September 17, 2013
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A quantum leap
If only I’d worked this hard the whole time my wife has been gone…
I would be nearly done with the downstairs by now.
My brother-in-law Diego showed up around 2:00 Sunday. While I was waiting, I finished disassembling the cedar beams around the fireplace. There were still two uprights, one on each end.
After I removed the last two props, the big cedar beam remained wedged between the two walls. When I looked close I discovered that on the right it was sitting on a book by George McDonald! I had two ladders ready to prop it, so once I got rid of a toenailed nail on the left and lifted it off the book, it dropped onto the ladders. Diego helped me lift it off when he arrived.
The nails that held it together at the top were hidden behind these huge plugs. When I tapped the nails back out, the plugs popped loose. I will cut them flush when I reassemble it. The finished cedar will look gorgeous.
I put Diego to work priming the family room after we finished removing the cedar beams from the fireplace. I didn’t mind the paneling, but the place looks bigger and cheerier with white walls.
After he got a coat on the family room, he moved on to the dining room. Goodbye, striped wallpaper! I took the baseboards, outlet covers, and a/c grills off before he started.
By the time he left last night, we had a coat of finish paint on the ceiling and walls of the family room, and the dining room and most of the living room had been primed. The wallpaper bubbled up in a few places, so I’ll need to deal with that before I can paint it again. I’ll try slitting the bubbles and gluing the paper down. If that doesn’t work, I’ll cut out the bubbles and mud them smooth.
Comments (15)
You have been busy! It looks good.
I wouldn’t have thought to just paint over the wallpaper…I’d have spent too much time trying to peal it off and then I would have gotten disgruntled and….well…that was a great idea. It looks great Tim and Diego!
Good books in that bookcase.
Aren’t those cute little covers.
She is going to be so in love with you when she gets back!
I tried painting over wallpaper once and it turned out badly. Looks like you’ve been very busy but it’s looking good
This is all so heart-warmingly familiar, is all I can say. Every job I do has an element of the un-expected, both positive and negative. Only seems like the majority of surprises are bad ones, I guess. I often finish a job and tell myself ‘Wow, what a totally un-fore-seen abortion *that* turned into!’
I do admire and am jealous of your dedication to photo-documenting jobs. The reader often forgets that doing that part has a real behind-the-scenes price tag.
Most of my jobs are far more conventional than the weird stuff you described in some of those old houses you work on. The biggest exception was the house my ex and I bought in 1995 and immediately tore apart to remodel from a 3-bed 2-bath to a 6-bed 3-bath. The original owner worked at an auto factory and had unlimited access to packing crates. There was not a full-length stud in the house! It was built of 4-foot scraps patched together with laths. No headers, either, just 2×4 plates over windows and doors.
So far this house seems conventionally built, although I’m not sure how the framing is done inside the cinder block walls. Apparently they turn studs and plates flat to attach sheetrock and paneling?
Looking good!
You are doing a huge redecorating/remodeling job! I was always taught that painting over wallpaper was verboten. Must. Strip. Paper. We have done it in 6 rooms and every time it is proposed I intone “Let’s hire someone to do it” and every time I’m voted down… If it was allowed I’d paint over it in a heart beat!
I painted over wallpaper in my lake house in TX and it went okay. Some friends did it with textured paint and that was even better. This paper bubbled in places when we primed it, but when I looked yesterday the bubbles had all disappeared! So I may not have to cut the bubbles out at all.
Tim that block of cedar wood is humongous. I am so proud of your work and how dedicated you are. Thank you for posting the pictures. How come you didn’t want to tear the paper down?
I would be happy to have the paper off, but it would be a lot of work and where I have taken it off (in the stairway where it was peeling), the sheetrock underneath wasn’t taped, so I have that to do as well.
It’s getting done
I got so completely sidetracked as I recalled my own experiences reading most of the titles in your bookcases.
The worrk with the huge beam looked dangerous but you succeeded it.
Paint over a wall paper needs this last be well stuck on the wall. It is sure the white brings light in the room.
In friendshiP
Michel
In places the wallpaper bubbled, but when we checked again a couple of days later, the bubbles disappeared! So I may not have to fix them. I really like the way the white makes the room lighter and bigger. Alicia is happy with the changes.