. So we were up super late every night that week. And we still weren't done.

Our living room has a little step down and Jon decided to install nosing there. First he had to cut, line and adhere the laminate pieces against the step. Then he could proceed with the nosing. It looks like the curved part of a stair tread and had to be glued down. This meant we had to be sure the flooring we had laid down was perfectly aligned on both edges of the step. If it wasn't done right then the nosing would be off. Jon cut it, applied tons of glue and laid it down carefully. Then we held it place trying to move it move it at all. This took forever since we had to work in sections.

You can also see the threshold pieces Jon installed in between the living room and kitchen. That part was pretty easy. He cut them to size and pushed them. He added a little bit of adhesive to prevent them from lifting up.

We went to bed at 3am that night (Wednesday night/ Thanksgiving morning). Jon got up early Thanksgiving morning to finish installing one section of baseboard and then started on the turkey. It was a mad dash to the finish line but it so worth it. My mom came over to help to me clean and remove all the dust and we finished with just enough time to serve dinner.

Looking back we probably should have started this project a little bit earlier but I'm so glad we had them done in time. Our home looks so much more warm and inviting. Such an improvement over the old white tile.

Where'd Those Cables Go?

Finally! No more cables hanging out underneath the TV.

Not impressed? Check out the before. Sorry its a little blurry but you get the idea.

Ever since Jon installed the TV I have wanted those cables out of the way. I hate the way they look. Its just too cluttered. I felt like the mantel was always looking messy and like I hadn't cleaned it. Not cool. Jon and I thought about a lot different options to hide the wires. We can't hide them in the wall since the fireplace is right behind it. We thought about putting the cable box and sound bar (the long skinny black thing) on the floor behind the couch but the cables aren't long enough. Bummer. So it sat as is for almost a year. 

A couple of months ago I bought this cool little product. 

Its like a plastic channel that slides apart, you attach to the wall and insert the cables. My favorite part about it is that its totally customizable and paintable! I looked a LOT of different options at Home Depot but I didn't want to buy something that adhered to the wall by some sort of glue or stickers. Wouldn't the drywall come off if you wanted to reposition the TV or when we eventually move? Yeah, didn't go with that option. 

It sat in the closet for almost a month. Thus is the Stubblefield way. I finally got around to asking Jonathan to install it. Then he dawdled. Like I said motivation is at an all time low here. But even though we had a crazy busy weekend, my awesome husband made time for this project this weekend. Before football of course. 

First we had to put our brains together and figure out the best way to do this with the limited amount of cord cover we had. The cable box and power strip are pushed all the way over to the right. The cords won't go any longer so the power strip has to sit up there. Unless anyone else has any other suggestions?

We prepped the workspace.

Jon measured and then busted out the hated hand saw to make the first rough cuts.

We used our trusty miter box to cut the two angles we needed. I love the miter box.

Then we painted all the pieces the same color we have in the living room.

After that dried Jonathan screwed the back of the cord covers into the wall. It didn't come predrilled so he had to that first.

He did the cable wall that's coming from the outside first. That was pretty easy since it was all straight cuts and one cable. Jon painted the small part that was visible to match everything else.

The TV cables were a little bit more tricky. We didn't have a cord connector so he cut the strips in 45 degree angles and matched them up. He also had to squeeze two cables in there and do a little paint touch up.

Jonathan was a little really hesitant to do this project because he thought it was going to look terrible (and he knew it would cut into his Sunday sunday plans) but I'm happy to report that I was right ;). It's not noticeable from a distance and even when you are staring at them you can't really tell they're there. My favorite part? The mantle looks so nice and clean!

Wall All Full

Look Mom! No more stripes!

I guess my post about our half finished living room got us motivated. Maybe its because that I'm having friends over this weekend. Or the fact we have some house guests coming at the end of the month. I don't know. But something finally got to us and we finished!

Jon even cleaned when he was painting under the stairs. 

I love love love love love this color. Its warm, inviting and the perfect neutral. Its a great starting point for this room. Our house looks so much more done now that the living room is painted. If we ignore the mismatched sofas and coffee tables. 

Obviously we still have a lot to do in here. We need a new couch. I think a smallish sectional would look good. Once we have a couch then we can get a coffee table. I'm not really fan of the two mismatched ones pushed together. And a new rug because that carpet remnant isn't really doing it for me. But these are all big ticket items that have to wait until we save enough money and find the ones we want. 

There are things that we can do now. We want to find away to hide all of the TV cables. I wish we could put them inside the wall but since its mounted above the fireplace that's not really an option. And we were discussing a photo gallery wall above the couch. I just have to be on the look out for frames. 

We love this color so much we are planning to use it in the stairway and upstairs hallway. That will give it some continuity since its an open space. Painting that area will be a bit more complicated because the ceilings are so high and we are still trying to figure out how to place a ladder on the landing. 

Progress. It feels good my friends!