Living Room Pt. 2: Repairs & Painting
I began deciding on the wall color of this room at the start of October, 2017. I remember the afternoon walk I took through the quaint little town where I lived at the time, how crisp & cool the air was beginning to feel. I was searching for some color in nature that would be both comfortable & relaxing to suit the purpose of that space.
By then, leaves had begun to make their decent to the ground & it was there I found my inspiration; a simple oak leaf with soft, beige tones.
Though it wouldn’t be until winter that we’d have paint on those walls. Virtually every project we aim to complete in this house takes about 4x what you initially expect diving into it.
Before my mom & I were able to begin painting the ceiling of the room, there was a former water leak that caused the plaster to dip down over the cove trim. That was the first job that needed to be done before painting ensued.
This was Gavin’s area of work now where he meticulously chiseled the 200 year old plaster off to reveal the wooden lath beneath, creating a large enough space to hang a drywall piece.
Never a dull moment, we saw something peaking out between the lath. We pulled & tugged until a filthy, torn shirt was revealed which provided us with the ever-enlightening question: “Did you ever feel like a fire hydrant and all your friends were dogs?”
The cove then had to be removed (an accomplishment for me using a crowbar & hammer). Gavin then measured, cut & hung the drywall.
After Youtube video watching, my mom & I set out to tape and mud the drywall. This can’t be bad at all, we thought. The man in the video made it look so easy! Simply watching a video & having no prior ‘on-the-job’ experience proved a much more difficult process than we’d hoped. But, nonetheless, we got it done. A great victory!
The view from our very frequently used scaffolding while working on painting the ceiling (finally!) We ended up using a ceiling paint with a sand texture in it to help soften the imperfections. Of course though, some things you have to chalk up to “character” due to the age of the house.
Then came the ever meticulous work of repairing all of the holes, cracks & imperfections in the walls with spackling/sanding. Repeat that process about 5 more times.
This perhaps is my favorite photo I’ve taken so far of our process. Pictured below, is my mom on the scaffolding working on the ceiling. If you look closely above her head, it seems like a heavenly sight, maybe an angel watching over us.
After the walls were prepped, then came painting the trim (two+ coats) followed by cutting in the wall paint.
After three full months of meeting my mom after work & driving out to the house to work until dark, we completed painting the room on December 6th, 2017 at 6:01 pm. And what a celebration that was! I couldn’t have done it without her.
But it doesn’t stop there. . .As you can see, we’re standing on hard wood floors that have unfortunately been covered over with thick red paint. And that is where phase 3 comes into play with Gavin & I venturing into the labor-intensive project of refinishing the original 6 inch tongue and grove poplar plank floors.