Sunday, January 25, 2015

51 IHeart Kitchen Reno: Planking Progress

I probably could have posted Friday, but we were thisclose to getting our planks installed, that I decided to wait until we put in the last nail and our abs were screaming in pain from all of the nightly planking sessions.  OK, so although our abs really are not feeling the benefits of all of the planking happening over here, our ceiling sure feels the results.


If you recall, a week earlier our space looked like this.


And the same angle today.


We purchased the plank wood from a local lumber company and ordered 16 ft. boards of primed tongue and groove planks.  We looked at quite a few options, and landed with the AllPrime product because it is lightweight, split resistant and double coated with oil primer.  What I love most is that the boards are already super smooth and coated with the primer, which means less work for us before and after installation.  We believe it was worth a little extra expense up front to go with pre-primed, smooth planks because they do not have any visible wood grain or knots, and after my cabinets in my studio yellowed even with multiple coats of primer, I was not about to risk it again on such a large and important project.

The boards were delivered on Friday afternoon and we started installing them the following day.


The first step was to locate the trusses in the ceiling to ensure our nails had something to grip to during installation.  Bryan found the first truss by measuring two feet off of an external wall, and using a screwdriver and hammer to tap up into the ceiling (this is the homeowner's special version of a stud finder, which we realized we didn't have on hand).


He continued to check every two feet and mark where each ceiling truss was located.  With each of us on a ladder on opposite sides of the room, we then pulled a chalk line across the ceiling.


With the ceiling marked, it made it much easier to know where to nail in the planks.


For this project, we borrowed my father-in-law's scaffolding, which was the key to our success in completing this project in a week.  I was able to stay up on the scaffolding and be pushed across the floor to do a lot of the nailing.


We applied Liquid Nails to the backside of each plank to really ensure a good hold...


And used 2" brad nails every two feet.


We staggered the boards for strength, just as one would do when installing flooring.  Every once in awhile a rubber mallet helped to tap the boards into the grooves (using a scrap piece as a buffer when tapping things in place).

The entire length of each row was 21 1/2" feet, and after the first day, we had a whopping five rows installed.  We were definitely just getting our bearings and figuring out a system.


During the week, my husband would come home from work, we would feed the kids dinner, take them to their school activities, and typically start working around 7:30 or 8:00 as they were settling down for bed.  A couple of hours later and we were ready to snooze as well.


Measure, cut, glue, nail, repeat.  We managed to get things done with two people, but when we had three or four working on it thanks to friends stopping by to help, it made covering the 550 square feet even faster.  Six days fast!  (And I thought it was a weekend project... funny how that happens.)



We did all of our cutting inside because the garage is full of items for the kitchen and it is coooooooold in Wisconsin in January.  My husband took a note from his old shop teacher and used our shop vac to reduce the amount of flying dust while making his cuts.  Another homeowner's special.


Although the process was time consuming, it was not all that challenging.  The hardest part was cutting out around the recessed lighting kits.

My husband's trick for that process was:

1.  Using a white piece of paper and placing it into the groove of the last plank, he pressed around the lip of the light.


2.   He cut out the indented circle.


3.   He double checked to be sure it lined up correctly.


 4.  He marked the next plank board where the light starts and stops.


5.   He traced the cut template onto the board based on the markings.


6.   He used a jig saw to cut out the circle from the plank.


And YES!


Still not anything pretty to look at, but there is so much potential happening here!  We finally pulled down those final wall studs; that paired with the new planks and it feels like our space doubled in size!  We couldn't be more thrilled about the openness and all of the light streaming through during the day.


We had no need to run the planks to the peak as there will be a giant faux beam installed there next.  I really think that will be the major turning point for this project.


Well, that and finally getting some new sheetrock on the walls in the kitchen.  So that is what is on the agenda for this week.  We are building our beams and maybe even patching the walls.  The best part?  No more staples to be pulled!  It was all uphill after that. 

