Thank you ALL so much for participating in the Thrifty Treasures parties! They are really filling up each week and I appreciate you taking the time to do a post and link up. Y’all make it fun! Your enthusiasm is great. I am running out of time to visit every one of you each week, so please forgive me if I don’t make it around to see all 100+ of you every time. I try to visit, but just run out of time. Moving on….
Let’s just start by saying this! I’m totally sold on the beadboard wallpaper.
Well, girls I just have to tell you that this project was even easier and looks better than I could imagine. If anyone had doubts about it from my first post, this just might change your mind. This beadboard wallpaper is amazing, that’s all I can say about it. It’s thick, probably 3-4 times thicker than regular wallpaper and I’ve put up regular wallpaper many time before. This is SO much easier to work with. You can cut it with scissors and it cuts like buttah. No shredding or crinkling. So, for those of you who LOVE the details…this one’s for you. Lots of pics, lots of details. I promise you, anyone can do this project. It went so well and turned out so pretty that I’m going to do something else with it. And I know that diehard REAL beadboard lovers will probably pooh-pooh this (and I am a REAL beadboard fan myself), but for those of us who do not have a garage full of power tools, this is the next best thing. I’ll go through the steps I used to get it all up there and trimmed out, so follow along with me.
It’s by Graham Brown and made in the UK.
So first thing is to measure wherever you are putting it and get yourself a yardstick to help keep a straight line. Measure on each side and hold the yardstick across and draw a line side to side with a pencil. That’s how I did it and it worked great. And trimming from top to bottom is easy, you just follow the lines.
Wet the back of it in the sink, let sit for 5 minutes. Book it, Dano. I really wanted to say that. 🙂 Anyone besides me remember Hawaii 5-0? Guess cause I am 5-0, I would. Booking is when you let glue sit and activate so it adheres better. Now, here’s something I didn’t do. I didn’t sand my cabinets at all. I just went right over the painted surface, which was a little glossy, but it seemed to stick just fine and I didn’t have any problems with it. But, to be safe, you might want to lightly sand or degloss if your surface is glossy. That’s my disclaimer. I tend to take shortcuts, as you’ve probably all figured out by now. 🙂
My plain jane ends of the kitchen cabinets. Nothing special, but this treatment really makes them look SO much better.
Also an issue when we got our granite, to keep the countertops level, they had to add some shims underneath, which you can see (well, you can if you’re on your head, which doesn’t happen too much, but still) and I wanted to get some molding around the top of the cabinets to fix that little issue. So, this all worked together for me. I bought a small molding MDF piece that fits underneath the granite and then some fancier reeded trim, not too wide to trim out the beadboard. Keep that in mind. To make this all come together and really look good, the extra trim made all the difference too. When you look at the finished product, the trim makes it appear to be the real thing. Now you wouldn’t necessarily HAVE to add the trim under the countertop like I did, but I had that issue to deal with, so I needed to do that. You may not.
Another look at the shims under the granite. You’ll see at the end how it all works.
First thing, I cut and pasted my wallpaper pieces. Only 2 of the ends had to be pieced and you can see the small seam to the right. Not a big deal to me, since regular beadboard also has seams. And I did go back and fill in with some spackle which didn’t totally erase it, but made it less noticeable. If I had worked a little bit harder with it, it probably could have totally disappeared, but have I mentioned I’m not a perfectionist? I’m a “if it looks good, then I’m OK with it” kind of girl. So, that’s the first step. Cut, paste and smooth it out. Make sure you smooth all the bubbles out after you get it in place before it dries. That really wasn’t a problem. I just used my hands to smooth it out and it totally lays flat. No bubbles or anything.
So, this is what it looks like on one end after the paper is in place. Not bad at all, huh? Lookin’ good already and it’s not even painted OR trimmed out. Wait til you get to the bottom pics.
I did this on the top cabinet too. Same process. See the good thing about this method is, if you were using real beadboard it would really stick out from the cabinets pretty far and you’d have to get some bigger trim to trim it out and hide the edges. This way, the wallpaper just snuggles right up to the existing molding and then all I had to do was add molding on the right side and bottom to trim it all out. You’ll see in a minute. This doesn’t add a lot of unnecessary bulk to your cabinets, BUT you get the same look.
