Breakfast Room Before & After

This breakfast room wall has been my nemesis. Sometimes when you have a large blank canvas, it can be more challenging to work with than a limiting space. That's the way my brain works, anyway. But I've overcome!
See? Gigantic, blank canvas. Some of you have minds that can visualize within 2.6 seconds exactly what you would do with this space. I am not among you. We added the chair rail months and months ago, as a first step in the direction we wanted to take this wall. I won't even pretend to give you the tutorial on that project. It was all hubby and his handyman brain. I think I held the tape measure once though.

We had dreams of installing picture frame molding underneath but we knew that project would take forever to finish because of my husband's work schedule. So we nixed it until we found these little beauties...
Ready-to-go molding! We priced out this molding style and the ready-made was a much more cost-effective option. This kind came from Lowe's. Here's a close-up so you can copy-cat if you'd like.

A laser level on a tripod made keeping everything in line a much easier task.
I'm sure there are very specific tools that should probably be used with these, but we're cheap frugal. So we used nails that were actually meant for a nail gun that we had on hand. You have to use very thin nails with this project or you'll damage the molding.
Can you just imagine the patience my husband has to let me stop him mid-project to take pictures of him doing this?
We (and by we I mean my husband) used a regular hammer to secure them into the molding and wall, but then used a punch to countersink the nails into the frames. It makes a big difference in the finished product.
Five frames later, it was getting much better. I would imagine the frames can be cut, but we purposely spaced ours out to account for outlets. And, no, we didn't paint the molding beforehand. They match! Who cares?!
A few botanical prints and clearanced-out matted frames and...

SO much better. I almost breathe better when I walk through this room (which is all day, every day). Marking a gigantic project like this off of our lists is a big relief!
What's on your to-do list?

Linking to:
Sew Much Ado...Sumo's Sweet Stuff...Today's Creative Blog...Skip to My Lou...Tip Junkie...Someday Crafts...Beyond the Picket Fence...Creations by Kara...Tatertots & Jello...Remodelaholic...Thrifty Decor Chick...