Well, we purchased trim, I cut corners with a miter box (hated it) and then I wised up and realized my little brother had a miter saw (score!). The first few pictures are me cutting with the miter box (and a little help). See why I get nothing done around here?
After cutting the pieces with his miter saw it went much faster.
To be honest, I started the boxes last Saturday (December 11th) and let just two boxes sit on my wall the entire week.I just didn't like what I had done. Of course I didn't stop and realize when I figured out my measurements and cut them all that my heat vents were directly in the way (stupid heat).
So.... I had to rearrange and that is what was bugging me. Here is the picture of the first boxes.
See how I had a 33 inch box (my original measurements) but then a small box because I wanted the fireplace to look more "built in". I hated the boxes differences being so large.
So back to the drawing board. I popped the trim off and measured again and cut some of the trim again (used the same trim). I redid those two boxes and liked them much better. I decided to repeat the 25 inch and then 22 inch boxes on the right for symmetry. ( I am a teacher after all).
After I finished those two boxes on the left, I measured what was left and glory be I could do one more box the same 24 inches as the first one. Behold, a pattern!
The shorter wall required two smaller boxes at 22 inches but again at least they are the same size as smaller boxes on the other wall.
The chair rail we could not find in vinyl so it is MDF and at Home Depot you can cut your own! Can you believe it? I was able to slice a 16 foot piece into two 8 foot pieces so it would fit in my car!
We did NOT put chair rail completely behind the fire place since it will stay if we ever move. Who wants a huge yellow propane line sticking out of the wall when you purchase a house? Not me! Plus my box measurements all focused around it so it stays and it stays right where it is.
All we have left now in that section is to caulk, fill nail holes and repaint places I missed.
Then it is moving on to the rest of that large wall. I am then going to start on the other side of the entry way. Our house is laid out so open that you don't even realize those walls are part of the same room. For example, I haven't even painted that 1/2 of our living/ dining/ kitchen from the ugly yellow off-white the previous owner had it and not even my brother has noticed it.
I do plan on doing this gorgeous picture molding over there too.
Once I figured out how to keep the depth of the nail gun to where it needed to be it worked like a charm. I am ready to use it all over the house!