Again, the small cabinet above the fridge got the same treatment.
Here’s the spackle I used. I used it on the seams and also in the bigger gaps that I had with the old molding and new molding in a couple of spots. Spackle and caulk is your friend, as I told you when I did this project. You can hide a world of sins with caulk. 🙂 Believe me, I know.
Next up is the molding just under the granite to hide that ugly. I used my miter box and trimmed it to fit each angle and put that molding all the way around the kitchen cabinets under the granite. Used finish nails and wood glue to put it on here. I am NOT a good finish nailer. You will see in the final pics that some of my nail heads are sticking out. They kept bending and I couldn’t get all of them in all the way. Oh well. I really don’t care too much, I just painted over them. 🙂 A real carpenter would fire me. Again, caulk or wood putty goes in the corner to fill in for painting.
Nailing and gluing. Next you’ll see the reeded wood molding I used on the edges of the beadboard wallpaper. This is small and dainty and I like how it looks and it sort of mimics the beadboard effect. I just added it right on top of the wallpaper and flush with the edge of the cabinet corner. Again, you’ll caulk on both sides if there’s a little gap.
Mitered the corners where they meet. Again, nailed and glued with wood glue to get it on here. I’m not great at measuring, but again, it just takes some patience and perseverance and YOU can do it too.
So, one by one, they all got the trim molding attached. Everything got caulked. Wherever you see any gaps inside or out should be caulked. That just makes the final paint job look so much better if you do this.
Caulked and ready for paint.
Same in the master bath. I did both vanities in there too. After all the caulking and nailing, then it’s time for paint.
I love to use this small weinie roller I got at Lowes for projects like this. Works great and with the small brush, they work together well. I rolled the paint on the wallpaper and used the brush to go back and smooth out around the edges and on the molding. When we moved here over 3 years ago, I discovered our doors throughout the house were primed but never painted, so I had to track down a good trim paint color in gloss to paint all the doors and match our existing trim . I also noticed that the trim color that was already here matched the kitchen and bathroom cabinets to a T, so it made it easy once I got the right match of paint to touch up the kitchen cabinets and all the trimwork. In case anyone is interested, I got Anthem White from Valspar (Lowes) and it’s a perfect match to my trim and cabinets. If I was choosing trim paint myself, I probably would have chosen a creamier white, this one is a little bright white for me, but bright white does look good next to other colors. And I wasn’t about to paint out all my trim just to change the color. This one is just fine thank you.
So, after 2 coats of Anthem White on it all, here they are! I just LOVE how this turned out and would do it again in a minute. I’ve already got plans to add some of this to the master bathroom walls around the whirlpool tub.
Nice huh? Would you ever think that this is not the real thing? I really don’t think that someone coming in our house would ever know the difference even up close. The paper actually has a little texture to it that mimics wood.
Here you can see my messy nails, but that’s OK. It’s not bad if you’re not right on top of it. And see, you can barely see the seam after it’s all painted. I did try to sink the nails, but I’m not all that good with counter-sinking. I may go back and work on those nails a bit better.
Side panel by the dishwasher.
Looks great to me!
From a distance. This is how most people will see them anyway, not up close.
Little cab above the fridge. The great part about painting is that you seal down the edges at the top and sides and it totally looks seamless. I did 2 coats of white high gloss trim paint on it.
Bathroom cabinet
Another angle.
So, that’s it! I hope this will inspire some of you to try this too. It’s a no-brainer for those of you like me who do not have power tools at home and don’t want to get into major remodeling with the real stuff. I think this gives exactly the same look for a fraction of the cost. Not to mention, you don’t have to remove any molding to use this. It goes right up next to what you already have, which to me is ideal even if you wanted to use it in a small bathroom on the walls. No removing the baseboard molding. All you’d have to do is put up the wallpaper, add some chair rail molding on top and that’s it. I’m SOLD on it and I hope you’ll try it too and let me know how it works for you. I know if you have small children that tend to run into cabinets like this, it might be a problem, but for most areas without high energy kids around, you would be fine, I have no doubt.
I can see all sorts of possibilities for using this: Back of a hutch or kitchen cabinets with glass fronts, powder room or small bath on the walls under chair rail, inset in a piece of furniture (drawer or door), on the end of a headboard or footboard with recessed panels, on a ceiling, lots of possibilities. So, what are you waiting for?
