Buh-Bye Cork Wall!

I was having an awful time taking down the cork wall in the smallest of the bedrooms:

It kicked up a ton of dust and took forever:

Well, all my whining paid off. Chris, the destroyer, thought this was the perfect job for him. I am certainly not going to complain. Here is his finished work:

And another shot for good measure:

It did create a huge mess though:

But he was even good enough to clean it up. Bonus Points! Now it is just up to me to use my wall repair skills from the Olympic Challenge to get this room ready to paint. 

Thrift Store Find: Kidney Bean Shaped Table

I love the thrift store. Everything is so cheap, and yea, you have to sort through a bunch of crap, but every once in a while you find something really unique. It has been quite busy since we have moved, and it took me almost two months to venture to the one nearest us. While there I saw this table that I really liked. I told myself I was going to wait on it; If it was still there the next time I went I would pick it up. 
Well, I ventured back and venture home with this crazy table:

It is so funky (so is the thrifty store floor - but who am I to judge) and cheap (29.95$). I am not quite sure where it will end up, but I am sure we can make it work somewhere. Sadly, it does need a touch up. It currently has a faux marble finish, but it is chipped and has some rings. I am hoping to paint it, but it will need to be sanded first. Stay tuned to find out how it turns out. 

Olympic Challenge: Closing Ceremony

So my goal was to transform the Guest Bedroom before the Olympics started. Well, they start today, and sadly I am just not quite there. The only really remaining project is the trim. If it was just painting the trim, I would pull the all nighter and struggle through. It's just a bit more complicated than that, because there simply isn't any trim:

Also no trim around the windows:

Or the doors:

This is a job that requires Chris' help. Even if he wasn't gonna go to work for today, it is also a very time consuming job. I'm am adding it to the weekend warrior list. 

Even so, I would award myself the bronze metal in the Guest Bedroom Olympics. I went pretty strong, and only just lost it at the finish. The room went from this:

Or more accurately this:

To this:

With two solid weeks of work. Now it is time to sit back and watch the real athletes win real gold metals!

Olympic Challenge: Spirit Colors

So the next event is Wall Painting - This is everyone's chance to show their Spirit Colors. As I have mentioned before, Chris and I are terrible about choosing colors. The only wall color that I have been 100% satisfied with is the Master Bedroom grey/blue. We didn't do any testers for that. Just bought it and threw it up there. I decided that this was the same thing we were going to do for the Guest Bedroom. I let Chris pick the color:

The color in the picture isn't 100% true. It is a blue/green that sort of looks like it was plucked off the Little Mermaid set. I had concerns that it was going to be too bright. You can decide for yourself.


Now for the event shots. Notice how I am getting better at taking them from similar angles. And they say you can't teach an old dog new tricks (old dog does not approve of that saying at all):

Before Picture I:

After Picture I:

Before Picture II:

After Picture II:

Before Picture III:

After Picture III:

I am also including one more After Picture because I feel it shows the truest color:

It is a great deal calmer than I thought it was going to be. It add a lot of light and makes the room seem so much larger than the wood paneling did. It does it excite me, which is good because the actual Olympics starts tomorrow...

Olympic Challenge: Ceiling Semi-Finals

So now that the room is prep it is on to the painting events. The first of which is painting the ceiling. This is the only room in the house with a ceiling fan:

This needed to be removed before the event began. Luckily, Chris was kind enough to do this while I was away:

Armed with an extension pole and a gallon of semi-gloss ultra pure white paint the event began:

I will have to admit, painting the ceiling is my least favorite part of painting a room, and boy, was this ceiling thirsty. It drank up the whole gallon. But we persevered and won:

Ultimately, the white paint wins the gold in this event. I'd like to think of it a bit like the Coney Island hot dog eating contest. The white paint was the Joey Chestnut of this event. 

Olympic Challenge: Sanding Sprint

So now that that spackling has dried the next challenge in completing the guest bedroom is to sand all of that spackling down. I thought this would be the event for the power sander that won the gold in sanding down the glue, but there was a new challenger, the hand sander:

He changed from his rough grid to the fine grit sandpaper tracksuit and he was off.

