Need help with wife's wall decor

[Bill Jobe]

This is not my idea.
Just want you to know that I'm simply trying to arrange her idea so that it has the most pleasing aesthetics as earthly possible.
In the photos you can see at both ends there is space just far enough from the last board that the next upright should begin, but the space is too narrow to fit the entire board.
I determined a consistent distance between them to line up with thick, sort of quilted wallpaper with a rough surface she want to maintain, but the paper was there when we bought the place. It is very thick and whoever put it up overlapped the seams and they are clearly visible. So this arrangement is an attempt to cover as many seams as I can. That will be difficult, at best, above the door. She'll just have to live with a couple of short sections of uncovered seam.
She liked the texture so over the past 30 years, let's just say the square feet of living space in our home is considerably less. She is always painting.

Here's an idea I came up with and I'am reaching out to those with "an eye" for asthetics, even for the quirky.
Suppose I was to continued the length of wood I just ripped onto the adjacent wall?
When you look just above the door, they (for whatever reason) "split the difference and narrowed both end pieces instead of using a full sheet, so that means the 21" spacing will wrap around the corner leaving perhaps more than the width of of a board.
I hope you can get what I'm trying to explain.
If the idea stinks, tell me it stinks.
But I must live on to complete it.

[Jim Becker]

To my eye, one of the best things you can do is to change out the door trim (and probably other trim) to be more proportionally appropriate as well as consistent in style with the vertical features on the wall. The corner for me would also need to be visually proportional to the other verticals and that would require either a mitered setup or a butt with one leg reduced in width so that it still "felt" like a single piece proportionally.

[Frederick Skelly]

Im not sure Im following you Bill. Are you putting those 2x4s on all 4 walls, or just on one wall? What made you choose 2x4's instead of 1x2s or something?

Here's one idea, based on what I think I understood you to be doing....... It seems like what you do in/near one corner, you will have to do in all corners, or things will look unbalanced. I think that matters, because those "beams" will be far more "prominent" and visible than any seams you dont cover.

I feel your pain, man. Hang in there.
Fred

[Pat Barry]

Have you tried to fix the seams on the wallpaper. For example, taking a very sharp razor knife with a straightedge and cutting thru the paper. Then wer the paper at the seam, wait for the glue to loosen, remove the top overlapped piece, reglue as needed, the touchup the paint? You can rent a wallpaper steamer to make this task easier. Best result if you cut thru both layers at the overlap, remove the top, fold it back, remove the under piece. Then reglue as needed.

[Mark Daily]

I’m not sure what you’re doing- new wallpaper, drywall?

[Kev Williams]

I'm not sure what you're doing either, but when it comes to equally spacing something like those strips: If you can't equally space them, then randomly space them===

(think 'vintage' wall paneling)
424558

[Stephen Tashiro]

I'm not sure what you're doing either,


Me neither.

Is the only purpose of the vertical boards to cover up seams in the wall paper?

[Bill Jobe]

I'm using 1x3s.
She just wants the boards on one wall, which is facing the street in the dining room.
Her purpose of the 1x3s is to cover the seams and she has decided she wants just that one wall done, leaving the other 2 walls in as they are.
I can't live with nothing in the corners because it looks unfinished. Yet there isn't enough space on the ends for a full width piece. I am struggling to make it look as nice as possible while maintaining equal spacing, a factor I cannot do.
One thing I suggested to her was for me to build a very small corner shelf that runs from floor molding to the ceiling, but she strongly dislikes corner shelving.
Seems there is no way to accomplish this in a way that I can be comfortable with. Certain things, such as crooked pictures and things that are not level are annoying to me.
Unless I can do something in the corners to make it look right, I'd prefer to take it all down. A daunting thing to consider since this is what she wants done and these things I'm struggling with are a non-issue to her.
I simply would go nuts in a room with the corner 1x3s cut down in width.
As for trying to remove the top layer of paper, the fact that it has so many coats of paint would make that difficult at best, and I'd risk ruining the paper.
I cannot think of any way to complete this while pleasing both of us. Wrapping the full width 1x3 around the corner is the only option I can come up with to deal with my personal concerns. I can't stand crooked lines unless it is done emphatically.
I think I said this before but the wallpaper is on this wall only. Doing the other walls is not an option in her mind, and in this case is she's right. The room is "open" in that one adjacent wall continues on to the rear wall of the house with no walls dividing the rooms.

[Jim Koepke]

The easiest way to happiness in this case would be to do it the way the wife wants it but explain to her you will need a particular tool to pull it off.

Then every time you are in the room looking at the walls you can think of the nice new tool you were able to purchase.

jtk

[Bill Jobe]

The easiest way to happiness in this case would be to do it the way the wife wants it but explain to her you will need a particular tool to pull it off.

Then every time you are in the room looking at the walls you can think of the nice new tool you were able to purchase.

jtk

I knew there had to be a silver lining in there somewhere. Thanks.

