It’s week 5 and I would be in major stress mode, but since they’ve decided to extend the One Room Challenge by a week I’m feeling pretty okay about my progress or rather lack there of this week. Halloween through a kink in my work schedule, there’s no doubt about that, but what majorly set me back was a big mistake I made. If you’ve been following along behind the scenes on Instagram Stories than you already know about my bone-headedness. But for those that are unaware, let me explain.
When Three Inches Matters
I mentioned in last week’s update that I had decided to tackle a moulding project on the headboard wall given that they extended the challenge by a week. Well, best laid plans. All would be well, if I had just followed my chicken scratch of a plan. 😉 My son and I worked out the math just perfectly before we headed to the hardware store pick up the wood.
I started by framing out the wall entirely. Easy enough. Then after measuring the space, I worked out a plan to create a rectangular grid-like moulding feature wall.
The plan was to put up the vertical boards first. Then add in the horizontal pieces. And all was going according to plan, or so I thought……
Until I got ready to put up the last vertical board and realized that I had used the horizontal measurement rather than the vertical measurement. Noooooo! I had nailed the boards up 18 inches apart instead of 15 which left me with too much space between the last board, and there was just no way to fudge it to make it work. Believe me, I tried. Three measly inches messed up everything.
At this point, I’m not going to lie. I kind of wanted to cry. But, there is no crying in DIY. 😉
Instead, I took all of the boards down and started over. Carefully measuring, checking and re-checking to make sure I was putting them up 15 inches apart this time.
Sorry for the fuzzy phone photo. But if I dared to try to multi-task and take a photo with my good camera I might risk screwing this project up again. 😉 But seriously though.
To Add the Horizontal Boards or To Keep It Vertical?
Thankfully it didn’t take as long as I had imagined it would to fix my mistake, but after I got all of the vertical boards up I was kind of questioning my original plan.
I had set out to create a rectangular grid-like moulding feature wall……similar to this that I pinned to my inspiration board.
Here’s another one of my amazing mock-ups to give you a better idea. 😉
Anyhow, once I had all the vertical boards in place, I was kind of liking the simplicity of this look. But I was also second guessing myself because I wasn’t sure if maybe it was just my laziness in knowing that I still had a lot of work left to do that was clouding my judgment. So I took a poll on Instastories and a little over 2,000 people voted. 75% voted to leave the wall as is with just the vertical boards (obviously I would still be finishing the boards to meet the base and not just leaving that gap there at the bottom). 25% voted to add the horizontal boards.
So what say you? Should I go with my original plan and add the horizontal boards? Or should I just leave the wall with the vertical boards? What are your thoughts? They each create a totally different look, and I’m just not totally sure which I like better.
On Messing Up
When I shared this mishap DIY story on Instagram, so many people reached out to say thanks for sharing that it doesn’t always go as planned. And I was glad that some found it comforting, maybe even encouraging, to know they’re not alone in making DIY mistakes.
A word on screwing it up. A pep talk for the DIY’er down in the dumps. – > Mistakes aren’t the end of the world. They present opportunities to learn. The only failure is in not trying. It’s OKAY if you mess up! It’s OKAY if it doesn’t come out perfectly! Don’t let the fear of pulling out boards, removing what feels like hundreds of nails and patching twenty thousand holes keep you from playing the DIY game. 😉
Two Weeks Left!
I’ve got two weeks left to get my teenage son’s room whipped into shape. So hopefully, I’m mishap free for the next 14 days. Be sure to check out all the other One Room Challenge Participants progress by clicking here.
If you are just now tuning in, you can get caught up here:
One Room Challenge – Before and Plans – Week 1
Choosing a Paint Color – Week 2
Add the horizontal boards! I think the horizontal boards will give it a more finished look.