Once the beams are installed we will putty all of the seams and nail holes, and the entire ceiling will be sprayed white.  And you may have noticed more colors have joined the paint swatches on the walls... and you know what?  I still haven't committed to anything.  I have never in my entire life had such a hard time picking a single paint color for a room.  I may just go in a different direction all together.  So stay tuned as the color drama unfolds.  I am in suspense right along with you!


You can follow all of the kitchen progress here.

51 comments:

  1. If I was in your position, I would totally use all these weeks as an excuse to go out to eat. All the time. (Would need to add a couple thousand to our budget just for that). "Oh. I have to pull up staples? Let's go to Happy Hour!" PS -Those planks are awesome. Seriously.

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    1. It's been very tempting and has definitely happened a time or two! Lucky for us we don't have a lot of options where we live so that keeps us under control :)

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  2. Wow... Amazing. I really enjoy reading your kitchen progress.. I cannot wait to see this. Thank you for sharing. :-)

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  3. Love the results, we have an 80's ranch that I would love to do this to. Maybe one day...

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  4. I love that you two work together, what a great team you are! The planks look fabulous and I'm glad to hear your abs are sore. :)

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  5. It's looking awesome! I love the white planks :) Keep the updates coming. Xoxo.

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  6. Can't wait to see it once the walls have been painted! x

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  7. Very nice. We are getting ready to plank our new ceiling.

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  8. Even when you are working, you look amazing Jen!
    Hope it will all go to plan

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  9. Love this... The space really opens up and the planks look fantastic!

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  10. That looks amazing already! Can't wait to see the finished result!

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  11. It looks GREAT!!! I love all the updated posts you do. I feel like I'm right along for the ride with you, even though you are doing all the hard labor and I'm just observing! ;-). Can't wait to see the finished project. By the way, how do you stay looking so good while doing demo and construction work? ~ Meliesa

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    1. You are too sweet Meleisa! Most of the time I am already dressed for the day and just change into tees and jeans when my husband gets home. I am typically a mess by the end of the night. :)

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    2. You are very welcome! I wanted to let you know I went and bought some Poppin pens today and all I have to say is WHERE HAVE THESE BEEN ALL MY LIFE? I love them! I am a front desk receptionist at a Dr's office and I use a lot of pens throughout the day! No one will be touching these ones ;-) Thanks for sharing!

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  12. This is fabulous! I love watching your progress in all your projects. So this whole post and you know what I walk away with...how cute are you wearing your tiek's while planking your ceiling. Congrats on the update and it looks like you are turning the corner towards completion.

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    1. So funny! And I seriously love my Tieks, they are so comfortable! I wear them around the clock.

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  13. WOWZER!!!! That is some accomplishment! My DIY hat is off to you guys!!!!

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  14. It looks SO good! Can't belive how great it's coming along!

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  15. I love the ceiling! Good work!! Picking out paint is hard...because there are literally millions of options, and each one could go a different direction. I've been known to re-paint a room once or twice...

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  16. It looks so good already! And of course you even look cute installing planks on a ceiling. :-)

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  17. Jen, You look adorable even when doing home improvement projects at 10 pm! You make me want to "accidentally" put a hole in the wall separating my kitchen from my living room to get our kitchen renovation project timeline moved up :)

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    1. I completely understand! We made the same joke about "accidentally" putting a the wall many times over the years! It will be worth the wait! At least that is what I keep telling myself :)

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  18. The planking looks really good, but the more important issue is how did you do that to your hair in that photo where you are using the nail gun?! So cute.

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    1. Ha! Thank you! I just did a simple side braid and pinned it up with a couple bobby pins.

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    2. Thanks! I will have to try that. :-)

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  19. The spaces is looking so much better! I absolutely love the openness now that you've taken down that wall and the planks are awesome! I would love to do that when I buy my first home!

    Great work!

