Restoring Old Original Beadboard by Removing Loose Paint and Sanding
Restoring old original beadboard by removing loose paint and sanding was a true labor of love that took time and dedication!
In a prior video, we shared how one of our neighbors gave us a ton of old original reclaimed beadboard from her house! What a sweet treasure we were gifted with!
She has been such a wonderful neighbor to us along with everyone else in our heritage district!
This was amazing beadboard that Nate took great pride and care in restoring so that we could reuse it in our Little Pine Cottage on the walls and ceiling. They were certainly old gems to be cherished!
Nate spent an incredible amount of time cleaning the beadboard and then he was able to get to the next part, scraping and sanding all of the old loose paint. Another true labor of love here. Yet so worth it!
LITTLE PINE COTTAGE MUSEUM
I think our little cottage could end up becoming a museum one day because we are filling it up with a lot of salvaged material locally from our neighbors here who are also in our heritage district.
All of this is not like the new shiplap or beadboard that maybe you see in that modern farmhouse look, but it’s actually old salvaged wood from back in the early 1900’s and locally from the houses that are right here in our neighborhood.
PREP TO REMOVE LOOSE PAINT
Nate built himself a wooden stand to rest the beadboard on so that he could begin the process of restoring them by removing all the old loose paint on them by scraping it off. He also put a sheet of plywood on the ground to place the beadboard on once he finished scraping off all the paint. That’s where he would organize and wrap them as well.
There was also a bucket next to his work station that had water in it and a rag so he could wipe down the beadboard lightly to remove the dust from the paint chips.
Another tool he used was a skill saw to cut off any bad ends of the old beadboard he was salvaging. He said that a lot of people would rather use a chop saw because it would make a cleaner cut instead of the skill saw maybe grabbing some of the wood and tearing it a bit. Since we had old wood anyway, it wasn’t really a concern for us. Plus, we didn’t even have a chop saw!
He also created a diagram of the measurements of all the studs where he would eventually place the beadboard in our cottage. This would help him later to know where to cut the beadboard and how to organize and group them by sizes. I guess this would actually be a time where we did plan ahead for something that has to do with our renovations! {Chuckle. Chuckle.}
RESTORING BEADBOARD
The goal was not perfect restoration, but to simply make sure that any loose paint was removed as much as possible from the beadboard. This project of restoring old original beadboard by removing the loose paint and sanding it was well worth all the effort in the end though!
If there was minimal paint on them, he would just use a simple hand sander to smooth out the wood and remove any remaining paint chips. Then he would dust it off and wipe it with a damp rag if needed.
When the finished beadboard was gathered on the plywood, he would wrap similar sizes together and then label them with their measurements. This would make it easier for him to use when he got to the point of installing them.
SCRAPING AND SANDING LOOSE PAINT FROM BEADBOARD
There are grooves in the middle of the beadboard and he would use a pointed scraper to actually scrape right in the grooves. It was a pretty nifty tool for a project like this! He also used a regular scraper for the normal flat surface of the beadboard.
This was the order that ended up working the best.
- Scrape the flat surface of the beadboard.
- Scrape with the pointed scraper in the middle grooves.
- Sand with an electric or hand sander.
- Wire brush off loose paint (if needed).
- Brush off the dust with a regular paint brush.
This is what I meant by a true labor of love restoring old original beadboard by removing loose paint and sanding it!
WE LOVE OLDER HOMES
We’ve really come to learn to fall in love with older homes. Especially these small little cottages. You do have to put some elbow grease in them and some time and labor though.
You know, it’s like that sweat equity! That’s all about the DIY movement, right? Learning how to do things yourself and doing them the way you want it done and at a cheaper price or for free! Especially when you are salvaging things.
I guess nothing is for free though because you are taking time to work on that project. But, it’s also creative and you’re learning a skill while you’re doing it. That is something you can take pride in because you worked on it yourself! To restore and rebuild your home with your own hands. Whether it’s an entire renovation like we are doing or if it’s just a small project like maybe built-in shelves.
{Side note: Nate reminded me that the built-ins were no SMALL project! *wink*}
Proverbs 24:3
Through wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established.
CHECK OUT OUR VIDEOS
Thanks for joining us on this journey! We hope that you will find inspiration watching us learn as we go while we’re attempting to renovate and rebuild this old small historic cottage mostly on our own. Stay tuned for more progress updates ahead!
You can also watch a video about this here.
To see more adventures of our tiny fixer upper journey, click on the links below.
🏚🌲 CONTINUING OUR COTTAGE RENOVATIONS AND LESSONS LEARNED 🛠️🧰
