The way our first floor is set up in our house, the living room and dining area are all sort of one big space. We've divide them up with the layout of our furniture, but for a while now, I've felt like the wall in the dining area just needed something. 

It was super plain and looked exactly like all the walls in the rest of the room. So it never really felt like it was its own distinct space. 

I'd been banging my head against the wall trying to figure out what to do with it. I debated painting it. I spent hours looking at wallpaper options. But nothing really felt right for the space. 

So I asked Megan for ideas. She has a really good eye based on the way she's designed her own house, and I very recently learned that she also took a bunch of interior design courses back in the day. 

So I sent her some pictures and a video of me walking around the space, hoping she'd have some ideas. 

A couple of weeks later she narrowed down some options and shared some pictures of a board and batten wallpapered wall. I was instantly in love and knew the board and batten look would add the perfect amount of texture to the space, and the wallpaper would add just a little bit of color. 

The timing was pretty perfect because one of the Christmas presents my husband and I got for each other was a saw. 

When I was back in PA for Christmas, I shared the project with my dad because I wanted his thoughts on how to make this work with our crappy baseboards. I also was curious to get his ideas on how to handle the outside corners on the wall. I didn't want to have ugly ends in either the hallway leading to the front entry or the walkway into the kitchen.

We kicked around a lot of ideas, and he sketched me out some plans.

Back in DC, we started putting the plan into action. We taped off the wall to get a sense of the dimensions, so we'd know exactly what lengths of wood we'd need to buy. We measured multiple times to make sure we had everything right and to ensure the space between the vertical wood pieces was all even.

After a trip to the hardware store for wood, we got to work. 

Step 1: Gently pry off the original baseboards and quarter round moulding. We needed to replace the baseboard because our current one beveled back into the wall, which meant there wasn't a flat surface for the vertical wood pieces we were going to install to rest on. We planned to re-use the quarter round moulding, so we were extra careful taking that part off. 

Once we had the baseboards off, we of course got a laugh at the hole we found in the wall. Every time we do a project, we discover something ridiculous. 

Step 2: Install the wood framing the wall. We started with the top horizontal piece. We used a 1x6 board with a 1x2 installed along the top edge to create a small ledge for us to rest pictures on. It was really important to find the studs in the wall to get this installed and make sure it was secure. 

Excuse all the shadows in the pictures. In such a small space there's not a lot of room to move things around to get them out of the way for better pictures.

Once we had the top board installed, we measured again for the two vertical boards on the edges. We used 1x4s for all the vertical boards. These two boards on the edge we planned to run to the floor. Because things settle and houses are not square, these two pieces were not the same length. I highly recommend measuring each side separately and not assuming both boards will need to be the same length because that's likely not going to be the case. 

To deal with the corners of the wall, we ended up buying 1 inch quarter rounds that we cut to the right length and installed on the edge of the wood and the wall. This ensured that there'd be a nice smooth finish from the hallways that approach this wall. 

The last part of the frame we installed was the new baseboard. We designed this so the baseboard would run in between the two vertical end pieces. This was just another 1x4 that we cut to the correct dimensions. 

Step 3: Install the remaining vertical boards. Again we measured everything multiple times. Even though these two boards were sitting pretty close together, they still weren't the same length. It took extra time to stop and measure over and over again, but it was worth it to make sure we got everything exactly right. 

Once we had the boards cut, we had to double check the spacing between them again to ensure all the openings would still be even. We ended up needing to shift things slightly but eventually got it all set and nailed the final boards into the walls. 

Step 4: All the tedious stuff necessary to prep for painting. 

I used wood filler to fill in all the nail holes and smooth out one or two of the places the wood got a bit dinged up.

Then I caulked all the seams between the wall and the wood and between the different pieces of wood.

Step 5: Priming and painting. I had bought primed wood, but because the quarter rounds weren't primed, I gave everything a coat of primer to protect it and ensure an even finish. I was hoping to only need a single coat of paint, but no such luck. I could still see some of the places where I had filled nail holes, so a second coat was necessary. 

The wall stayed in its almost finished state for a few days while I waited for the wallpaper to arrive. 

Even just with the board and batten, I was already loving the extra character this wall had. 

Adding the wallpaper a few days later just made me love it that much more. 

All in all, this project took about 11 hours from planning through final execution, and the supplies cost about $150. 

