Installing a Pine Tongue and Groove Ceiling - Part 3

After I sanded and stained all the planks, we were ready to start putting them up. Yay...finally, we could begin to see some progress from a "cosmetic" point of view. That's what I was thinking anyway.

Forgive me for some of the quality in these pictures. It is a miracle that I have as many as I do. I need to start taking better pictures - with my good camera, in good light. I have a lot to learn about all this. ;)

Notice our "moving refrigerator." We have moved it approximately five times now. It always seems to be in the way - no matter where we move it.

Rick and Zach, getting ready to put the last board up.

And the last plank is in! This ceiling project was probably the toughest job we have done to date.

After it was up, and I looked at it for awhile, I decided I really liked it. It adds a lot of warmth to the big room. Things are starting to feel like home. Just have to deal with the exposed insulation and not to mention my pantry items all on the open shelving!

The pantry is next. It is one of my favorite things now!

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Installing a Pine Tongue and Groove Ceiling - Part 2

We did a lot of research and decided to go with tongue and groove planks. During my research, I found Ceiling Ideas from The Lettered Cottage. They used some thin boards, painted white. I loved the "cottage" look and especially liked the painted white planks. Rick was NOT into painting the planks white. He is more of wood lover.

We shopped local home improvement stores and a few lumber yards. We found pine tongue and groove planks with a much thicker feel to them. We finally found what they call "car siding." It had a lot of character, with the pine knots and different markings in the wood. We got an excellent price on it and Rick went and picked up a trailer load of the planks.

So while he was prepping the ceiling, my job was to sand and stain each plank. I decided to do all the staining and sealing before putting them up. I did not want to do that work over my head.

First I sanded them down. Then I applied wood conditioner so the planks would take the stain evenly. Then I applied two coats of stain. This made a big difference. One mistake I made - do not let the pre-stain dry before applying the stain. I did not read the directions carefully. Thank goodness I only did that on about six planks. I had to go back and sand them all down again and start over. Not fun. Once it dries, it does not let the stain absorb.

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 I ended up using the color Golden Oak. I bought approximately ten different colors before finally deciding on this color!

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As I was staining the planks, I panicked a bit because this was not the look I was going for! I wanted the cottage feel like this:

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I called Rick and told him I had decided to paint the boards white. He had a little meltdown and told me if I painted them white, he was not installing them! Ok. I had to compromise. The planks weren't smooth like the ones from my inspiration picture. I did like the character the pine knots added to the planks. I just didn't want the rustic look so much. Or the feedstore look. Or country...get what I mean?

At this point, I didn't have much choice. I knew Rick wasn't kidding about not installing them. I took a deep breath and just applied the stain. And {tried} to lived with it.

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Installing a Pine Tongue and Groove Ceiling - Part 1

Originally, we were going to leave the beams exposed in the ceiling. After removing the drop ceiling from the kitchen area, we had to rethink that plan. There was a porch in the area where the galley kitchen was located. The beams extending down over that area were weathered pretty bad. See where the beams are actually notched out from where the old drop ceiling had been. And notice the difference in the wood. I knew there was no way we could ever make that look pretty!

This picture really shows the distinct lines in the beams.

Not to mention, each beam was a different width and they were definitely not level. We agreed to cover them up.

First, we installed styrofoam type panels inside each of the beams. There is not an attic in this part of the house and the ceilings are so high. The heat rises and it is hot up there!

He ran 1x2s on each side of the beams and we cut the styrofoam pieces to fit in between each beam, leaving about a two/three inch gap. Zach came out and was a lifesaver helping with this. He is tall and it helped because he had to reach way up to get to the very top of the peak!

Rick then installed strips of wood that would hold up the planks. And at every intersection of each beam, he had to shim each one. This was a tedious job to say least!

 

Glad this wasn't my job! Meanwhile, I began getting the planks stained and ready. Pin It Now!