The Office...

Saturday morning I was awake early - like really early

I washed dishes, baked, washed dishes again, cleaned up around the house, stood in my office and stared at the blank wall A LOT... I was so excited - to excited to sleep - today was my be creative day

We headed out and did a little more Christmas shopping in the morning (before the stores got crazy - turns out everyone thought the same thing - I guess it is Christmas countdown time)

This time I was out with our youngest - he is not a shopper but we had a birthday present to buy and he was very happy about that - toy shopping is way cooler then clothes shopping.

Got a text from my sweets mid morning that he had a bit of an accident - but all was fine
(I was worried) - I luv bbm'ing but sometimes you miss the tone and worry

The little guy and I stopped for sbucks as his legs were tired - or bendy as he likes to say - which means really tired legs

Daddy and E were on there way to meet us for coffee.

My sweets didn't look to good - so we took our coffee to go and he dropped me off at Home Depot to let the creativity begin!

There are many Home Improvement stores now where you can walk amongst the lumber and building materials - if you don't have one of these types of stores close by - just check with your local lumber store prior to walking through their warehouse and lumber yards - as some do not allow this due to safety concerns

For this particular project I needed to be amongst the materials for inspiration.

I debated this for a while

both these items were untreated cedar - I would not recommend treated materials inside your home

then i thought of using slotwall as you can purchase shelves, hooks, and other accessories to hang in the slats - but it was supper heavy

I looked at using the v-grove panel boards but they were pricey - for my one wall it would have been $100 just for the product - not that this is terrible but they also only had one package in stock and this project was soooooo happening today

so moving along... I found these

I debated 1x5 boards but felt they were to bulky and would have run me around $75 for the wall

Then I struck GOLD

These slats are 1.5"x48" by 1/4"thick - and come in a bundle of 50 for approx. $13

I called my sweets in just to bounce my idea off of and he liked it - wahoo - and my little guys helped me carry out the "stuff".  I also picked up stain and wall "no nail" adhesive just in case the brad nails didn't work - I was making sure no variables were left to chance - this project was moving ahead

Once we got home I went straight to work

I laid out approx. 17 slats and did each grouping one color - I used various paint I had leftover from around the house - this way all the colors would tie in to the overall look of our home - and hey totally free as I already had it.

If you don't have various paint colors I would recommend purchasing mistints - h.depot has them for $1 a can  - you could also use crafting paint for roughly $2 found at any craft store

I mixed about 3tbsp of paint to 3tbsp of water and brushed on the slats

I did 5 colors in total - raindance, lead, ranchwood, pristine (all aura - benjamin moore colors) and early american stain (that i used on our seagrass ottomans and on the vintage headboards I have made in the past)

My sweets stood there with the air nailer and I just handed him the slat I wanted to go next - we (I mean he) did have to cut (we figure he did about 200 stairs to the garage in total as I draw the line at a saw in my office - even if apparently the vacuum cleaner can clean it up- nice try babe)

We started at the top of the wall with a level to make sure the first row was level and away we went...

This is what we ended up with...

Before....

And this is what it looked like saturday night... after

a close up....

once the wall was done I gave it a sanding with medium and then fine sandpaper

Thank you sweets for doing all the grunt work on the wall install and running all those stairs - especially considering how you were feeling (poor guy had a cutting blade break while he was using it that morning (the accident he bbm'd me about) and part of the blade flew past and cut his cheek and ear - sooo thankfully he is okay as it could have been soooo much worse)

To complete my office I just need to pick up another Hemmes cabinet for the center opening, some lamps, a cool chair by the windows - if the $$ is right , an area carpet, and then just the new desk my dad is creating - I cannot wait to see it

I have to say this wall was super easy - it literally took me 1/2hr to decide what to buy, 1 hr to paint/dry, 1 hour to install - so like under 3 hrs - easy peasy nachos cheesy

So what projects are on your list this week?

Baking, painting... Christmas Shopping?