Teen Girls Room Makeover

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I wanted Nova to really love her room and feel like it was her own and I didn’t want it to be like any other room in the house, so in my mind, a ceiling treatment would make it stand out and feel unique. I sent her a few examples of ceiling treatments and she really liked this idea with the beadboard below by Pine and Prospect Home.

I first started by adding 1×4 primed pine around the perimeter of the room. I used 1.5in brad nails and shot them in at opposite angles so it would lock the wood into place on the ceiling without going into a stud. This is my trusty brad nailer, it’s battery operated and beats dragging around a heavy air compressor!

One 8ft board wouldn’t reach all the way across the room, so I cut the ends at a 45 degree beveled cut, partially because it’s easier to make them line up and make the seam disappear, and partially because the beveled cut acts as a second pair of hands and holds the board in place as I nail it in if you cut the bevel in the right direction.

Remember, walls are never going to be completely straight. Below you can see a few gaps from the board to the wall. The corner of the wall is about 1/4in or more and it’s not because my board isn’t straight, I checked! In this instance I will use backer rod to fill in the gap and then caulk over it so that will disappear.

Pro tip: MAKE SURE your caulk is paintable for things like this that you plan on painting!

I got almost all of the room done, but I couldn’t put up the beadboard on my own.

I called in backup, Tyler is 6’4 and can reach the ceiling without a ladder so he came over to help me and we knocked it out in a few hours.

I cut the beadboard where the lines are running from the wall towards the camera here so that there would only be seams to fill where the lines meet up, if that makes sense? I would put the beadboard up while Tyler was holding it and then go outside to cut some more down while he made sure it was nice and secure. We used the same method of shooting nails into the beadboard at opposite angles so it locked it into place, no glue needed.

The way I determined the spacing was to kind of guesstimate how many lines of beadboard and primed pine I could fit up there without looking too busy and without hitting the ceiling light. I took that many and subtracted how many pieces of primed pine it would be knowing the width of the 1×4 pieces (which are actually 3.5in wide) and then I divided the remaining number. Once we got to the end the last row was only off by maybe 1/4in, which isn’t noticeable at all. We did have to go around the vent in the room, but it turned out great!

We did beadboard, the primed pine, then beadboard, then primed pine, and so on until we were done with the room. I ended up doing 5 rows of beadboard and 6 rows of primed pine. I’m not going to lie, that nail gun can get heavy when lifting it above your head so many times!

I’m in love with how it turned out!! We decided against the grid pattern like in the inspo pic and ended up going this route instead.

Then it was time for all the tedious work, filling nail holes and caulking. I used spackle to fill the nail holes because I can wipe it off with a wet wipe instead of sanding it. I also used wet wipes to smooth out the caulk instead of getting it all over my hands. Watch that line disappear in the next 2 photos.

There was one spot we didn’t get to on the ceiling but I knew I could do it on my own so I came back another day to finish it. It required taking the upper cabinet out on the built-in cabinet area. I started by scoring the edges that were caulked with my razor knife and removing the faceframe and the shelves along with any screws I could find.

One of the screws wouldn’t come out because it was just in drywall and not a stud so it just spun, I ended up having the wiggle the cabinet to get it out and the screw head broke off.

I added the rest of the primed pine.

Then I took measurements for the beadboard and cut that down to size, I did have to adjust one piece after a test fit but then it worked out perfect!

More tedious nail filling and caulking after that, but this little section didn’t take too long.

I love how this part of the ceiling turned out!

Now, are you ready for some drama?? It took me 3-4 hours to put plastic up everywhere. Partially because I’m slow and partially because I REALLY hate taping things off and I took a few breaks.

I went to fill up my paint sprayer in a hurry because I was running out of daylight and there was no lighting in this room and when I got back to paint (which wouldn’t take too long, maybe 20 min) all the plastic wrap and tape had fallen down!

I wanted to cry! And if it weren’t for my friend being there I would have! She helped me get it up over the windows and the bed at least and then took a picture of me because she thought I looked hilarious!

Here’s a quick video on the process of everything.

I got to work spraying before the sun went down all the way, I just figured I’d touch up the green later. I know, I did this out of order. If I had known from the very beginning that I was going to do a ceiling treatment I would have done that first, but I didn’t think of that until after the room was already painted green and the loft bed frame was built. I was so frustrated, but glad it was done. It’s hard to tell in the 2nd photo below because the sun was down, but you can see how the top 6in or so had white all over the green and then overspray was everywhere!

A few days later I came back to touch up the green paint and Tyler came with me to hang the chandelier. I don’t mess with electricity or plumbing if I can help it, I’m sure I could figure it out but I have no interest in that.

We ended up getting a fandelier for this room so that the blades have a cage around them and it won’t be easy for her to hit her head on them. We definitely needed a fan and not just a regular chandelier for in here because it’s Texas.