First light, Friday

In my last blog I discussed how I went about creating the baseboard to conceal the coaxial cable.  A lot has happened since then and the end is in sight.  Started out with having the drywall guys coming earlier.  The original schedule was to come today (Saturday) but he called and asked if they could start Thursday instead.  Not a problem so the wallboard was installed and taped up Thursday night.  This picture is what things looked like when daylight hit the room Friday morning.  Notice though that there are some wires hanging from the ceiling.  There’s a story to all of that!  Traditionally home builders will put an outlet in the center of a ceiling if they put one in at all.  This house came with one which is also wired for a fan.  Prior to the remodel we had installed a halogen track light system that extended to the north wall and then curved to highlight that wall.  That’s where the art work used to be displayed.  After looking through the internet and visiting Lamps Plus we decided to go ahead and re-use that fixture but retrofit it with LED lamps.  However,  centering the fixture in the room makes it too far from the new wall to really be effective.  No problem said I, I’ll just re-locate the box.

Easier said than done, no matter how I tried to maneuver the fish tape I was unable to get it over the joist to the new location.  After trying to work it for over an hour I called my drywall guy and asked if he’d have any problem fixing the hole I needed to put in the ceiling to get the wire where it needed to be.  No problem he said and within 5 minutes of cutting that hole I had the wire where I wanted it to be!  You can see where I patched the ceiling half way between the old and new box location.  That problem solved meant waiting for them to come and texture the new wall.  I felt bad for him because he had some problems with his texture gun.  Made for a longer day then he had counted on plus a trip to Home Depot to replace his gun.  Seems to be the way these things go sometimes though, you get a side job but end up using some of the profits to replace your tools!

Painting isn’t one of my favorite activities but has to be done.  Early start, around 7:30 with the most time consuming part — edging, taping, etc.  That part was completed by 9:30 or so.  Next up was painting on the first coat.  We had decided to paint the ceiling the same color as the walls as part of it was damaged when we removed the radiused and added on, nineties detail.  Also, after cutting that hole to relocate the wire it was needed too.

About 10am, edged and ready

First coat, around 2pm

The way this room is situated, the afternoon sun really showed how badly a second coat was needed.  The existing walls were painted a peanut butter color so I knew two coats would be required even though they claim that this Behr paint is a primer and paint in one and “should” cover in one coat.  The more I thought about it I just couldn’t face trying to paint that second coat Sunday.  Trying to fit it between church and the neighborhood super bowl party was not appealing in the slightest!  I pushed back my desire to relax and enjoy some wine and grabbed the roller instead.  The room is now ready to go with two coats of paint.

In the meantime, Diane has been working like a mad seamstress to replace the curtains.  The first plan was to simply replace the rings on the backs.  They’re Roman Shades that she made 18 years ago!  Well, the desert sun has not only eaten up most of the rings but also rotted the fabric to the point where she can’t even sew anything to it.  She found some really cool looking, tailored pin stripe material that will look fantastic.  I’ve been hearing the sounds of the serger from her studio all the while that I’m painting the room.

Besides a thorough cleaning the room needs the baseboard installed and the wiring for the light needs to be completed so it can be re-installed in the new location.  Hopefully it’ll be another 18 years before another change is needed.