Good Morning! I gave you a sneek peek last Friday of my chair molding- didn’t it turn out great?! Here us the post on how to install chair molding. Last Monday I decided was the day to buy the materials and put it up. So I headed to Lowe’s with my baby and bought all of the materials I needed. He was way off schedule from Day Light Saving time, so we were there bright and early. We looked ridiculous because I put him in a carrier and was pushing a big cart loaded with everything we needed, but I did it!
Side note, I found pre-made picture molding for sale at Lowes in case that is helpful to anyone. There were a bunch of styles for $10-$13 each. This would be such a fast and simple way to customize your house! I am too picky on my sizes for this to work for me, but I wanted to pass it on:
I got home, put my baby down for a nap and was scared and overwhelmed to start. I didn’t really know what I was doing! But I got going anyway and gathered all of my tools.
Tools for Install Chair Molding:
- Chair Molding (I bought 5 of the 8′ size)
- Level
- Blue Painter’s Tape
- Hammer
- Finish Nails
- Miter Block
- Tape Measure
- Caulk
- Liquid Nails
- Caulking Gun
- Wood Filler
- Sand Paper
- Paint Brush
- Paint
- Paint Stirrer
- Drill
- Drill Bits
- Hack Saw
- Drop Cloth
- Plans
- Nail Setter (not shown)
- Wet rag (not shown)
First step was using the level and going around and drawing a line with pencil where the top of the chair molding will be (read this post on planning for installing chair molding for how I decided to put the top of the molding 37″ off the ground). This was the only time I used the level for this project. Thank goodness I didn’t try to use it when I was installing the trim- with two people it would have worked, but by myself it would have been too much to do.
Next was cutting the first piece of molding. I used my picture from my plans to decide what angle to cut it on. I measured twice and cut. At first I used a clamp to hold the trim in place, but it was hard to keep perfect this way, so I eventually ditched it. One thing I had to be careful with was making sure I was measuring correctly on the piece of wood. So if you are cutting on an angle, you need to measure from the highest point on where the saw hits the wood. I would cut a piece of molding, install it, and then repeat to make sure I was cutting accurately.
After that, I prepped for putting up the boards. First I ripped off pieces of blue painter’s tape and put them on the wall. Later, these will hold your boards in place while the glue dries.
Next, I pre-drilled holes into the wood in three spots so I could nail up the trim. I laid out a drop cloth under where I was working and put nails and a hammer on the ground so I could easily grab them. This step was a life save for me! It saved the trim from splitting and made it fast and easy to hammer up the board later.
The last prep I did was apply Liquid Nails to the back of the board to be installed
Now it was time to put my board on the wall. This was hard to do alone! But I came up with some steps that made it easier for me as I worked:
- Put in a nail to the center of your board in the hole you just drilled. Start in the middle so you have the most leverage. Get your board in place and then nail in your center nail.
- Now you can start at an end, nail the end of your board in and then start adding in the blue tape and working your way to the other end where you will hammer in your last nail and finish installing the blue tape
- Use your wet rag and wipe off any excess Liquid Nails
Isn’t that corner pretty?! Haha! I was rather proud of my self that it was working!!
As the nails were getting installed, I would use a nail setter and hammer in the nails so they were below the trim’s surface. This makes it so you can putty the hole and won’t be able to see nail holes after you paint. #professional
Lastly, I put in the wood filler in where two boards meet and where any nail holes and sanded off any extra after it dries. After a few hours of having the blue tape up, I took it down. So, and you can tell I didn’t paint or caulk the trim. I am still going to add in picture molding (as discussed here), so I will paint and caulk after everything is up.
When I was done with my project, I still had a bunch of Liquid Nails and didn’t know how to keep it from drying out so I can use it again. I Googled it and found out that you can put a big screw in the opening and that should keep it fresh!
Since I will be installing the picture molding next weekend, but I don’t want to live in a construction zone (especially with a crawling baby), I put all of the tools I will need again in a hamper in a closet. I used this method when I was painting two weekends in a row. I have a clean house, but when I am ready to work on my project again, I can just pull out a basket and have all of the tools ready for me! So convenient!
[…] added in a custom wall treatment. For me this was chair and picture molding. This gives the room a very classy look. It was around $150 to install (so not […]