WAINSCOTING IS MY FRIEND.

I am so excited to have joined the Creative Blogging team at PRIME RESIDENTIAL. We are a little family with a vision to help teach others how to create value via creative spaces in their homes. My good friends and fellow contributors, Mandy, Amelia, Jen and Brady are dedicated to helping you feel great in your home and making the best investment along the way so your dollars don't go to waste.

I look forward to being stretched and pushed creatively and most of all, sharing my passion to "DIY" with everyone that wants to listen. I have a semi busy life with 5 kiddos and a ER Doctor for a husband. Nothing too busy right?

I have always been interested in Home Design and how I can create spaces in my home that welcome others and give my kids a place to feel happy. I hope to be able to inspire a few of you out there to try something new and take a chance in your own home. As moms, we have very little time during the day. I hope I can help you with a few projects. Maybe swing a hammer, or get out the air compressor, or build a few custom furniture pieces. That's what I like to do with the few minutes I have each week. I've tried it all and made a lot of mistakes along the way. But I am going to share some of my favorite projects I've tackled at home so far. And I hope you'll try a few in your home as well. Maybe you'll like what you see and try something at your house that gives you the feeling we all are striving for. HAPPINESS. So put on your safety goggles and follow me and lets build and share some great spaces.

Ever since I've moved into my home, I've never fully enjoyed my family room. Unfortunately for me, it was the room we spent the most time in. With five kids and a lot of extended family, our house has become quite a gathering place. I wanted to make our great room lighter and brighter and create a space where my family and I wanted to be. One of the reasons the room fell short was because of the depressing brown color. It was everywhere! Brown walls, brown carpet, brown tile, brown everything! A few years ago we all lived in the Brown Zone. None of us knew any better. But to feel great in a space, you've got to start with a great base paint color and then accessorize.

I started our great room transformation by painting my whole house a nice light gray. Painting your home is always the easiest way to transform a space. The color I chose as a base was Bemjamin Moore's, Natural Cream. But just painting the house wasn't enough for me. I decided to add some wainscoting to my family room. Wainscoting is a great way to add some contrast and a great custom feel to any home.

After doing some math, I decided how far apart I wanted to space each panel. I also wanted to add a shelf so that I could still display family pictures. Once I had determined how many pieces of MDF I needed, it was off to Lowes I went. I wanted the edges of each panel to have a nice "curved" look. So I took my router ( Yes I go girl!!!) and routed each edge before I attached them to my wall.

What's a matter? You don't have a router? I'm here to tell you that you can rout!!! If this Mom can do it, anyone can. It takes a little time and a little elbow grease but gives the wainscoting a very custom feel. I was going for a high end custom look so I spent a little extra time. You can do the same look with a flat panel and wait to pull out the router until next time if you're a little overwhelmed.

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Home is where we live, feel and enjoy what life brings us. At our house, we need every little bit of help. Between games, family parties, friends and everything in between, I have worked hard to create unique spaces that help us feel happy and also maximize our value.

Do you need any ideas how to tackle your living room and create a great space? Shoot me an email and we can help!

Jeana Proctor is a contributing blogger at PRIME RESIDENTIAL. Do you need help creating value for your home before you sell? We would love to help! CONTACT US