Installing Wood Planking in the Bathroom

My Super Awesome Hubby (SAH) and I had a little “fun” over the holidays… well to tell the truth it was not fun, but I’m smitten with the (almost) final results so I guess it was all worth it! I’m dividing the post into two parts because I’m not quite done yet…

Our youngest and oldest daughter share a Jack and Jill bathroom (see red outlined area on the plans below) which means they each have their own vanity space but they share a tub and toilet area which is connected. This setup works exceptionally well for children with similar habits, as in messy kids with messy kids, clean kids with clean kids… these are the 2 clean ones… well mostly clean anyway

The bathroom was wallpapered, the paper wasn’t bad just not for us, so it had to go!

So Sierra (our eldest) and I took it down (hey she volunteered I promise)!!  It came down SUPER fast, in full sheets, with minimal effort… how lucky can you get right?

I had originally planned on just painting the walls but then I remembered this bathroom (check it out on my Pinterest page) I fell in love with the design and I wanted to replicate it in my own home…

So here we go!

First we bought about 12 packages of these EverTrue V Groove pine wood planks & 4 packages of EverTrue Wainscot from Lowes. We also picked up some crown molding & small chair rail piece to finish off the look. In case you are interested we spent roughly $450 for everything this project.

Hubby cut the boards to size and I installed them one by one leveling each board or every other board depending on how accurate or lazy I was feeling at the time, but mostly it was every board.

I would not have even attempted to do this project if we didn’t have a nail gun! I attached each board to the wall with a dab of Power Grab and a couple of nails. I had marked the stud locations using a stud finder and a level… these boards are NOT coming off of these walls!

After installing all of the horizontal planks I then installed the vertical tongue and groove boards. I placed the nails in such a way that the crown molding and chair rail would cover them so I didn’t need to fill those holes… a small time saver!

I was filling holes and caulking while Hubby was measuring and cutting… the process worked out very well for us and went pretty fast in the vanity areas.

Because the boards are so thin we were able to slip them behind the toilet without having to remove it… SCORE!! By the way I filled all of the holes with vinyl wall spackle, it sands smooth, leave no identifiable hole, dried super fast and was very easy to work with. I think I got a little nail happy on these boards… yikes!

We used the jigsaw to make cuts around light switches and other obstructions and here we cutout for the showerhead and then glued the piece back in… worked like a charm!

Also you can see here that I filled all of the grooves (shower area only) with caulk, a preventative measure in case moisture gets up there, I don’t want it to get behind the boards and cause problems.

Now you should see a clearer picture of where this is all going! We installed crown (no instructions because we are SOOO not qualified to give them, this was a bear) and the small chair rail. I caulked where the crown met the ceiling and where the chair rail met the horizontal boards, but not where they met the bead board… I don’t like the way that caulk fills the grooves on the bead board. The corners, interior and exterior, get caulked as well… I was caulking for a LONG time!

So we are well past the halfway point but not yet finished…

I almost forgot… we have framed the mirrors and changed out the globes as well.

The going is a little slower than anticipated due to some carpal tunnel problems with my right hand / wrist and I am clearly unable to paint very well with my left which seems ridiculous but true!

I’m hoping to wrap up the wall painting this weekend. If you are interested I would say this project is a solid 2 out of 5 on the skill level, the most difficult cuts being the miter ones, but it is rather time consuming so keep that in mind!

I’d love to hear what you think of the space so far… I love reading your comments!

Thanks for stopping by…

Until next time!