This basically means that you rub chalk all over it and then you smear it around with a rag  really quickly.

For example, the built-in book cases, which are made mostly from MDF, are trimmed out with basic 1/2″ strips of pine all around the front of the shelves for a more solid and up-to-date look.Very inexpensive, but without that extra bit of trim, they would look cheap and flimsy, no matter how sturdy they are..

Adding an extra little bit of really thin (and super cheap) crown molding at the tops really finishes them off and makes all the difference.. On a side note, if you’re wondering what’s up with the lighting in the room, we were having yet another overcast day when I found the time to snap these photos so I had the overhead lights on.Aren’t they fun though?.Back to the trim..

Although it’s really tempting when you get deep into a project to rip everything out and start fresh, it can really help your budget if you leave some of the trim that’s already there in place if it’s in decent shape.The door and all the moldings around the door are original.

Although, the people here before us did some funky things with the door casing when they put the paneling in back in the day, it’s overall still in pretty good shape, so we kept it all..

Same with around the window.After going through that same struggle I thought “There has to be a better way!!”.

I put on my thinking cap and grabbed the second new knife, the one that was still in the packaging, to do some experimenting.. My first thought was to find some garden pruners so I went out to the mud room where we use.an old shoe rack to keep all of our garden tools.

or other tools that we need to grab quickly from time to time.Also, this is the resting place for tools that we use that haven’t made it back out to the garage to be put away for real yet.