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Planking in the Mudroom
By House*Tweaking on May 11, 2012
Let’s not beat around the bush and just get to it, shall we?
The travertine tile in the mudroom / dining room / laundry nook is down and done. {Thank you, Handy Hubby!} I can’t believe how much bigger the space feels with a light-colored floor! I’d post ‘during’ pics but I didn’t take any. That’s what a newborn and two other kiddos will do to you – keep you away from any renovation sites!
Once the grout cured and the tile was sealed, HH quickly moved onto the next mudroom project…one I’ve kept a secret until now. Can you say horizontal plank wainscoting? If you can, try saying it three times fast.
From the family room, there’s a clear view into the adjoining mudroom / dining room. The idea was to create some sort of wainscoting about the same height as the mantel in the family room to keep things feeling cohesive. My first thought was to DIY a traditional wainscoting using trim and molding. Something along the lines of this. But the more I turned the idea over and over in my head, the more it felt, well, traditional.
Then I found this image {the one at the top of the page} and knew that horizontal planks were the way to go.
So HH has been busy installing those.
We left the laundry nook’s back wall bare since you wouldn’t see the planks anyway. They would have been hidden behind the washer and dryer. I have big plans for that little nook.
You can see how the planks mimic the mantel’s lines from the family room.
The 4″ tongue-and-groove plank paneling HH used came from Menard’s. That’s it above. Ideally, I would have preferred a 6″ plank {like the ones we used for the ceiling in the great room}, but the 4″ packs were on sale BOGO {buy one, get one free!!}. We couldn’t resist a good deal. It cost us $160 to get enough for the mudroom. That’s pretty amazing seeing as how the planks add a much needed architectural detail to the space.
I should mention that the planks are pretty thin so using them on a wall, like we did, works great. But I wouldn’t recommend them for a ceiling or other feature that doesn’t have a solid, continuous support for the planks to rest on. Things could get a little wavy.
Of course, we’re painting the planks white to match the tongue-and-groove ceiling in the great room. No natural pine left untouched at the Underdog!
HH is using the same primer and paint that he used on the vaulted ceiling.
All of these images are showing two coats of primer – no paint yet. The paint will be the same as the trim…Benjamin Moore White Dove in semi-gloss.
At the top HH added a 1″ x 2″ and quarter round.
HH dead-ended the planks into the back of the mantel wall. Notice how the planks start a few inches down from the mantel’s height.
That’s because we were trying to avoid planking {not the Lying Down Game} around the light switches. We thought that would look strange. This way the plank wainscoting runs along nicely just below the switch plates.
See how the horizontal line of the mantel is now continued into and around the mudroom / dining room? For consistency, we’ll also install tongue-and-groove planks over the bump-out above the mantel…and paint them white. {Right now, it’s where you can read ‘no foam’ spray painted in orange.} That won’t happen until after we move in since we’ll need to hang our flatscreen above the mantel first.
Speaking of moving in…doesn’t the Underdog look move-in ready?? NOT! We’ve got so much to do! I’ve been purging things at the apartment so I can start packing and moving some of our smaller things next week. I plan on taking a carload every day when I drive over to get Layne off the bus in the afternoons. I’m thinking of it as my postpartum workout.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the beautiful women out there who are busy raising kids, have raised kids and/or are preparing to raise kids! It’s a wild ride.
Click here to see who won this week’s Home Depot giveaway!
images: Dana Miller for House*Tweaking
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