New Smart Products Finalized

We have decided on two new products to add to our Smart Nursery.

Mango Mirror – Yes I won this product and will be doing a review on it shortly once it arrives. I have to say I am really excited about it. We were planning on putting in a mirror anyways over the dresser so in true honor of the “Smart Nursery” theme we decided lets go for it. It should add functionality as well as great information especially when deciding what to dress baby in for the day with weather updates right on the mirror. You can check out more about the Mango Mirror here and stay tuned for my full review of the product soon.

My Smart Blinds – We already had existing three inch faux wood blinds in the room that I installed myself when we moved in last November. What I love about the “My Smart Blind” product is that we can fully automate our existing blinds without having to purchase all new blinds with their automation kit that will retro-fit most major brands of faux wood blinds. You can check out my full review of the product here.

 

Chair Rail Installation

Finally getting around to starting the chair rail molding for the nursery. Here is a guide as to how I was able to complete the job.

 

First thing I needed to do was remove the existing baseboard as I will be replacing this with a more modern square baseboard to match the rest of the chair rail. In order to remove baseboard you will first need to run a razor knife down the line where the board  meets the wall. This is to separate the caulking from the wall and the baseboard.

Once this is complete you will need to use a pry bar to get behind the baseboard and slowly work your way from one end of the board to the other until you loosen the board evenly. Eventually you will be able to pull the board completely off the wall and discard.

Once the board is removed you need to look over the area that you plan to install the replacement baseboard. You will need to remove any existing caulking so that the wall is smooth and your new baseboard can sit flush against the wall. You will also need to look for finish nails that may not have come out cleanly with the baseboard that you removed. Most likely you will find a few of these especially in the corners. Take a pair of pliers and work the nails back and forth until you are able to pull them out from the wall and discard these into your trash bin.

Next I needed to trim the side baseboards so that my new board would fit. Because we are changing to a square board for only this wall, I needed to cut the side baseboards to a 90 degree just big enough to fit my new board in. For this, I like to use a multi tool as it doesn’t require removal of  the boards first and then cutting them with a chop or circular saw.

I lined up the new board as a guide to draw a line to cut. This is the easiest way to make sure the board will fit in when I’m done.

Once I had the line drawn its time to make the cut

This is what a multi tool looks like and the one that I picked to use

Cutting! 🙂

Once your Cut goes all the way through you may need to use a razor to remove any adhesive or caulk that may be holding it to the wall.

Then use a screw drive you a small pry tool to remove the cut piece.

It won’t always come out as one piece.

Finally to ensure that your new baseboard fits properly go back over the entire area and remove any caulk you may have missed as well as nails that may have not come our when removing the previous baseboard.

 

Check one more time to make sure that your wall area is free of obstruction for your new board and if it is clear you are ready to cut your new baseboard to fit.

My wall was longer than the eight foot board that I found so to cover the full length of the wall I needed to butt two boards together. To do this I cut the inside edges of the boards at opposite 45 degree angles to help eliminate a visible seam. Once cut to size I applied some wood glue to the joint and then fastened the boards to the wall using a nail gun hitting wall studs all the way down the board.

Next I installed the two end vertical boards cut to 43 inches. From here I added to top horizontal board making a complete box. For the top horizontal board I needed to butt two boards together to cover the entire room so again I did 45 degree angles and applied wood glue.

 

From here I found the middle point of the box and installed another vertical board to help give me a reference point for the remaining vertical boards. After some measuring and cutting I filled in the last vertical boards to make the final structure.

From here look over all of your boards and make sure that everything is flush with the wall. If not use your nail gun to place more nails as needed to secure the boards to the wall tightly. Many people will use liquid nail to install the same chair rail I choose not to due to the chance that one day we may change or remove the chair rail altogether. Using Liquid Nail will mean serious damage to the drywall and a more expensive renovation later should we to change it.

Next you need to caulk all the seams of the new chair rail and fill any nail holes in the boards. I also like to use a stain blocking primer on any bare wood areas or pencil marks left on the wall to prevent stains from bleeding back through my paint job. I also had some areas where the boards were not even. This is because most of the time walls look to be plumb but are not. Some slight variations can cause serious changes in your final product. To remedy this I used a belt sander and palm sander to get the boards even. Once completed let the caulk cure for the specified amount of time per the directions from the caulk manufacture.

Final step for the chair rail installation is painting. We painted ours a traditional bright while semi-gloss but many people are getting creative with different color in the boxes etc. For our nursery we have decided to go a bit more traditional.

First Coat

Second Coat

After all that here is the final product. Not to bad for DIYer like myself. The project is fun and even our 2 year old got in on the action. Now I will need to touch up the walls around the chair rail and install some new receptacle covers and I will be ready to start the fun stuff. Installing decorations, shelves, bringing in furniture, and installing all the great smart gadgets.

Smart Items Left to be considered

Video Baby Monitor

Indoor Air Quality Monitor

Smart Lighting

Other Smart Sensors.

Let me know if I have missed something or you have some suggestions for me. Together we can make this the Smartest Nursery out.

Thanks

Joe