I wanted to create a little, unexpected element in this small hallway.  Since it’s so small, I thought I’d tackle the ceiling.

I bought a new light and created a wood plank LOOKING ceiling.

It’s just 1/8″ hardboard.  $8 for a 4′x8′ sheet.  I ripped it into 4″ strips.  (Just shy of 4″ to allow for my sawblade on each cut.)  I primed and painted them.

Then dragged my chop saw up to the porch because I didn’t want to run downstairs a thousand times.

I didn’t want nail holes so I used panel adhesive…I spent $30 on that so I’m not sure if it actually saved me money using the hardboard instead of nailing up actual planks.  If you did this on your walls, you wouldn’t have to use so much and would have an easier time installing.

I created a border and then filled it with vertical slats.  (Because that’s how I wanted to do it.)   I was about to tear it all down when I finished and it looked like this!

But then I caulked and painted it and decided I loved it after all.

Don’t you hate those moments in a project when you’ve spent a ridiculous amount of hours working on something that you decide it looks like crap?  I’m glad I didn’t throw in the towel too soon.  Because my neck is killing me from working above my head all day and if it was all for nothing…well, that would just really stink!

 

 

I made a little DIY Bootcamp Video to show you how to cut drywall…in case you didn’t know.

Voila!

I think I’m about half way done with this project.  I was taping and mudding and decided to just retexture ALL the walls.

I was originally thinking I’d hide the REALLY HEAVY texture by applying wainscoting in choice spots.  I’ll probably still do that but I want the house to look good now, not just …whenever I get to the wainscoting.  It’s not going to help the house be more functional so it’s not a priority right now.  So I’m troweling joint compound on the walls, smooshing it into the voids and then smoothing it out.  I’m not making the walls Completely Smooth.  I’m going for more of a “California Texture” or “Hand Troweled” look.  It’s really hard to get walls PERFECTLY smooth, especially since there’s already SO much texture there.

We’ll see how it looks after it’s primed.  I think no matter what it looks like when I’m done, I’ll like it better than I do now.  I’m not stressing about this project.  I’m  just going with the flow and taking things as they come.

Thought I’d share a Mid Project -Video.

Hope you have a great weekend.  Don’t work to hard!

Looking for inspiration is what I find myself doing in between coats of joint compound.  (It was either browse Pinterest or take a hairdryer to it!)

I thought I’d share some of my Powder Room Inspiration pics with you.

Skona Hem

 Sarah Richardson

HGTV

Lake Jane

COCOCOZY

These spaces are bigger than what I’m working with for my Powder Room but I can work around that.  I’m loving furniture style vanities, unexpected light fixtures and lots of white and grey.

I can’t wait to get to the fun part of renovation…Decorating!

I must be the messiest mudder there is.  I’m covered in the stuff!  I am making progress though.

I usually leave big “Mudding” jobs to the professionals and I may hire someone in for the last coat.  Right now I’m just doing the messy prep work:  taping, filling screw dimples, leveling the new drywall out with the old stuff that is CAKED with texture.  It’s a lot of work but I’m so happy I tore out that closet and opened up that doorway into the Formal Living room.

It feels 100% better already.  (Still not spilling the beans on what my plans are on that new coat closet…because I still haven’t made up my mind.)

Yep, 100% glad I tore out that BIG OLE’ coat closet!

Remember…way back when…I shared with you my Weed Lawn?

I wanted to Round Up the whole thing and start fres.  But WE decided that we should try to preserve what meager grass was there, fighting for survival!  So we used a weed killer.  The kind that doesn’t kill the grass.  Which, if you use that kind of weed killer, you have to wait a VERY long time to seed.  (Like 4 to 6 weeks.)

Weeds are like cockroaches!  They…just…won’t die.  Well, they will, you just have to keep trying until you get the right product or combination of products.  Sheesh!

Now the weeds are gone and this is what’s left.  Nice, right?

 It’s finally been long enough that we can seed now.  I’m going to cover all those bare spots with some some of Pennington Seed’s 1 Step Complete because it is so EASY.

