Making an outlet or switch flush

Hello and how are ya? Today I’m sharing a quick solution to a problem I run into quite a bit – only because I’m constantly putting planks/board/trim on my walls. :)
I had to do it on our beadboard backsplash:

And on the board and batten/beadboard island:

And in the planked walls powder room as well:
Any time you put anything on the wall that adds to the thickness you’ll have an issue with the outlets and switches – the outlet itself won’t be flush with the wall anymore, like this:

Of course to avoid this you can just cut the wood around the switch plate so it stays against the wall, but I like the cleaner look of having it go behind the switch or outlet plate. I had the same issue in the mud room near the bench I am building:

I had to just tape the covers back on for the time being since the screw wasn’t long enough to even hold them on. The beadboard isn’t that thick but you need to make adjustments to make it work.
It’s actually very easy to do and very cheap. You’ll need these plastic spacers from the electrical aisle:

First thing you need to do is make SURE the power is off to the outlets or switches your working with. Turn them off at the breaker, then double check with a voltage tester like this:

No light or a short light and/or beep means the power is off.
But you’re not done -- plug something into it to triple check that it doesn’t work. And THEN check it one more time by using the detector on the screws next to the outlet:

The light went on and it beeped continuously, which meant there was still power coming from somewhere. This one must be wired to the light in the room -- I turned off the breaker to that light and then all was good.
I know electrical work can be scary but once you are sure it is OFF, you are good to go!
You’ll want to take the two screws out of the outlet so it comes loose a little bit:

And then you just need to figure out how much space you need to make it flush. So for this one I tried a few different numbers and ended up with five spacers – you just fold them accordion style and they snap together:

Each spacer is 1/8th of an inch, so you can measure to see how far out you’ll need – so 5/8’s of an inch would be five spacers. I just do the trial and error method because the measuring doesn’t always work perfectly for me.
Then you just put the screw back in and slide the spacers on it behind the outlet:
Do this for both the top and bottom screw and then tighten them like usual. You may need a longer screw if you need to add this much behind the outlet or switch – I had to get longer screws because the ones that were there were too short with the spacers added.
When you’re done put the plate back on and you're good to go!:

Of course this works when installing tile too. If you tile your backsplash you’ll want to use these to make the outlets flush against the tile instead of inset.
Here’s the before and after to show you the difference again:

By the way you’ll need these if you use the pretty switch covers I told you about here:
They are pretty thick and will need a spacer or two to make the switches flush again. (On that outlet we have dimmers installed, that’s why the switches are different.)
Hopefully this will help if you ever run into this problem! It’s really a very easy, fast fix and the package of spacers are pretty cheap. (And they last forever.) Have you ever used these little plastic doodads?

A basement kitchenette

Hey everybody! It’s time for the kids to go back to school around here, after a THREE week break. I’ll miss the kiddo but getting back to the schedule will be good for us. I guess. Boo.
So I got a ton done again this weekend, but like the other projects I’m working on lately this one going to be a multiple step thing. This was step two of who knows how many but I’m excited about the progress! I like to share the process with you all instead of before with nothing and an after with it all done, cause obviously that’s not how it happens.
When we finished the basement last year we knew we wanted a kitchenette down there somewhere. It’s not a HUGE space though so we needed to make it work in a spot that wouldn’t take up a lot of room. We decided on a small wall in the family room, just outside the laundry room:

I shared that pic late last year after the cabinets were installed. What you don’t see is there is a rough in for a sink – the part I’m most excited about. :) But today we’re talking counters and paint.
I’ve gone back and forth on the counters for months now. My original plan was butcher block with an undermount sink, but then a few weeks ago I found a laminate counter I loved at Lowe’s. They didn’t have the one I loved in stock though, so I went back to my butcher block idea.
But getting the block means a long trip to IKEA (which I’m planning on doing today, but whatever, it was last minute) and I already need to get some butcher for the mud room bench, so getting two was going to get expensive. And then last week I was back and Lowe’s and the counter I loved was in stock and I noticed it was only $34! Thirty bucks people, seriously…I couldn’t believe it!
Laminate means no undermount sink but I’ve lived with a regular drop in sink for all of my 38 years so I think I’ll survive.
I tackled the installation of the counter last week and for the most part that’s easy – but I had to deal with the rough edge on one end:

Thankfully there’s little kits that are sold right by the countertops for just this problem. It was nearly $20 so that cheap countertop get a little more expensive, but still, pretty good.
It comes with wood pieces and laminate for the edges:

First you take those nailed in jobbies in the photo up above out, so the edge is flat. Then you nail the little bitty piece to the back to fill in that part:

