I’m giving myself a solid B+, and in parts maybe even an A-, on the nook walls. That said, I’m not sure I’m ready to have a B+ effort on our kitchen walls and the beautiful vaulted ceiling we’ve worked so hard to expose. I’m glad I now know how to finish drywall, but I think at least for the rest of the first floor, we’ll be calling in the professionals.
Here's an overall shot of post-round three sanding:
Because it is white-on-white, it’s hard to get a good shot of the walls. For the most part, this is what all the large walls looked like after the third sanding:
But the corners get sloppy:
Oh, this is what Ryan and Tela did over the weekend while I worked on the nook (guitar is obviously a study break – he's been working very, very hard):
Ryan has his final studio presentation tomorrow night and then I know is really looking forward to some downtime between semesters.
On Ryan’s suggestion, I sanded the walls once more before priming them, this time using a 120-grit sand paper. My tools of the trade:
I also did a couple very small patches of joint compound to clean up a corner and one area where the corner tape was showing.
After sanding the patch jobs, tonight I primed all surfaces. Forgive me all these pictures that look the same. White-on-white is tough. But I'm proud, so here we go:
As for my learn-as-you-go moments of this portion of the project:
#1: I used the primer I bought way back when over the summer when I thought this would be a 3 month reno job. Because we have some colorful walls (a purple to make Barney jealous and the red studio), I bought a 2-gallon bucket of latex primer Killz brand. I think, however, the roller I used was intended for water-based paint because it seems to have left a slight texture on my previously butter-smooth, sanded to perfection walls.
#2: The paint seems to make those darn bubbles under the joint tape blossom – even ones that under layers of sanded compound had seemingly disappeared. There really is only two cases of it, and one will be eventually obscured by the seat cushion, but gosh that is annoying!
Honestly, I’m not losing sleep over it. It seems silly, but this little nook right now is giving me so much joy. Lately, the reno has been wearing on me, I’m officially over not having a kitchen, and with Ryan understandably tied up with school, progress on the house has been limping along for the last month. But right now, I don’t care. We have [Almost] Finished Walls [in one small corner of the house]. And they don’t look that bad.
Next up, I’ll be painting the ceiling eggshell white and asking Ryan to help hook up a Just Perfect light fixture that I purchased in July (again, wishful thinking...). Not only does this fab light coordinate with a great walnut brown/black fan for the kitchen, it’s important we get it installed before painting the walls, because after that, we will be testing greys for the nook and the front room. Artificial and natural light both make a huge impact on how paint looks up on walls. Never trust a paint chip. And, after we select a grey and paint the nook, it will be time to work on the Cape Ann accent wall. I have a plan to borrow a projector I saw Education staff at the museum using to make the process a little easier. Also on the nook docket: finding the right fabric for, and upholstering the bench, and of course flooring installation throughout the first floor. Here I go, getting ahead of myself again…
