House in Progress Diary

Bathroom Wainscoat Pt. 2 - Hanging Beadboard & Cabinet Backing

After priming and cutting our beadboard sheets, we started the installation in the upstairs bathroom.

The beadboard will be forming a 36" wainscoat around the whole bathroom, trimmed with a fairly simple craftsman-style pattern, mounted on the face of the beadboard sheets (more on that later). We started by mounting the sheets with a combination of finishing nails and liquid nails.

This work also gave us a chance to work on another piece that will tie the new room back to its original look...

...the built-in cabinet! When we first moved in, the bathroom originally included a rather run-down cabinet in the back corner of the room. You can see part of it here (if you aren't blinded by that awful pink).

Well, we decided that the cabinet was actually worth saving, under the many coats of brown paint and the tacky wallpaper that was put over the glass doors. While it isn't anything special, it does have character and we were especially interested in an element that would carry forward the room's history, even as we change so much of it.

We were especially lucky that our wonderful neighbor volunteered to strip it down after we'd removed it. (Thanks Krystina!) Here's a photo of my dad using a beadboard sheet to give it a back panel (which it didn't have).

Also, note the pieces of blue painter's tape that mark the location of the studs within the wall.

(You'll notice we've also done an initial coat of paint on the walls--a blue we found at Restoration Hardware that closely matches our original master bathroom design.)

Unfortunately, once we'd put it in place my dad noticed somewhat of a problem...

...the cabinet was built crooked! The original wall and floor were actually crooked, then the built-in was installed askew to compensate for the wall and floor. But we straightened both the wall AND the floor. Today that means straight wall and floor, crooked cabinet. Here's a photo where you can see that the cabinet's bottom edge doesn't exactly follow along with the new tile border (click to enlarge).

Oh well--we wanted the room to have character and a tie to its heritage so I guess that's what we've got. Here's a photo of the full cabinet re-installed, along with the partially installed beadboard wainscoat. We shimmed one of the sides and the back in order to compensate for the orignal crookedness.

Next up, hanging more beadboard and designing and installing the wainscoat trim...

Posted by aaron on April 16, 2005 at 11:28 PM (2)