Supply list:

• 1 1x6x8 for the horizontal top beam
• 1 1x2x8 for the picture ledge
• 5 1x4x8s for the baseboard and vertical pieces
• 2 1 inch quarter rounds
• Stud finder
• Finishing nails, counter sink and hammer (or a nail gun to save time)
• Wood filler
• Paintable caulk
• Primer
• Paint
• Wallpaper

Either 2021 was a ho-hum year of reading or I was really stingy with my book rankings on Goodreads this year. Typically I like to round up all the books I gave five stars in a year, and when I looked back at last year's post, I had a ton of five star books. 

This year, I only have a handful. 

Out of the 88 books I read, I only gave 11 of them five stars!

Here were my favorites from the year.

The Push by Ashley Audrain
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book definitely lived up to the hype. It was a page-turning thriller where the whole time you have to figure out what is going on with the relationship between a mother and her first-born child. Is the child really as nefarious as the mother perceives her to be? Or is it all in the mom's head like her husband seems to think? This is the central question of the book as mysterious things keep happening and as the reader, you don't know if the narrator is reliable. Super fast and good read.

Survive the Night by Riley Sager
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This audio book kept me great company on my long runs. It takes place mainly in one setting -- on a car ride from a college in New Jersey to a girl's hometown in Ohio. Charlie gets a ride with Josh who she meets through the ride share board at her school. She's leaving town because her roommate was killed. We aren't sure why Josh is leaving town, but he's a questionable character, and Charlie is stuck with him for hours. I definitely didn't see the twist coming right away, and I didn't want my runs to end so I could figure out how things would end.

Half Life by Jillian Cantor
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book. It was really interesting and different, and it made you think about how the choices you make in life impact where you end up. This book tells the story of Marie Curie two different ways. In one version of her life, Marie is the woman we all know today, whose discovery of radium and polonium led to many of the advancements we have. That version of her life is a little bit fictionalized, but largely follows her true story. In the other version of her life, Marie never goes to France to study. Instead she marries and stays in Poland. This version is obviously completely fictional, but I love how the author pulls on threads from her real life to sprinkle through the fictionalized life. It's interesting to see how the two lives share similarities and where they were different. A good, thought-provoking book. Highly recommend.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I liked this book not only for the story, but for how much it makes you think about what constitutes a "good life." As the main character waffles in a suspended state between life and death, she visits a library, where each book represents a different version of her life depending on the choices she made at the time. She can revisit old regrets and see if her life would have turned out differently if she'd made different choices. This book will definitely leave you thinking.

Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved getting to know Maverick in The Hate U Give, so I was really excited when Angie Thomas decided to write a prequel focused on Maverick's late teen years. You see Maverick trying to balance fatherhood, school and his social life. Thomas captures his struggles and makes you want to cheer for him even when you know he's about to make a questionable decision. If you read The Hate You Give, you know how Maverick's story ends, so in this book it's fun to try to pick up the threads of the later story and see how he got to where he did.

The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I couldn't put this book down, and every time I thought I had a hunch of who was guilty, the book took another twist and I was left questioning things again. Elin and her boyfriend set off for Le Sommet, a luxury resort set up in the mountains in a place that used to be a Sanatorium. She's there for her brother's engagement party. But after the first night his fiancee goes missing, and dead bodies start showing up. Police can't reach the hotel because of the snow, so Elin must use her police skills to figure out who is behind the murders and stop anyone else from dying. Highly recommend!

A Very Punchable Face by Colin Jost
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love Colin Jost on SNL, and I was really excited to listen to his audio-book. It was laugh-out-loud funny. As in, I was on a walk around the neighborhood and would have to hold back laughter so my neighbors didn't think the pandemic was making me become unhinged. This was one of the best comedian memoirs I've read in a long time.

The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I could not put this book down and tore through it in two days mainly because I had to stop reading for work and sleep. This book tells the story of Rose and Fern and their unique relationship as twins. We get Rose's point of view through her journal entries and Fern's story is told in real-time. Rose has always looked out for Fern. Fern feels she needs Rose because Rose knows just how to help when noises get too loud, lights get too bright or clothes feel scratchy or constricting. But when Wally enters the scene and expresses interest in Fern, the sisters' dynamic changes and you realize that there's something a bit darker going on behind the scenes. While I saw the twist coming, I still couldn't wait to see how things resolved themselves at the end. Highly recommend for a fun and suspenseful read.