I spent a total of $50 on the wallpaper AND trim for this little project. Can you say a LOT of bang for the buck?! And I’m not stopping with this. I’ve got some left and will definitely be putting it to good use.
randee says
rhoda – what a great product & the results were amazing. i would never have the patience to do all the steps, though.
how long did it take you, start to finish? & speaking of finish – it really did finish the kitchen. looks very custom.
blessings –
Debbie's Garden says
That seriously looks wonderful!!! Adding the trim and paint really dresses it up. What wonderful kitchen "jewelery" it turned out to be.
Vanessa says
UNBELIEVABLE!!! It is awesome! What a difference, the cabinetry is looking great!! You've done a good job eith tha wall paper. Super! Best, Vanessa
jabee says
You have solved a problem I've been mulling over for 9 years and convinced me I can DO IT!!!
Thank you.
Linda says
Rhoda, that looks fantastic! You did a wonderful job! Hubby put up a lot of beadboard in our house (1 bath, back door entry, sitting area of kitchen), and I can't tell the difference between mine and yours! Can't wait to show him your project. Now I am thinking that I would like to put it on the ends of my cabinets, too. I'll bet you are causing a "run on the beadboard wallpaper" at the Depot! Linda
HappyNester says
You totally inspired me with your first post, about the wallpaper. I ordered the wallpaper yesterday. I had been wanting to use real beadboard,as well for my cabinets. My husband is so busy, but this I can do myself. I am very excited to hear it turned out well. Thanks for sharing. I did not even know the paper existed.
Picket says
OH my word girl!!!!! I love this…I have wanted to put beadboard up in my little bathroom for years but I was afraid to try but this I can do!!!!! It turned out great…oh I can't believe this..tell me where you got the beadboard wallpaper…did I miss seeing that in the post? I will be doing this! What a great inspiration girl….keep them coming…and let me know about the wallpaper…I gotta get me some!
Kammy says
Holy Cow Rhoda !!!
I love beadboard – and this is something I can do ! My mind is wheeling with the possibilities !
Your kitchen looks just great !
Hugs ~ Kammy
The Brannon Family says
Love it! It looks amazing for wallpaper! I think I can see this in my laundry room in the near future…
Brandi says
Great job Rhoda!!! It turned out fantastic!
Nancy says
Wonderful!! Thanks for the step by step! Reading this, I feel that I can do it! I have a wall in the kitchen which is too tight a spot for the thickness of the real thing. This would definitely do the trick! Thank you, too, for the answer on my blog!
~Nancy
Suzan says
I am SO ready to do this project! Especially now that I see how well it worked on your vanity. I hate the sidewalls on mine!
Kathi says
WOW. That looks great! You continue to amaze me with your projects and ideas! I'm looking around to see where I can use this!
Amanda @ Serenity Now says
I love it, Rhoda! You'd never know from the pictures that you used wall paper. 🙂
Rachel says
Very nice!
lil mama says
Oh how I LOVE it!!! I'm in the middle of a pretty big kitchen makeover and just added beadboard to the sides of my cabinets. Sure wish I'd seen this first! It'd probably work well for a backsplash, eh? oooohhhhhh…love it, love your blog! I'm an regular reader but first time commenter!
K says
Love love love it! I wish I owned where I live, because I would totally do this. It is hard to believe it isn't real.
Nicole @ BugaBoos says
Ok seriously this is awesome! I have never seen beadboard wallpaper and this really looks incredible! What a huge transformation! I have to find some of this, Thanks for sharing! This has to be one of my favorites!
Pat@Back Porch Musings says
I remember when Kat did this with her mother's cabinets, back in the GI days.
Yours looks fabulous, Rhoda. I may have to try this somewhere, too. Maybe in our bathroom. It would be a small job, since there is only one cabinet end to work with. May be a good place, to start, for a beginner!:-)
I've tried getting around to everyone on the list, when I participate in an event and don't seem to manage it. It really is difficult and I just have to do what I can do. So I totally understand!
Stacey says
Rhoda, that project is amazing. I'm so glad you shared other ideas about what to do with it. As I take the wallpaper off of my walls – I will definitely not put more up. But on a piece of furniture or something is a great idea. 🙂