I forgot to mention that she intends to paint that wall, 1x3s and all, with the same color.

[Bill Jobe]

I've got it!!!
Apply a similar or any of a vast number of thick, textured wallpaper. I can remove the high spots created by overlapping and start over. Then I can space the boards at will.
This idea that came to me just moments ago is the way to go.
That is if she still wants the 1x3s. I may come across a textured paper that she prefers over what's there to the point she may settle for covering the entire wall, then painting it. I know how to hang paper without overlaps.
Thank all of you for your input.

Now for the hard part....convincing her.
In her opinion, I think, the wall is finished. She just wants it done. I cannot take on a job and put my heart into it if I know ahead of time that I do not have the wherewithal to complete it in a way that I am comfortable with.

[Pat Barry]

More wallpaper is not a good solution. The old seams and defects will telegraph through. Just strip it using a rented wall paper steamer. Once the old paper is down then rewallpaper as you see fit.

[Tom Bender]

I'd have to work the edges of the battens, and prepaint them. And 1/2" would be better. Might do better to start with molding.

A compromise is needed here. Suppose you ignore the seams, then you can have the spacing you want.

[Erik Loza]

The easiest way to happiness in this case would be to do it the way the wife wants it but explain to her you will need a particular tool to pull it off.

Then every time you are in the room looking at the walls you can think of the nice new tool you were able to purchase.

jtk

THIS! ^^^^^

Erik

[Bill Jobe]

The seams are the reason she wants something done.


On her part. She likes the texture, but would prefer a flat new finish.

[Frederick Skelly]

The seams are the reason she wants something done.


On her part. She likes the texture, but would prefer a flat new finish.

Bill,
Have you considered taking off the old paper and skim coating the torn up drywall? Or replacing the old drywall on that wall?

[Mel Fulks]

Read it three times ,but not getting it.

[Frank Pratt]

Read it three times ,but not getting it.

You're not alone Mel. I just don't understand how it will be possible to rescue that disaster of a wall finish without doing as Frederick suggested & strip, skim coat, and then new paint or wallpaper.

[Gary Ragatz]

It's a little difficult to judge this, because we can't see what the seams you're trying to cover up look like - but I think the furring strips you show in your photos are just way too big. If wood strips is the route you want to go, I'd use the most inconspicuous material I could to cover the seams - maybe screen molding? - and put a small cove molding strip in the corner. Paint everything the base wall color.

[Jim Koepke]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Sometimes the beholding of our spouses gives us a challenge.

In my 38 years of marriage, my realization has been it is often better to put a little lipstick on her pig than it is to try talking her out of it or into something else.

jtk

[Frederick Skelly]

In my 38 years of marriage, my realization has been it is often better to put a little lipstick on her pig than it is to try talking her out of it or into something else.

jtk

THAT is classic wisdom Jim. :)

[Jim Koepke]

THAT is classic wisdom Jim. :)

Thanks Fred, an old saying comes to mind, "there just ain't enough lipstick to make that pig pretty."

jtk

[Alan Rutherford]

I just glimpsed a wall on TV that made me think of yours. The 1x strips ran both horizontally and vertically to form squares. In that case the wall was dark tan and the strips were lighter. If you must have those big vertical strips, turning the pattern into squares or rectangles feels more pleasing to me. I'd leave the baseboard molding, put a strip at the top of the wall and divide the height into whatever number of rectangles looks best. At the corner you could wrap around the corner to fill out the width of the last section and paint that part of the wall to match. If you can bring the color of the strips closer to the wall color, it will be less jarring. I think I would not try to fit the door frame into the pattern, but make it a contrasting color.

Several suggestions have been made that I like better than this one, but given the restrictions with which you are working this is the best I can come up with.

[Jim Koepke]

If you must have those big vertical strips, turning the pattern into squares or rectangles feels more pleasing to me.

With horizontal strips some of them could actually be shelves for small nicknacks.

This might not be a great idea in earthquake country.

jtk

[carey mitchell]

More wallpaper is not a good solution. The old seams and defects will telegraph through. Just strip it using a rented wall paper steamer. Once the old paper is down then rewallpaper as you see fit.



How about covering the old paper with a covering with a heavy texture, such as grass cloth. It would hide the seams and give a completely different look that she might like.

[Bill Jobe]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Sometimes the beholding of our spouses gives us a challenge.

Exactly, Jim.
I have removed the wallpaper, the glue and I'm ready to finish this job.
Since the paper is no longer an issue there's not much to do now but to apply a coat of oil- based primer, then smooth the wall with a thin coat of USG Plus 3 joint compound.
Then however many coats of paint needed to cover it.

But right now pure air makes me go into a hacking and coughing jag. I need to fully recover from the flu before doing any painting, sanding, silicone caulking and so forth.