And then you’re supposed to do the same underneath with the long piece. This is all so the laminate edge has something to stick to. Well, this wall and the cabinets were pretty much exactly 72 inches (which I don’t think we did on purpose, but it was a nice accident so cabinets and counters were easy to find), but this meant there wasn’t enough of an overhang to add that piece of wood underneath the counter. So I just didn’t add it – we’ll see how this hold up without it.
The next step was a little scary – you take an iron and use it to “glue” the laminate on the edge of the countertop. I didn’t get pictures of this cause I was sweating, but I put the iron on medium heat and used a lot of steam (just as I do with webbing tape when “sewing”). I just steamed it like crazy and was careful not to hold the iron down on the laminate too long:

It worked great! There’s stuff on the back of the laminate that melts and glues it right on. (You can hear it “crackle.”) I couldn’t get it to budge once it was dry. But as you see above, it’s not a perfect fit. The next step was to use a wood file and knock down the excess laminate along there.
I didn’t have a wood file and thought I could just file it down with a chisel. I was wrong. :) It didn’t work. It was about 9 p.m. and I so didn’t want to run out to get the annoying wood file, so I started trying anything I could find. It went…OK. ;) These heavy duty scissors worked for cutting vinyl tiles so I figured they would work for this and they did:

But I couldn’t get close enough to the edge to get it flush. I was also afraid I was going to damage the counter by messing with it so much, so I put a line of my Frogtape along there to protect it:

Then I went back at it again – this time with tin snips. :) With those I was able to get much closer to the edge. And then I got it real flush by ending with my original plan, the chisel:

You can see there why I put the tape down – it really did help and the counters are just fine even after all that abuse. :) After all those tools and the time it took to get it all done, I just should have made the run to the hardware store, but whatever. I was already in my pj’s and not going anywhere.
The counter is actually quite cool, I love the way it looks! It’s got the “3D” look to it – it has a very minor texture that’s supposed to look like granite. We have similar counters upstairs and they get mistaken for granite on first glance all the time. They’ve also held up GREAT, so I know it will be perfect in the basement:

So I know we still need to cut the hole for the sink but I wanted to make sure it was staying put for the time being, so I got some pillows to lay on and got underneath and secured it to the cabinets using screws:

Nice picture thanks to the Bub. ;) It was not the most comfortable thing I’ve ever done. Remember when doing this part to use screws that aren’t too long so they don’t go through the top of the laminate! Yikes.
Then…it was time for paint. Why must EVERY SINGLE PROJECT involve so much paint? WHY. I’ve done a coat of primer and one coat of glossy white on everything so far:

Yes, the kitchenette also serves as the basketball court. :)
The cabinets still needs another good sanding and one more coat of paint, but I was tired people. So. much. painting. 
Next steps are to install the hardware on the cabinets, continue the baseboard around the bottom, install the sink and then decide what I’m doing on that wall above. First I need to decide on uppers or no uppers – I wasn’t going to do any but more storage wouldn’t be a horrible thing, right? I’m thinking maybe skinny ones one easy side of the lights, then maybe shelving between. Or just shelves and no cabinets? No idea. It will come to me eventually.
So it’s not quite a full after yet, but a halfway after still makes me very, very happy:

We are just giddy about the thought of a kitchen sink down there. I swear we’re all just moving down to the basement. We’ll be back upstairs for the summer. Or not, it’s nice and cool down there in the hot months. :)
Have you ever installed countertops? Do you have this granite lookalike stuff? My dream one day would be soapstone counters, but until then the laminate holds up great! Hopefully I’ll be able to show you this space with a sink soon!
P.S. This color was called Labrador Granite, here’s a link to a larger piece.

Keeping the house warm

Hey all! Are your kids back in school yet? Mine isn’t. :) I actually love the extended break but I know many of my friends are losing it and are READY for them to go back. We’re on day three of missed school because our roads are so awful – it’s been too cold for the salt to even work. Today we’ll hit a balmy 30 degrees so I’m thinking the kids will go back tomorrow.
We got the coldest temps I can remember earlier this week – so cold there were icicles hanging from inside our windows and frost on the door knobs (inside) – it was intense. I think we got to –40 wind chill one night.
We had icicles inside, but our house did stay a consistent 67 degrees the entire time – I’m actually surprised our furnace did so well. So many of my friends had houses that were cold because the heater couldn’t keep up, or it just gave out all together.
In preparation for the cold I hit up the hardware store last weekend and grabbed a few things I think helped, just a little bit. For some reason some of this stuff has intimidated me for years, I’m not sure why. But I found some easy, cheap ways to insulate that I wanted to share.
Our new back door is one area I hit hard. For the most part we haven’t felt too much air coming through the sides of it, but there were a few areas I needed to address. One was a small hole that was created when they reinstalled the trim on the floor – the hardwood floors were pulled up in a spot and it made a big gap in the wall. The cold air was literally pouring in through it.
It was too big to caulk so when I found this stuff I knew it was perfect:

