Saturday, January 21, 2012

Baseboards and quarter round and a light … oh my!

This bathroom renovation got stalled for a bit when hubby had shoulder surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff. Ouch! I didn't do too much work that week because I didn't want to disturb his resting. But once he felt better I decided it was time to cut and install the baseboards and shoe moulding … all by myself. I love to work with my Dad, but I wanted to do it myself. So I did.

The baseboards worked out great - I learned from my Dad how to measure and transfer the markings to the front of the boards so that I could cut them with my compound miter saw ♥ and the backs would be the right length. I used one of my newest tools - the rafter angle square. We did it this way because the of the shape and size of the moulding pieces. By the way, when I received my compound miter saw as a gift on my birthday a couple of years ago, my nephews didn't believe that gift was for me. :)

So since the baseboards worked out well I wanted to finish up and do the shoe moulding. Confession time - I though that I had to cut them the same way that I had cut the baseboards and trim. So I proceeded to measure and transfer my markings. Little did I know that you don't have to cut shoe moulding that way. It just sits upright in the saw and I could just cut it at a basic 45° angle. There's no need to measure on the back and then transfer the markings onto the front so you'll know where the blade needs to cut through the front so that the 45° angle cut makes the back the right length. Did I say that right? I think that made no sense. Anyway … I proceeded to ruin ➂ 8' lengths of shoe moulding before I called my Dad and he set me straight. The next day we went to Lowe's (because my favorite store - Home Depot - doesn't sell 8' lengths of primed quarter round!) to buy more.

Then Brandon was talking to a fried of his who used to be a contractor and he told Brandon that I need a coping saw and I could use it like this to do trim. Yes, I believe that I do need one :) … lesson #124 learned on this project!





Oh, here's a lovely picture of my new favorite power tool:


That's my air compressor and a brad nailer (for use on the quarter round).

Baseboards done: ✓

Oh, I almost forgot … when we went to buy the quarter round we also picked up a light for the room:


It's difficult to see in that picture, but it looks like this:


Remember this is the original light:


And this is the new one:


Not only do I love the look of the new fixture, but it gives off tons of light with only 1 lightbulb! The space now feels bright and less like a dungeon.

Next stop: caulking and painting!

No comments:

Post a Comment

What do you think?