A Couple Long-Awaited Fixes

I read somewhere that you should take care of the little things that bother you about your home right away after you buy it, otherwise you’ll just get too used to them and never get around to fixing them.  That is definitely true.  It is amazing how you can learn to just ignore ugly details when you see them every day!

We definitely have a few a bazillion in our home, but I’m proud to have finally taken care of a couple of them!  Both were holdovers from our big renovation before we moved in, when we knocked down a wall and replaced the luan board walls in our living room and dining room with plaster.  We’re so happy with the change, but it left us with a few things to wrap up.  For example, this gap between the new plaster walls in the living room and the luan board in the hallway:

It kind of ruins the vibe I’m going for – especially since the vibe I’m going for is “this is a real, finished house.”  Similarly, this ledge on the ceiling, which shows where we took down the wall dividing the kitchen and dining room, makes the whole space feel a lot less put together.

I left these for so long because they were so easy to ignore, and I knew the fix would be quick and could be taken care of whenever.  It’s so easy to put those sorts of things off!

I don’t know what changed for me, but I finally took care of these two small problems.  It started with a trip to a home improvement store for the trim pieces I’d need to fill in these gaps.  I got two 8′ lengths of 1/4 circle trim for about $3.50 each and an 8′ length of corner guard for about $7.50.

I was over at Sage’s house, so got to take advantage of her table saw to make the cuts easily.  I measured carefully, and then we secured the small pieces to the table saw using a piece of scrap wood.

This helped keep it safe and steady!

Installation was easy – I just used small finishing nails to secure the pieces to the wall and ceiling.

The only slightly tricky part was fitting the corner piece in with the existing trim that runs along the ceiling in the hallway.  (It is hard to call it trim since it is just a little strip of wood, but it was in the way, nonetheless.)

I’m not sure it was the most elegant solution, but I just carefully sliced away at it with my X-ACTO knife until I could break it along the line I marked.  It came off pretty cleanly!

Then all I had to do was caulk the edges, prime, and paint to finish the fix!

The ceiling looks a whole lot better.  It is definitely still noticeable that there is a transition there (the only way to fix that would be to re-do the whole ceiling in the kitchen), but it doesn’t look unfinished any longer.

But I’m pretty proud of the corner to the hallway.  It looks almost intentional!

These were such simple fixes, I’m pretty embarrassed that I didn’t bother to do them before.  It makes me wonder what other little projects I’ve been ignoring for too long!