The Living Room Remodel – Part 3

We’re making good headway on the living room remodel. Last week, we got the tongue and groove ceiling installation finished. The next project was finishing the drywall work before we could install the crown molding around the edge of the ceiling. Most of the major drywall repairs had started at this point except one – removing the archway to the original bathroom.

The archway removal

The hallway behind the archway will become the new master shower. That will happen during the master bedroom/bathroom remodel. However, for now, I need the archway out so that I can frame in the wall. Tearing out the archway was a bit of a messy project, but we got it ripped out and then framed up. Once it was framed up, we hung drywall on it and then started spreading some mud.

Dining room electrical

With the archway framed in, it was time to finish the drywall patches in the dining room. To fully complete the drywall patches, I needed wiring to the new outlets. This required more holes cut into the walls to get around the multiple layers of blocking in the walls. I pulled the new wires and then got the outlet boxes installed. Once the wires were pulled, I reinstalled the pieces of drywall and then taped and mudded the patches.

Slingin’ some mud

Oceana helped me spread mud around the living room and dining room until the mud was floated out enough and it was ready to sand. At that point we opted to install the crown molding. I put the first piece of crown up against the side wall and I didn’t like what I saw. The way the crown met the edge of the last board would have made for some unsightly gaps along the edges (because of the chamfer on the ends of the TnG boards). I didn’t like it. After looking into other crown options, we opted to make a backer piece of molding to push the crown molding into the room a bit more.

The crown molding

Oceana picked up some lumber from Bagwell. I ripped the pieces to width and then set up the molder to cut the profile I wanted on the edge of the piece. I fired up the molder and Oceana helped me catch the pieces coming out of the molder as I fed the machine. With the molding in hand, we got started installing it in the living room. We ran the molding around the perimeter and then installed the cove crown molding. The backer pushed the crown into the room enough to miss the chamfer and have a nice clean line around the perimeter – well, as clean of a line as one can expect with a wavy ceiling. Caulk will hide the waviness.

Sanding drywall

Once the crown was complete, we masked off the room and then got onto sanding the drywall. Even with a vacuum attached sander, it still made a bit of a mess. Oceana followed behind me with an inspection light and a sanding sponge and sanded out the areas I couldn’t get with the big sander. We got all of the drywall sanded out. We’ll have to go back through and do a few spot touch ups, but otherwise, it’s ready for paint.

Odds and ends

My folks have arrived in town to spend the next few weeks with us enjoying the warmer weather. Today, Saturday, is my Mom’s birthday, so happy birthday mom! That’s all for this week. As always, thanks for following along.