Box in Your Ceiling Beams!

Patty Anderson
by Patty Anderson
3 Materials
$200
4 Days
Medium
There are times when things would go so much easier if I just maintained a conventional norm....but that's not me! icon After putting up my plywood walls, I wondered which stain I should use for the overhead beams I wanted to box in. Decisions, decisions. Hmmmmmm....why not use them all?
So first things first, measure the beam and go get the wood. Did you know a 1X10 piece of wood is actually 3/4" X 9 1/4"? Good grief! icon At least the length is is accurate....
I loved ALL the stains, how could I choose just one? So I grabbed my painters tape, and sectioned off areas to stain with my design. One of my failings is that I don't measure most stuff. I just eye it. I did measure the beam, I did measure the wood to fit and I did measure for the middle of the beam to go outwards with my design. The rest was eyeing it. Oh, about this long, hmmm, about this angle.....yeah, that's good.....
Painters tape still allowed some bleeding. Drat. What to do?
Aha! Draw nice lines with my trusty Sharpie! No bleeding now! icon
Once stained, and the lines drawn, I added two coats of Satin polyurethane and let the boards dry.
Nothing like a nice soft bed with an overhead ceiling fan to dry your boards on!
Well! There! This is the first of two beams, so this one is my learning curve beam. Would have been SO much simpler with a single stain. What I have learned on this beam will make the next beam better. The greatest challenge was getting everything to line up. It's not perfect. But it's well built, and the next one will be even better! icon Hmmmm, need to paint that door, put trim on the window and float the ceiling. Fun never ends!!!!
Suggested materials:
  • Leftover stains from the plywood walls
  • Two rolls of painters tape   (from the local feed store)
  • 2-1X10X8's, 2-1X10X6's, 1-1X6X6, 1-1X6X8   (from Lowes)
Frequently asked questions
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  2 questions
  • Is this a garage space?


  • Patty Anderson Patty Anderson on Jul 08, 2017

    As I understand it, LVL beams are super strong. So when you cover it with laminate flooring, I would think it should look just like wooden beams!What about the edges of the beams? Is the laminate edge rounded / finished?

Comments
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3 of 56 comments
  • Patty Anderson Patty Anderson on Jul 19, 2017

    Party time!

  • Cmoonlitwolf Cmoonlitwolf on Jul 26, 2017

    I love the design. And absolutely love the color of the stains.

    • Patty Anderson Patty Anderson on Jul 26, 2017
      Thank you! Now for the rest of the walls! But they have sheetrock, so I'm working on a pattern that will flow around the rest of the room and (perhaps) tie in with this corners colors. .........
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