What Comes After by JoAnne Tompkins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I just couldn't put this book down. It was beautifully written, flipping between first person and third person narration for the two main characters -- letting you dive deep inside their minds. After the death of two teenage boys rocks a small town, the young girl who mysteriously appears could further tear things apart. This book examines how people try to move on after a tragedy and rebuild a semblance of a new life.

That Summer by Jennifer Weiner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book really struck me, and while I found it started a bit slow, it wasn't long before I was sucked in and couldn't put it down. This book tells the story of two Dianas -- one is trying to cope with the trauma of being assaulted when she was 15, the other more broadly questioning how happy she is in her life as a stay-at-home mom with a small cooking business. For a while I struggled with how spineless the latter Diana was. So many times I wanted to shake her and be like don't put up with that nonsense. But over the course of the book, as the two women's lives intersect, they each have a profound effect on the other and you see them both grow.

Broke Millennial Takes on Investing: A Beginner's Guide to Leveling Up Your Money by Erin Lowry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Five stars because I love a good personal finance book that is written in a conversational and easy-to-understand way. Investing is definitely the area of personal finance where I have the most to learn, and I appreciated that this book looked beyond 401K investing and covered topics like mirco-investing, cryptocurrency and other less traditional ways to be active in the market.

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Happy New Year friends! I hope you were able to enjoy some time of rest and relaxation over the holidays. I greatly appreciated being able to unplug for two weeks and enjoy time with friends and family. And now, I'm looking out the window enjoying the pretty snowfall we got in DC today. We got somewhere between 7 and 9 inches, and it's the biggest snowfall we've seen in a few years. I also hope this is the first and last snowfall we get this year. 

And now onto the books. I read seven in December and enjoyed most of them. I've been on a big mystery/suspense kick lately, and you'll see that reflected in a lot of my book choices from this month. 

Four Stars

The Secret Place by Tana French
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was just the mystery I needed for over the holiday break. One year ago, a boy was found murdered on the grounds of an elite all-girls school. The case has gone cold until a student at the school brings a detective a new potential piece of evidence. The detectives head back to the school determined to find the real killer amidst different girl cliques needing to sort through the lies to get to the bottom of things. Another great Tana French read!

Final Girls by Riley Sager
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I continue to really enjoy Riley Sager's suspense/thrillers. While I didn't love this one as much as some of the others, it was still good. This book focuses on three women who are the sole survivors (or final girls) of brutal murders. When the book opens one of those final girls has died and it brings the two remaining girls together to figure out what happened. This book took some turns, but I did eventually see the final twist coming. Still, it was good and I'd definitely recommend it for a fun and fast read.

Things We Lost to the Water by Eric Nguyen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a really beautifully written book about a Vietnamese family that settles in New Orleans after fleeing their country. The mother, Huong, attempts to create a new life for herself and her two young sons while worrying about her husband who is still in Vietnam. The book follows the family over the course of many years, and you hear the story from each of their viewpoints as all three of them attempt to find their own identities in the U.S. As a fun fact, when I was reading the UMD alumni magazine, I saw the other was also a UMD graduate!

Three Stars

Anna K: Away by Jenny Lee
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed the first Anna K book, but the follow-up wasn't nearly as good since I found myself not incredibly invested in the characters beyond Anna. I also thought the ending felt a bit rushed.

Breathe In, Cash Out by Madeleine Henry
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I don't remember putting this book on hold at the library, but I think I was intrigued by the "Devil Meets Prada" comparison. This book was a fast read, but it was also kind of weird -- though I did appreciate the gently jabs at Instagram influencer culture.

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book really picked up toward the end, but I thought it was a little bit slow to get started. When a group of friends (or maybe better described as frenemies) makes NYE plans at a remote wilderness lodge, they expect a few days of relaxation away from their lives in the city. But then one of them is murdered and a massive storm hits meaning the authorities can't get to them. So they are trapped together with a killer in their midst. If you can get past the slower start, this book is a fun read.

Two Stars

Dream Girl by Laura Lippman
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I usually love Laura Lippman's books, but this was just kind of bad. The premise sounded interesting. An acclaimed author starts getting mysterious phone calls from a mystery woman claiming she knows secrets about him and knows who one of his most famous characters is based on, though he claims the character is based on no one. But I don't know this book was just a dud and not at all interesting and engaging like most of her books. Not sure why I finished reading.

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