Creating a beautiful space for gathering and entertaining

by Sherylee November 16, 2020

There are a lot of things I love about out kitchen but I was ready to make it a little more fun and unique. Creating a beautiful space for gathering and entertaining will be worth the time and effort.

I have been changing the decor in my kitchen and eating / dining area. It’s not always an easy thing to do. I had some great ideas but finding what I was looking for proved a little tricky.

I began by taking down some of the old decor and started hunting for some fun unique pieces.

Its so fun finding the perfect item

On our last visit to our sons ranch I found a couple rustic items that I knew would be perfect in the space.

Creating a beautiful space for gathering — These will add so much beauty to my space

I fell in love with these gorgeous window frames from and old pig barn and knew they would be perfect. I also found a couple pieces of weathered and worn wood that I was wanting to incorporate. One piece didn’t work but I have more ideas for it.

Crown Moulding and an accent wall will create a beautiful space for gathering and entertaining.

Monte and I had installed crown moulding in the great room and entry but hadn’t got around to adding it in the kitchen. It isn’t actual crown moulding you buy but something we created. I like the look of crisp square corners. I didn’t want sculpted ornate moulding so we built our own.

kitchen update — loving the decor and excited to add the crown moulding

It was inexpensive and didn’t take a lot of time. Installing actual crown moulding can be a little tricky getting the angles correct. This was a lot easier and gave me the look I was after. It still takes a little time but worth the effort to make and create something beautiful.

Off to Home Depot

After measuring and figuring out what we needed we were off to Home Depot for supplies. We used 3 1/2 ” trim along the ceiling and 5 1/2″ trim on the wall. It was what we used in the adjoining great room.

Home Depot shopping — visiting one of my favorite stores

The quantity you purchase will depend on the size of the room and length of each wall. We wanted to have as few joints as possible. We bought 10′ lengths for the long walls. The wall where our fridge and pantry sit has a couple juts so we got smaller pieces for the shorter areas so we purchased some 6′ and 8′ lengths.

priming the crown moulding — setting up my painting station

painting the wood — so worth getting it done before installation

I set up my painting station and got busy giving everything a coat of paint. I find it so helpful to paint the trim once before it’s installed unless I’m painting the whole wall to match. We had two projects on the go. One was a a board and batten accent wall and the other was the crown moulding. Because I was painting the whole accent wall I didn’t paint the trim for that space before I began. Since that wasn’t the case for the crown moulding I laid everything out and gave it the initial coat of paint.

Monte was able to get going on the board and batten while I painted the trim for the crown moulding that we were working on the next day.

Installing the board and batten

The board and batten went up really quick. The hardest part was figuring out the measurements. I’m sure there is some math formula but for me I took the full length of the wall minus the amount of wood we’re going to use. If we’re using 8 3 1/2″ boards I multiple 8 x 3 1/2″ and subtract that total by the wall length. Then divide that number by how many spaces we will have. That gives us the amount of space between each board. It gives you a good idea of the spacing you’ll use. We do sometimes fudge things if we’re working around something like an outlet.

Monte is the king of the level and making sure everything is perfectly square. I am loving the way things were going as I create a beautiful space for gathering and entertaining.

After everything was installed we got busy caulking to give a beautifully finished space.

caulking the board and batten — See how amazing caulking is

It’s amazing the change caulking can make. I love doing something simple but makes a huge difference. It only needs to set for 20 minutes before you can paint so it’s really a quick step. Before the night was over I got the wall painted a couple times so it was a quick and easy way to create a space perfect for gathering and entertaining.

board and batten in dining area — A Beautiful Space for Gathering and Entertaining

Now the Crown Moulding

To begin the installation and make things a lot easier Monte began by locating all the studs and trusses. It’s vital to have something secure to nail too. There are rules to how things are built but it differs from exterior walls and interior walls.

Luckily we were able to find enough studs and trusses to nail to that we didn’t need to use liquid nails.

We began by running the 5 1/2″ board along the wall. Not sure if there is a must do reason for this it’s just what we decided.

modern crown moulding installation — Getting started.

There was a space in the kitchen that the cupboards step in so we had outside corners to deal with. For this challenge Monte cut the wood on a 45 unlike in the inside corner that we just butted together.

crown moulding installation — A tricky spot

After the first lap of trim around the kitchen we were ready to do the second section. This piece is narrower to create the look I was after.

Installing the top piece

This part of the installation was a little tricky when we were working with the inside and outside corner pieces. Took a little thinking and figuring but definitely doable.

After it’s all up and looking pretty its time to caulk all the seams and nail holes. This is the step that makes such a difference. If you don’t caulk the seams it doesn’t look complete and custom which is what we are always after.

Final step

After everything is caulked its time to give everything a final coat of paint. When I did the initial painting in the garage I was very careful to get the edges of the wood. Because I was so intentional I don’t worry about painting along the ceiling and walls which would be a nightmare.

I used a brush to get in the corners then ran a roller carefully along the ceiling and wall. It painted up pretty quick. Just a lot of up and down the ladder. It was much faster to paint then caulk. Lucky for me I did the painting and Monte did the caulking.

We created a perfect space for gathering and entertaining.

This is one of those projects that is a little more finicky but really isn’t too difficult. Because we are working with smooth flat boards it doesn’t take much to get them installed. If you have some basic DIY skills you can definitely manage this one.

The cost isn’t too much either. Normal crown moulding is sold by the foot and can get really expensive if you have a large space. The wood we used is sold by the board and pretty inexpensive. The total cost for the wall and crown moulding was $150. A real bargain for making and creating a beautiful space for gathering and entertaining.

beautiful space for gathering and entertaining — Loving the charm we were able to make and create in this space

I found this adorable sign that is the perfect addition to the decor I was looking for. It was found at Rodworks in Gilbert AZ. I also made this pantry sign with wood I brought back from my son’s ranch and letters I found at Michaels.

The holidays will be here soon. I really wanted to get this project finished before we started celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas. Having a home were you want to entertain and gather is important to me. I love spending time with family.

Do you need help with holiday decor

Creating a beautiful space for gathering and entertaining is so worth the time and investment. I also have some decor available that would look amazing on your island or table centerpiece. You can find it in my shop at Decor to the Door. There is also a link on the top bar on this site.