Last week we got the crown molding installed and the drywall repairs started. This week, we focused on getting the tongue and groove ceiling painted. With the crown molding done, we masked off the room and then sprayed on a coat of primer. Once the primer dried, Oceana and I filled the nail holes and then caulked around the room as necessary. We gave the caulk an hour or two and then we sprayed on a heavy coat of semi gloss white paint. I got a little too heavy in spots at the crown molding and I had to brush out a few sags. Oh well, it dried nicely and the ceiling looks great.
Drywall
With the ceiling painted, we continued on with the drywall repairs. Drywall is a slow and boring process – you’re literally waiting for the mud to dry. To speed the process up, for most of the repairs we used 45 minute mud. It cures faster than regular mud so you can get more coats on faster. However, when it dries, its hard as a rock and doesn’t sand very easy (as a joke, the manufacturers call the product “easy sand 45”. Not true!). For the last coat, we used the normal all purpose drywall mud. It takes longer to harden but once it’s cured, it sands real easy. We sanded out all of the touch ups and then went back through and did a final round of minor touch ups before prepping for paint.
Prepping for paint
My mom vacuumed off the dust from the walls and Oceana and my dad cleaned up the baseboards. Oceana and my Dad rolled out a coat of primer on the walls in the living and dining rooms. It looks better already. The walls are nearly one uniform color with no major holes, patches, or other issues. It’s nice. After the primer dried, Oceana caulked in the baseboards as necessary. Next, she cut in and rolled out two coats of the white wall paint. Now everything is one solid color and clean looking. It’s finally starting to look like a living area.
Electrical work
My Dad helped out with the electrical. After the paint had dried on the tongue and groove ceiling, he installed the recessed can lights in the dining room ceiling and the living room ceiling. It’s nice to have lights again! When I pulled the wires for the dining room, I ran the wires up into the attic and left them there to be connected later. My dad was able to go up and get them tied together and then get a new breaker installed for them in the breaker box. After that, he went into the crawl space and tied in the wires for the living room outlets. Once the room was painted, he went back through and installed all of the outlets and covers. It’s starting to look like a finished room!
Odds and ends
We went by the Florida Flywheelers this weekend. It was pretty impressive. There seemed to be at least 1,000 vendors for the swap meet and the old steam engines and tractors were pretty cool. They even had a tractor pull going on. On Thursday night we stood on the dock and got to watch a rocket launch from the SpaceX facility in Cape Canaveral. That’s always neat to see. Oceana baked me a chocolate cake for my birthday. It was good! Teak is doing well. Here’s a picture of him lounging on some product as I’m heading towards West Palm to deliver it. That’s all for now. Thanks for following along!
Your place is looking so great! Already starting to look forward to your open house party when your improvements are complete. I’m going to have to start thinking of a housewarming gift. You already have a dog – Right?! Walter & Joyce
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Hey Walter! Thanks, and yes, we have a dog – a Goldendoodle! We’ll have to introduce yall sometime.
Everything looks great, guys! When you finish the whole house, I’m hoping for a video walk through of everything. Still enjoying watching the progress!!
That’s a great idea for the video walkthrough. I can make that happen!
Looks good I like the living room I thought it was going to be brown the living room looks big good job we got 4inches of snow today
Thanks Grandma! I hope you’re enjoying the snow. We nearly got snow down here – it hit the mid 30s today.