It’s called caulk saver – I just cut little bits of it off and stuffed them in the hole on the floor:

It’s easily squishable – I stuffed about four pieces in before it was full:

If I wanted to hide it I could caulk over it, but you really don’t notice it. I’m sure I’ll find spots to use the rest of it – maybe on the garage door?
These jobbies aren’t new to me – I’ve actually used them for years now, but I picked up a few more:

Have you ever felt your outlets or light switches on an exterior wall in the winter? If so you’ll probably feel cold air coming in. It’s not a ton, but we have a bunch of them on exterior walls so I’m sure all that cold air adds up.
You just take the plate off and then push them on:

Then just put the cover back on – that’s it! It’s probably best to turn off the switch or outlet at the breaker if you’ve never done this. You’ll still feel some air coming through the actual holes of the outlet but there’s not a whole lot you can do about that, as far as I know.
So the door insulation stuff is what has intimidated me, that foam stuff with the sticky side -- you know what I’m talking about? You peel off the paper on one side and then stick it inside your door frame to insulate.
Well we have a security system and I always wondered if that thick foam would mess with the sensors. And if down the line the foam got messed up it would be a BEAR to get off – that sticky stuff leaves a residue forever.
So when I saw this I knew it was the solution:

It’s felt insulation and I got some tiny nails to nail it into the door frame. I figured at least with this I could always fill holes if I had to remove it down the road.
The whole door didn’t need it – it was just about three feet under the knob where I was feeling some air:

It took about two minutes to install and it’s held up great. (See all that snow? Yeah.)
I also put new corner seals on each door as well – they go at the top and bottom of the door frame where air sometimes gets through:

You just stick them on – easy!
And of course, tried and true caulk works wonders too:

The trim on other side of the door had a small gap that air was coming through so I caulked that up:

They have different colors if you don’t want to use white, but I was just using what we had on hand.
All of this stuff was about ten bucks and I still have plenty left over. Of course this helps in the summer to keep the heat out as well. I just use my hand to feel for drafts but I’ve seen a trick where you can use an incense stick to see where you have drafts coming in – you watch the smoke to see if it blows around.
Did you get hit with this intense weather? The 40’s this weekend sound positively heavenly – it’s going to feel like spring! Have you used any insulating tricks in your home?

How to build a mud room bench

OK, so I’m super excited to share this progress with you today! Just know it’s not done yet so there won’t be any perfect after picture just yet – but I’m SO happy with how the bench in the mud room is coming together so I had to share the process so far.
I gathered my materials before this weather hit and spent most of Sunday working on it. I was in a zone and was having a blast. It’s been awhile since I’ve worked on something like this!
The only materials were two wall cabinets and a few 1 by 6’s. Oh, and some scrap wood, but more on that in a bit. Here are the cabinets I used:

These were from Lowe’s but you can find them anywhere – Menards, Home Depot, etc. We have a little “nook” where our washer and dryer used to sit where I am building the bench, so I measured that spot and determined two 30x15x12 cabinets would work.
I think the cabinets were $30-something? The Lowe’s website says $20 and I know I didn’t pay that little. Maybe they were more than $30, I honestly can’t remember. I’ll try to find my receipt and let you know for sure.
Anyway, this isn’t my first rodeo with the cabinets-as-built-ins. I’ll share more links at the bottom of the post, but for now let’s just say this is the fourth time I’ve done this type of thing. I give all credit to my Dad who showed me how to make this happen years ago. :)
I started by flipping the cabinets over and measuring the inside area underneath. I cut down my 1 x 6’s so they made a base:

Does that make sense? This gets the cabinets off the ground. I knew I wanted them about 20 inches off the floor so that’s why I used the 1 x 6 size and the 15 high cabinets. They have 12 inchers too.
I used my nail gun to secure the boards to the sides of the cabinet, all around, then used longer nails in my gun and nailed down the sides of each where they meet in the corners for extra stability. You can add braces in the corners if needed too, but when I was done they weren’t budging a bit so I called it done.
I did that for both cabinets and then started figuring out how to make the bench deeper. You could make it just 12 inches deep from the wall to make it really easy, but I wanted more room for the tushes. (Not that mine needs anymore room…ahem.)
I pulled them away from the wall and hung coats and bags behind me to figure out what was comfortable. I wanted to be able to sit without having the stuff behind me pushing me off. I sat on it and then had hubby do the same so I could figure out a good distance. I determined 20 inches out from the wall was best, so this is where the scrap wood came in:

