The Chirping Dog: Ta da!

I'm a wee bit ashamed that this project has taken me so long.

We have lived in our house for a little over 2 years now.

One of the things that has always bugged me about my kitchen is the stains on the walls of the two bars. People sit there and their jeans rub off on the light colored paint and then it is stuck there.

I really don't enjoy painting walls so the blue stains have hung out there for far too long.

In October my dad came over and installed bead-board on all the low walls in my kitchen.

He is the most efficient and hard worker I know. He had the new walls up in two days. It was then my job to paint them with the special faux finishing paint. Well.....I just finished it on Sunday. So- 5 months later the kitchen looks finished! Here are some pictures of the progress.

First step- Dad took down the existing molding, I think that is the right term for it.

He kept the bottom molding there which was great because it helped cut down the cost and it was going to get painted to match the bead-board anyway.

The next step was to prime the bead-board. Notice that my dad did this part and needed no painters tape, I did the other coats and had to put down an excess of tape.

The faux finishing paint process was a long one. It has two thin base coats, a gel coat where you mix in the color you want and wipe it off with cheese cloth, and then 3 other coats to seal it.

The color has been added in this step. You paint it all on solid brown and then wipe off extra with cheese cloth and it leaves a subtle color in the cracks of the boards.

It is all finished!

The only thing left to do is the switch plate covers. I didn't want to put the cheap plastic ones back on so I am painting them to match the bead-board.