
We’ve been talking about beadboard this week and the Nester has been talking about board and batten. It’s made me think about and appreciate all of the wood walls in my own home, neither beadboard nor board and batten, mine are all either good ol’ deep v-groove or bare wood walls that I’ve painted like shown in the photo above of the upstairs guest room. Some of the walls downstairs were dark stained knotty pine and I committed the wood sin and painted it all! It is all so durable and perfect for life with little boys..especially in this narrow hallway between our bedrooms. Just imagine the toy cars that go through this space! Also notice how the wood flooring changes from oak to pine..funny I think, doesn’t bother me a bit!

I painted it all Sherwin-Williams extra white and I have loved it..I did semi-gloss OIL based..does anyone even use oil anymore?? This was 10 years ago thus the knicks and love.

It is also in my kitchen, around the mini penisula, breakfast area, and as backsplash…


And up my stairwell..these stairs had green shag carpet and yes I refinished them and removed all of the carpet glue..they are not shiny and perfect but I love them just the way they are…I think these risers are screaming to be “numbered” like those shown here from HGTV’s Sarah’s house.


Once you get to the stop of the stairs you see the bedroom in the very top photo and then turn left into a small bath which is right next (and I do mean CLOSE proximity..this upstairs is tiny) to my office.

The entire house, built in 1941 before the war, was originally clad in cheesecloth and wallpaper. Downstairs we simply covered over that with 1/4″ sheetrock…the historian in me LOVES knowing that cheesecloth and wallpaper are still under there BUT upstairs we ripped the wallpaper off of the walls and slathered in GALLONS of white paint, that old wood drank the paint! It was a MESS to remove the old paper and cheesecloth, a zillion strings to clip but I love the look. This shot is looking from my office into the guest room (again, very top shot is of that room, no longer pink and shabby chic but its in its shabby glory in that first photo;).

The tiny “attic crawl space” door is even cut from the v-groove.

I’m not showing you the funky 1970s rough wainscot in the dining room that is a little weird so don’t be too jealous. Bottom line, I am thankful for the wood in this house. That sounds like an odd statement but if you are reading this blog I think you can relate. When you live in an older home (really any home for that matter) it is easy to get bogged down in the things you want to do or wish were remodeled or “nicer.” The truth is, I painted every inch of this house and it’s not perfect and is showing wear from living here ten years and enduring a little boy but I am still so thankful for the character and durability of these features. Thanks for letting me share.
What do you love about your house?