Again, a mask and safety glasses were worn by all the spectators. The spackling that was used came off pretty easily. Too easily in fact to justify using the power sander. So the hand sander wins the gold for this event. The only advantage that I would have to give to the power sander is that it traps some of the dust that it makes. The hand sander does not:

The Olympic supervisor left her mark in the dust, but otherwise approves:

Now the wall prep is done. On to painting events!

Olympic Challenge: Hitting A Rough Patch

So while the GB Olympics have been carrying on, they have consisted of many events of endurance: a ton of sanding, a marathon of painting, and a near-lifetime of spackling. Today's event is different. It is a challenge of ingenuity and skill. The course for today is the corner between the entry door and the closet door:

The corners of this room have generally taken a beating. There were extra nails to remove as the corners are obviously the edge of the paneling. What makes this corner all the more challenging is that in addition to the damage caused by the paneling there is additional damage from the molding that was also in this area:

It is in pretty rough shape out there today. And it looks like the hand sander will not be competing in today's event because he is too wide and there can be no damage to the door. Don't feel too bad for him because he is gearing up for this big event tomorrow. So the solution was to paint the whole strip and simply spackle it smooth:

It has not yet been sanded, but at least it can be. So while I don't think this will ever be the gold medal wall, a large portion of it will be covered with molding and the remainder makes up a corner normally covered by an open door. So today's winner is a copious amount of spackle!

Olympic Challenge: Spackle Marathon!

So after waiting for the paint to dry (and the house to air out - it is a stinky product), we are ready to continue on with the Guest Bedroom Olympics. Today's event is the Spackle Marathon! Yay....yay? So lets just remind everyone about today's course:

And that is just one bend. This will be a long one. To highlight some of the challenges with the track, lets start with an example of the divot canyons:

These are large gashes that were left when the paneling was pulled down. They are all primed yesterday to get ready for today's event. There are also a number of small nail holes that need to be covered:

Let's meet today's competitor:

He is being assisted by a three inch puddy knife. And let the games begin. 
*Several Hours Later*

(I am aware that it looks just like the before picture...but there is the problem with using white primer and white spackle) ...and it looks like, we are ready for next week's exciting event: Sanding!

Olympic Challenge: Oil Based Priming!

So as promised, today's event is Oil Based Priming! So to set the stage for this event, let me explain the rules. First, there are a number of scrapes and gashes in the wall from both the glue removal and the moving of the wood paneling:

These divots need to be filled with spackling, but first, as advised by the refs at the Home Depot, any spots where the holes extend through the paper covering the dry wall first need to be primed with an oil based primer to prevent bubbling. Now lets meet the primer:

For the other rooms we were using this in a spray can form, but given the large number of holes that are currently in the guest bedroom, I couldn't really justify using a ton of the more expensive spray paints. Now the playing field:

And the finished product:

Not all that impressive, unless you consider the scope of the priming project:

And another shot for good measure (of the worse corner):

Yuppers, tomorrow's spackling marathon promises to be a long event. One important lesson that I learned the hard way is make sure you have paint thinner on hand before starting. There was an emergency trip to the Home Depot to pick up my lil hero:

Olympic Challenge: Glue Scrapping!

So the wood paneling is gone, but there is still a ton of glue left on the walls:

For the first event, Glue Scrapping, we have two competitors. First, the Scrapper:

He is pretty self explanatory, he scrapes, he doesn't complain, but this time he has some challenge from a younger, nosier competitor, the handheld sander:

Yup, new, right out of the box. And he is rearing to go! Some women get clothes and jewelry, this week I got a power tool. Winning! And we are off. First the scrapper:

The judges give him a lowly 3.7. He is quick and efficient, but he just can't stick the landing, and is pulling quite a bit of dry wall off with the glue. Looks like we are going to have to expand the spackling portion of the Olympics. Now for the sander:

And it is an 8.2. Not perfect, but a clear win over the scrapper. There is some damage to the dry wall, but it is flat, which means even though it will need a coat of primer, it won't need extensive spackling. There is also a slight deduction for the amount of dust that is created. (Don't worry ma, I was wearing safety glasses and a dust mask). Let's take another look at that performance, keeping in mind that although there is glue still on the wall, it is flat now, which was really the important part:

So there you have it folks: The gold goes to the power sander, but the scrapper walks away with a solid silver. I forecast that he will have his comeback on the cork wall. Join us tomorrow for the second event: Oil Based Priming!