I went around the wall with scrap wood that I measured at the same exact height as the benches. (I pushed them up against the wall and marked on the wood where to cut.)
I secured each one into studs in the wall. So now, when I get the butcher block that will be the top of the bench, it will rest right on top of those boards (with glue and nails to secure it, plus screws from inside the cabinets) and on the top of the benches as well. I hope that makes sense?
Now it was time to secure the cabinets to the walls. This is where I had to sit in front of all of it for a second and figure out what I was going to do. I knew I’d have about three inches of space left to fill between the cabinets. (Or 1.5 inches on either side if I placed them together in the middle.)
Because I wanted them really secure I went with the space in the middle of the cabinets, so I could install them into the walls. I used long drywall-like screws – these are my favorite with any woodworking project because they grab the wood so easily:

I think installing cabinets is hard. I’ve done it a few times and getting every angle level is a pain in the butt, really. Sometimes it happens fairly easily (our dining room built ins weren’t bad), sometimes it takes forever. I used shims to get these as level as I could and then secured them to the wall into studs:
So these will be used for our shoe storage, if you haven’t figured that out quite yet. ;) It’s not a TON of space so I’ll have to be selective with the shoes we keep down here. In the summer it will be easy with sandals and flip flops. In the winter we’ll have less room to work with with boots and all.
My plan all along has been to make the doors into drawers – I was going to build drawers and install them so we could just pull them out, but I realized I’d lose a lot of space by doing that, so I think we’ll just keep them as is and throw shoes in there:

So anyway, I had that area in the middle of the two cabinets to fill. It just so happened I had a piece of scrap wood that fit in exactly – YES! But I couldn’t figure out how to secure it in there. I couldn’t get my nail gun in between the cabinets to nail at an angle, and the wood had just a smidge of space on the sides so wood glue wasn’t going to hold it well enough. I could have used the long screws through the frames of the cabinets but didn’t want to risk splitting them.

So I sat and stared at it for awhile and came up with an idea. I cut more scrap wood that I nailed into the cabinets (there was a little lip I could nail into – I put arrows to show what I’m talking about) and then just placed my scrap filler piece on top of it:

To give the bench even more stability I added another scrap piece to the back of the bench as well, as you can see above.
THIS is my favorite part of a project like this. I love sitting there and trying to figure out a solution and using what I already have to make it happen. It’s like a puzzle for me and I’m so in my element when I’m doing something like this. Love it!
So this is what it looks like from the front – still a mess but when I’m done with it it will look much better:

If I can’t get it smooth with putty and sanding, I’ll just put some trim over it to hide it.
So that was it for the bench! When it was done I started on finishing up the beadboard around the nook area. I’ve finally found a fool-proof way to get a good cut around my outlets. I’ve always used a jigsaw and still do for some of it, but I can’t cut a straight line with that thing to save my life. So now, I trace around the outlet cover:

Then hold the beadboard up and mark where my cuts will be. like always:

You want the cuts to be under your outlet plate so they aren’t seen.
Then I used the jigsaw for the smaller cuts, but then hold up a straight edge and score the wood with a razor for the longer cut:

I usually do it on both sides of the wood, you don’t have to go that deep. Then I use my wrench to grab the wood and snap it off:

It works EVERY time and gives me a nice, clean cut. It doesn’t have to be perfect since it’s under the plate anyway, but this way is just easier in my opinion. It’s hard to get the jigsaw in there to cut angles.
Like I said, this is still not done, but there’s not really that much left to do (it just looks like it:

I need to get something to use baseboard across the front. What I got is too tall, so I need to either find something that fits or have it cut down. (I still don’t have a table saw so I’m really hoping I can find something.) I need to paint the bench of course, and then I’ll just need to get the butcher block I’m using as the bench seat. Of course the only place I know of to get that is IKEA, and that’s a two hour drive away. Not happening in all of this snow, but I’m hoping I can get over there later this week. I’m SO excited to get this done!
I need to paint the rest of the beadboard now too, but I’m trying to decide what I’ll do. The painted beadboard (instead of white) has given me a bit of a problem – do I do the wall of the bench in white? The bench will be white. Will it look weird having it all the deep color, then in white there? I don’t know what to do, I’ll have to think about it for a bit. That’s what I get for trying to be all different with a color on the beadboard. Hmmm…
Anyway, what looked like this on Saturday:

Looked like this as of Sunday:

Even though the bench is almost done there’s still a lot to do in the room – I need to put spacers in the outlets so they are flush with the beadboard, install the trim around the top of the beadboard, install the upper cabinets and then most likely shelves between them.
But having this part almost done makes me feel like I’m in the home stretch! So excited!
I’ll be sure to update you when I get the bench done. :) Have you attempted this type of project? I had grand plans for awhile but decided in the end but simpler would be better (and easier!).