Thursday, May 26, 2011

Ceilings and More

I have lost count of the number of days I've been working on the ceilings. Really, not only the ceilings, but also walls and trim. My goal was to completely remove all the popcorn texture from our ceilings. I'm very close to accomplishing that goal: just two rooms to go.

Both of those rooms, the living room and the dining room, will be difficult to prep, so I'm putting it off as long as I can. I have to get myself mentally prepared!
In the living room, I will need to box up all 800-plus books in these bookcases. I don't look forward to it.In the dining room, I will need to box up all the fragile goodies in this china cabinet:After scraping all the popcorn off, I have had to patch and sand the poorly taped drywall underneath, then prime and paint. I have completed all that in the master bedroom, bath and closet, the hallway and linen closet, and the little back hall.When the ceilings are done, I get to treat myself to painting the walls in fresh, new paint. I went ahead and got the hall and linen closet painted because the linens were getting in my way on the floor. Now they are back home in the closet (minus the door). Picture-rehanging in the hall still to come.
I also plan to repaint the family room and kitchen walls and ceilings. They are looking dingy, even though the ceiling popcorn was scraped off some years ago. As I have little dribbles of ceiling paint left over in the paint tray, I use it up on the family room ceiling. It's looking quite patchy right now.

Meanwhile, I'm experimenting with new paint colors.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Garage Sale Finds

On Friday I went garage saling with Susan, a new friend who blogs at Between Naps on the Porch, and a near neighbor (near in blogging terms!). I have enjoyed reading her blog for a year or two, and last month we discovered that we live only a couple of miles from each other. We hit all the local sales we could find, which turned out to be rather meager for this time of year. But we both eventually found something we needed, or perhaps really wanted.

My find: Two china tea cups, both marked Royal Albert bone china, England. The blue one also says "Starlight"; I assume that's the name of the pattern.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Popcorn Log

Three days of scraping popcorn from the ceiling, and one day of patching the joints and dings brings me to this:Next up: sanding the patched areas. That will leave me looking like a snowman.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Choosing Paint

I'm jumping ahead here, but I was inspired to go out and find paint chips for the bedroom walls. Aqua is my current thought.

Monday, May 2, 2011

Popcorn Elimination Treatment

Today is the big day: I began the Popcorn Elimination on All the Remaining Ceilings. ("Popcorn" is a euphemism for that ugly bumpy ceiling texture in most tract homes.) This is a huge task since I haven't yet removed it from the master bedroom and bathroom, the bedroom hallway, the entry, living room, and dining room, and the back hallway.

Today I began on the master bathroom. Small room=simple task, right? Wrong. The obstacles I ran into were the tub, the toilet, and the tiny linen closet. It was a challenge to get the ladder in or around all of them in order to reach the ceiling. The closet was the worst; at one point I thought I might be wedged in so tightly that I would need help to get out. My shoulders really took a beating.

I persevered and the popcorn is now gone from the bathroom.After the texture is removed, I will need to do some patching to cover my mistakes, and then sand. Primer and paint are the final steps. After that I'll be able to go have fun with the redecorating.