home office makeover| coffered ceiling | diy built-ins

my husband works from home + spends about 90% of his life in this room, so it was due for a BIG upgrade. he said the beige walls were making him feel insane haha we had his window replaced in march prior to starting and then we removed everything; the carpet, window treatment, all the trim, closet doors, room door, ceiling fan + closet shelving (because it was horrible). then it was time to skim coat all the walls because the texture was different on each wall. that took like two weeks because i was also holding our three month old who refused to let me put him down (gotta love him though). then, i hand sanded with a 220 grit sanding block.

At this point, i was mentally preparing myself to skim coat the ceiling & sand it all. absolutely not fun, but our house has a lot of really bold texture that i just cant stand. then my husband says to me, “I want a fancy ceiling.” and i was like, “what?!”. of course i would rather make something bold and beautiful on the ceiling than skim coat lol so i got to planning!

we settled on a coffered ceiling + the whole room would be color drenched. i figured if i was going to go bold and moody, this would be the room! we went with the color cracked pepper by behr and it is the most beautiful charcoal black color. i used the behr marquee line in eggshell for the ceiling and all the walls. i ended up buying a new airless sprayer and it was amazing! game changer for sure.

steps:

1. we measured the length and width of our room, about 13 ft x 15 ft. then we decided that an odd number of boxes would work best in here. so i divided it into 9 boxes.

2. i started by trimming out the edges with 1 x 6 mdf boards. my store was out of 16 ft boards, so i went with 10 ft boards and spliced two together to make the length i needed by cutting both pieces at a 30 degree angle to fit together.

3. next, i decided to make the edge boxes 36’ x 36’. i used a board that was 36’ as a spacer and ran two 1 x 6 mdf boards down each side. now i had three long rectangles.

4. then i cut more 1 x 6 boards down and connected them from each long board to finally give me 9 boxes. the middle three boxes ended up being about 52’ x 36’. i used a combination of 2’ 18 gauge brad nails and liquid nails to attach these.

5. then i ripped down 4 x 8 sheets of hardboard to fill in each square so it was smooth. if you already have smooth ceiling texture or something close, you could skip this, if not, add the hardboard instead of skim coating. hardboard doesn’t hold brad nails very well, so i used liquid nails + then used 1’ decorative trim to fill the gap between the hardboard and 1 x 6 mdf. i used 2’ brad nails to attach these to the ceiling.

6. after everything was up and attached, i spent a lot of time caulking every seam and wood filling every nail hole. then i sanded it all down + sprayed the entire room in cracked pepper. i normally use a foam roller and brush combo, but i wanted the ceiling to be seriously smooth looking. and it wasn’t hard at all!

next, we cleaned up and laid new floor! i love our floors so much. we went with the color nakan in signature.

you can use my code: taylorstyleflooret to save 50% on samples!

now we were ready to add the built ins! i knew i wouldn’t have a lot of time because i have a baby who loves to be held + three other kiddos. so i wanted to find a solution that would allow me to be inside the house and be able to watch them, but still have time to build something of a statement for my husband.

steps:

1. the first step in this process it to first measure, and then plan out what you want your built ins to look like based on the size you have. I decided to use all premade cabinets. i used two 36” wide base cabinets and two 18” drawer towers and connected them to make it look like they were one unit.

2. now its time to attach the base cabinets to the studs in the wall. Using a stud finder, i marked inside the cabinets where they needed to go. then i used a countersink bit to drill holes for my screws. then i used a 3 inch screw to go directly into the stud. i used four of these on each side of each cabinets. then i clamped the face frame of the cabinets together, made sure they were level and shot a few brad nails in to hold it all together. you can use screws for this if you prefer.

3. After the base of the unit was secure, i used 1’ prefinished birch for the countertop. I measured the length and width, ripped down the plywood with the table saw, and then used 2” brad nails to attach it to the cabinet tops. then we added a 1 x 6 mdf board across the front to remove the toe kick and add a baseboard look.

4. then we stacked the top cabinets, using a 36’ x 36’ cabinet on each side and an 18’ x 36’ smaller cabinet on top. we attached them to the wall studs with screws like the base and then to each other with brad nails.

5. next, we added a beadboard panel to the middle vertically. i ripped down a 4 x 8 sheet to the dimensions i needed to fill the middle. we attached this with 2’ brad nails to the wall.

6. we only have 8 ft ceilings, so we added a modern crown molding to fill the gap an make it look totally built in. i prefer cabinets that go to the ceiling. we used 1 x 4 mdf boards and mitered the corners at 45 degrees. we attached them with nails to the tops of the cabinets and the ceiling.

7. after all the pieces were on, i spent a lot of time wood filling nail holes and caulking all the gaps and seams. this really adds a professional look to your project even though it is time consuming. don’t skip it!

8. then it was ready for paint! i love using a 4” foam roller for all cabinet painting projects because the finish comes out really smooth. first, i cut it the edges with a 2” angled brush, zibra is my favorite brand! then i roll two coats of cabinet grade enamel paint. i usualy use sherwin williams emerald or behr cabinet and trim enamel paint in satin. then i repeated the process for the doors and drawer fronts. you can always ask at the paint counter if you are unsure.

9. lastly, i added hardware + decor!

paint color:

cracked pepper by behr

supplies:

-brad nailer

-2 inch brad nails

-miter saw or circular saw

-caulk

-caulk gun

-wood filler

-2” angled paint brush

-9” roller brush

-4” roller brush

-1 x 6 mdf

-1 x 4 mdf

-1’ decorative trim

-base cabinets

-3/4" plywood

-beadboard

-3” wood screws

-level

-stud finder

this can seem overwhelming at first, but i promise if you break it down into sections, it will be more manageable! make sure to take you time, never cut corners, always make sure it is secure as you go and ask for help if you need it! you can do hard things + create a home you love with your own two hands.

happy diying friends!

xoxo

-taylor

need decor sources? shop it here