Getting to Third Base(boards)

Thanks to the warm weather this last weekend, I was able to strip/stain/saw the central 'base' of the baseboard moulding, as well as paint the walls and ceiling! That means some detail and photos to cover, so let's get to it!

As far as paint goes, we wanted a warm color, but one that would not clash with the dark wood. Amazingly, we only needed five paint sample jars to make our decision, instead of the usual dozen... (There were a lot more paper samples, along with a visit to Menards and Home Depot, but that doesn't count, right?) We really liked Behr's "Tea Bag" color, but worried it would be too dark, so we went one or two steps lighter, getting it (as usual) in eggshell sheen, combined paint-and-primer. You can see it in the middle of the picture below, along with the other two contenders:

You can see the final result below (though you'll have to pardon the yellowish tinge in the center of my failing phone camera) - but don't skip ahead because first we have to talk baseboards...

First Base. As I may have mentioned before, the baseboards in this room weren't the originals. Exactly why they were replaced, I'm not sure - but fortunately there were several original pieces stored in the garage rafters. Some of them were actually from this room (which I discerned from the pencilled - "north front room" on their reverse sides), but didn't exactly fit any particular wall. Others were pieces that I'd salvaged from our bathroom remodel 'just in case', and were covered in multiple layers of white, yellow, and blue paint.

Altogether, I had about three feet more than I needed, but in miscellaneous pieces that weren't always long enough to cover a single wall in one piece. You can see them laid out here:

I spent all day Saturday stripping and sanding these pieces (with a new sander and roughly the same tools as I used when working on the window and door). Finally, I ended up with:

Second Base. Sunday was all about measuring and planning where each piece would go, then using a circular saw to cut and miter appropriately. I used the longest piece on the southern wall, which will not only be the most visible wall (i.e., not behind furniture), but was also the one that needed a rectangle cut out of it for an electrical box. This required not measuring twice and cutting once, but measuring four or five times, since there were no extra baseboards to spare - I had to get it right the first time. I tried placing the previous white baseboard in front of the 'new' one, but some height and length differences made it obvious that wouldn't match up. Next, I lined up the white one on the wall and painted around the hole, then pressed my new baseboard up against it, leaving a rectangular-shaped paint outline on its reverse. Once I had the hole confirmed, I used a screwdriver to drill out holes following the paint lines, then popped out the center and shaved it down where needed with a wood chisel.

Third Base. Next, I stained each base piece with the same stain I applied to the window and door frames. That gave me these (you can also see the thin closet trim I'll discuss in a later post):

Nearing Home Plate! After these bases dried, I took them back inside and positioned them around the wall:

Before they could be nailed in, however, I had to put down some long pieces of lath as furring strips, in order to bump certain pieces away from the wall (or up from the floor) so the top of all the bases lined up. That's done now (though not shown above), as is the cutting and staining of the remaining trim pieces that will go on top and below the main base. I'll show you that special trim next time - along with the finished baseboards - after I use some wood putty to fill in the gaps...