Red Hen Home: Office Progress: Paint, Trim, and Light!

It’s been a very long time since I’ve updated you on the office project (you can see the previous posts here and here).

In case you need a reminder, here’s what I started with:

Ugh.

I chose a palette of colors…

…and settled on a trim height for some board and batten…

…and away I went!

The first thing to do was to paint the beige ceiling SW Creamy. Then the top two-thirds (or so) of the wall got painted SW Bee’s Wax, and the bottom was painted SW Dover White. Why Dover White? Because that’s the trim color used all through the house, and the previous owners left gallons of it behind!

That big patch on the far wall is what color the whole room used to be—ceiling and all. I like the color fine, I am just in the mood for something brighter here in gray Seattle! This yellow is actually a bit of a leap for me, but my daughter talked me in to it.

Next I put up a 3-inch MDF chair rail, topped by a 2-inch piece of MDF that sticks out horizontally from the wall, creating a nice little ledge.

I was ridiculously proud of myself for figuring out the angles on this funny little wall!

Next I glued a piece of cove base over the seam to finish it off. I didn’t use glue on any of the other trim work, as I didn’t want to wreck the walls if I ever want to remove the board-and-batten. But this cove base is too fragile for brads, so it was Liquid Nails (and painter’s tape) to the rescue!

I was annoyed that the battens protruded farther from the wall than the baseboards did. I didn’t think it would bother me…but it did.

My solution was to sand down the sharp edge into a more gradual curve. After caulking and painting it, I don’t notice it anymore.

I also hired an electrician to come install a light box in this room. It was set up so a light switch controlled the top outlets in the room, but I was craving LIGHT! Have I mentioned it’s kind of dark here??

Yes, I took a picture of the hole…it made me very happy!

The fixture I put up myself—that saved me about $40. It is just an inexpensive light I ordered through Amazon. I really wanted the cool orb light from Ballard Designs, but it wasn’t in the budget!

I have two holes in the ceiling that were necessary to run the wiring for the new light. It’s been about a month, and I still haven’t patched them! If you come into my office…please don’t look up!

But isn’t the new molding pretty??

Is anyone wondering what happened to the blue portion of the color palette? Well, I had great plans for it. It was supposed to be an accent color behind the under-construction desk, and I got this far with it…