Okay y’all!! Let’s chat about the breakfast nook I created!! I wanted to add a large L shaped booth in the corner of our open concept kitchen/dinning room. I wanted there to be more room to sit and move in the space surrounding the table.

My Goals For The Space-

• Create booth seating- along wall in an L shape that would fit 4-5 people
  
• long/big farmhouse table that can fit lots of plates/food/people comfortably
• change the light fixture to two pendant lights

• white/wood boho tones was the goal
• have more room to walk and move in the shared space around the table.

Nook Steps-

Step 1- first we did some drywall patching. The L shape I had envisioned included filling in 2 places with drywall. The stairs into the second story were hollow as well as a little crawl space we used to hold the dog food. We covered both of those holes with drywall. This was the first project that I did a lot of the drywall myself. I actually found it rather fun. It is definitely a good project for beginner diy’ers because you sand off the excess and all mistakes are easily fixable!!

Step 2- I drew out the design and measurements of the space while the drywall was drying. Next, we planned and calculate how much wood we would need- how many 2x4s, edge glued pieces and smaller trim i was going to use for board and batten (B&B). Next, went to Lowe’s and bought the wood.

Step 3- We started building the frame. The frame was made out of 2x4s we used pocket holes with screws to attach them all together. Pocket holes are something that I am constantly learning more about and something I am determined to solo master this year.

Step 4- Once the frame was built Matt started on the back of the boothseat- where you would lean back on. I was going to make it a 90 degree angle bc angles are hard, but he was determined to make it more gradual. He made the cuts for the 2x4s attaching to the seat at a 5 degree angle. That way when we laid the pieces of wood across to make the back it would be more comfortable to sit. It was rather complicated and didn’t go as smooth as we both wanted. It caused the most stress of the project and I think its important to acknowledge that all of our project are challenging. There comes a point where frustration takes over and either him or I quit for a bit (sometimes hours/days… it’s usually him- but occasionally me :p). Overall, he figured out the angle and we attached the pieces of wood.

Step 5- For the seat portion of the booth we got “edge glued” pieces of wood they were great quality, pre-sanded and glued together boards- obviously you have to look closely and make sure not too warped but I like this option from Lowe’s a lot.

Step 6- Once the seat was made and the back of the seat were set- I painted. I painted part of the back white and the other part of it black to see which color I would like better. I didn’t decide, but I started the board and batten on the backside of the bench. I used a top and bottom boarder piece and then added a vertical board every 7 inches. Ill post the picture below.

I did not like the board and batten and I painted it all black hoping it would make it better. It didn’t.
So I painted it white. I still didn’t like it.
Next, I tried to paint a pattern on the board and batten. I did like an arrow shape where I dipped the end of a sponge into the paint and dabbed it on looking like a ^^. I got my inspo from people who DIY their own wallpaper with patterns. But mine did not turn out acceptable lol.

So finally I pried all the boards all off.

Step 7-After all that- I hated the black and the pattern so I went back to Lowes and bought more of the board and batten boards- I decided to vertically ship lap the booth bench.
They didn’t have enough of the same thickness (I think they were 3 inches wide) so I bought a couple different widths (1.5, 2in and 3in wide). I brought them home. Painted them all white – Sherman Williams “marshmallow” and then laid them all out with the different thicknesses alternating. Used the air compressor brad nailer (my favorite tool we have invested in for any and all projects!!!).

Nailed them all in. Filled holes with wood filler. Did a final coat of paint.

Step 8- For the wooden seat and bottom. Ultimately I wanted it all to be wood, like a wooden bench. Originally I wanted to add hinges and add storage in the seats but that didn’t end up happening. So it is a wooden box but with only two sides. The bottom is not enclosed and the back side it also open- it is facing the back new drywall I added so its ok.
Wooden stain steps:

• Stained with minwax natural x2 coats
• Polyurethanes with minwax glossy x4
• Didn’t like the stain color as it didn’t match the table I refinished form Facebook marketplace.
• I didn’t want to sand down the bench top (usually what you have to do after you use polyurethane) so I did RESEARCH
• I found out (on the internet) that you can mmix stain and polyurethane together in the same bowl if you want a stain overtop of polyurethane. So that’s what I did
• I mixed the minwax Ipswich pine together with the glossy polyurethane it was s thick gooey mess, but I brushed it on (only) the top of the bench top so that it was darker and matched relatable better. It took a while to dry, but ultimately it dried well and they matched SO WELL.
• That is a hack I am super happy to have found bc it would have been a disaster to sand all my coats off hahaha

Step 9- Lastly, we put a 1×6 on the top to create a shelf and under that we put small quarter round that originally we bought for another Reno project. We nailed both those in, painted it and it was looking crisp 🙂

Step 10- Called my electrician friend, got the two boho pendant lights hung over the table.
Step 11- Decorated the nook with art, plants and candle sticks—all of my go to décor pieces. I really often rotate pieces that I am styling along to each different room and project I am working on. You will see similar and familiar pieces in all my pictures as I style them similarly!! I bring books, vases, plants and all sorts of my boho décor to all rooms.

Then got to enjoy our new space!! It was right in the smack dab middle of COVID so I invited over my BFF for a cute dinner date! Since we built it we have used it frequently for family gatherings, dinner dates and projects 😛 ! I still love how it looks, love the colors, love the ship-lap, love the fb marketplace table and chairs and I am able to switch out the decor on the shelf very frequently- for when i get bored (very often if you couldn’t tell already!!)

Thanks for reading!! So appreciate your love & support of our DIY projects! ❤

Lauren