    Lauren
    www.lbdesigns1.wordpress.com
    xx

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  20. Oh my gosh! Jen, this is going to be so fab! Isn't using the nail gun like the most fun ever!? I just love getting to use that thing. Loving the progress :)

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  21. Looks SO great! Can't wait to see the continued progress! And you're so brave for wearing your Tieks during a construction project! I barely even want to wear mine outdoors! ;)

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    1. I am typically pretty careful with mine, but there really wasn't much that could hurt them... I have also found them to be pretty durable and just too comfortable not to wear all the time. :)

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  22. I love it!! I can't wait to see the next phase. I wanna tell you to hurry up {haha} the suspense is killing me! Your home is beautiful and I LOVE seeing every update. You are inspiring. Thanks so much for sharing.
    xoxo
    Rachel

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  23. Gorgeous! Just a thought, (and probably to late) but have you guys considered taking out the short closet between the front door/stairs and the eating area? It could open up that are and look really nice. But of course you would be losing a closet. And would have to install move planks. :)

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    1. We have hashed it out and thought about it quite a bit, but we really, really need the storage. It has been hard enough not having a closet near the entry, but no closet at all is not going to cut it for us, especially now that our hooks near the garage entry are gone as well. The closet is not staying the same however, I have plans for that space too! :) xoxo!

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  24. To do a project like this, did you have to buy, borrow, or rent the scaffold tower? Or was this one you already had?

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    1. We borrowed it from a family member, but I am guessing they are rentable!

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  25. I love this!!! We have a raised ceiling like that in our house. We had a leaking problem last year, and most of the popcorn has fallen off of one side and we desperately need to figure out something to do with our ceiling. Everyone who looks at it doesn't want to do it because it gets up to about 13 feet in the center of the room. But what y'all did looks amazing! I might have to suggest this to my boyfriend!

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  26. Hi Jen - Wow, girl, you (and hubby) do great work! And you look great doing it! Not to be a Nervous Nellie, but are you two using protective eyewear when using the power tools and the nail/brad gun? Safety first!

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  27. Looking amazing so far Jen! I loooove those ceilings.

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  28. Love it! One of the major selling points when we bought our house was that they friends we bought it from had completed a beautiful kitchen reno a few years before, and we didn't have to do anything other than paint the wall a color I liked!
    As for paint colors - good luck! I went through that with our master bedroom - it took me weeks!
    -Mandy in Arizona

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  29. My husband and I were planning to do a plank wall in our half bath - now I am definitely sold on it, you made it look so doable! Thanks

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  30. Very nice! You guys did a great job!

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  31. It is fun seeing your progress. We will be planking our ceiling in the basement, one of these days (or years in our case. LOL) Great tip for the recessed cans. I will keep that one in mind, as that is what we put in the basement. Good thing for the scaffolding!! Oh so much easier and so nice not to have to go up and down a ladder a trillion times. I chuckled at all of the paint samples. I feel your pain. Whatever you choose, it will look wonderful. I would say it is just paint and easy to paint over, but with painting around cabinets and a vaulted ceiling, it isn't so easy. :) Oh and yes, scaffolding is rentable.

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  32. Thanks for sharing your construction journey with us. Will you do a post on the colors you are testing? This is something we are in the middle of and I'd love to see your choices and hear your thoughts on how you are navigating this.

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    1. I will definitely share the colors we played with once I make my final decision. :) Great idea!

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  33. Great job so far. I enjoy seeing the progress. And I feel your pain. I always have a hard time picking paint colors.

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  34. It's going to look amazing!! Already a huge difference!

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  35. Looks great! So many people neglect the ceiling, not realizing how much taking advantage of it can make a huge difference in the aesthetic and feel of a space. Thanks for sharing a great DIY!

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  36. It looks fantastic! I cant wait to seeit with the faux beam! Excellent job!

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  37. Love it! We did planking on our bathrooms walls and love the look. Looking forward to seeing the final results.

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