I tried it on my front lawn in some bare spots.  These are apparently favorite spots for Brody to relieve himself.

I used the product for Dense Shade Areas because that part of the lawn almost never sees any sun.

I don’t usually do “outside” work.  It’s funny that I grew up on a farm and yet I know NOTHING about gardening or keeping anything alive that needs even the tiniest amount of nurturing.  I was really hoping this product was as easy to be successful with as it sounds.

All I did was:

1.  Rake up the dead leaves and grass.

2.  Spread the product on the bare spots.  I raked it out to spread it evenly.

3.  Watered it!  I watered it whenever it started to look dry (light green).

After two weeks, this is what has come up.  See the baby blades of grass?  There all skinny and delicate compared to the older grass.

These are the same two spots that were bare before.

It was so fun to watch the grass sprout and grow.

Now that my front lawn is looking good, that sorry back yard really needs to step up to the plate!   I don’t want to look at this any more. LOL

p.s.  If you have shady areas where the drainage is poor and you have issues with Moss, try Moss Out.  Just make sure you get the kind for your application.  There is a product for lawns and another one for structures.  (Speaking of which, I’m thinking of leaving some on my “neighbor up the street’s” doorstep.  The whole side of their house is green…and that is NOT the color of their house!)

Disclosure: Pennington Seed, Inc. and their parent company Central Garden & Pet partnered with bloggers such as me to help educate us all about grass seed. As part of this program, I received compensation and was hosted by the company for a kickoff event. They did not tell me what to what to say about the use of the products. Central Garden & Pet believes that consumers and bloggers are free to form their own opinions and share them in their own words. Central Garden & Pet’s policies align with WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines and social media engagement recommendations.

As usual, this project is dragging on and on.  I keep finding more things to add.  I have two completely different ideas for my “coat closet” and I have to make a decision before I can wire it and I have to wire it before I can drywall it…  So I stopped drywalling for the time being!

I moved on to tearing out my patchwork of floor boards so I can patch it up.  I don’t even know if this is going to work but I’ll give it a good try before I move on to plan B (which I will figure out on the fly).

I can’t move forward on the Formal Living room side of things either because the previous electrical wiring was run up through the floor so that means I have to cut a hole in my basement ceiling in order to access it so I can do the new wiring.  (Not looking forward to breaking that news to the hubby who is already overjoyed about the mess.)

I’m making progress in the Powder Room.  Just when I started to feel comfortable with the Open Bathroom Policy!

First I tore out the closet.  Then I tore out the tub.

Then I took out the extra door.

Framed that in and tore all the drywall off another wall.

It absolutely ALWAYS gets worse before it gets better!

Then I tore out that wall and reframed it for a pocket door.

And framed in the wall to close off the Powder Room.  (The future “Coat Closet” is a surprise!)

That’s what I’ve been up to this week.

How did this “Living Room Coat Closet Tearout” turn into such a big project?

Muhahahahaha!  ;-)

Up until recently, I’ve just been using a regular old Shop Vac for dust collection and I used to constantly have to replace my filter because it would bet so clogged with fine dust that the vac would lose suction.  Last year, I added a Cyclone to my shop vac and it made a world of difference.

I didn’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on a big dust collection system so I did some research and decided to try a cyclone attachment for my regular shop vac.

What is a cyclone?  It’s the funnel shaped thingamabob on top of that plastic bucket.  The shop vac is connected to the top of the cyclone and the suction hose comes off the side so when the air sucks the “crap” into the cyclone, most of the really small particles drop down into the bucket and the large chunks go into the shop vac.

It’s like a little tornado that separates the fine dust from the large pieces of debris so your filter doesn’t get all clogged up with sawdust or drywall dust making your shop vac lose it’s suction power.  (It is SOO annoying when you’re trying to clean up and your vacuum won’t suck!  Right?)

So the cyclone keeps most of the fine filter clogging dust out of the shop vac.  I’ve emptied the cyclone tub a couple times already and this is all the debris that has made it into the shop vac…and the filter still looks pretty clean.  Nice!

The idea of attaching it to the shop vac with bungie cords was actually in the manual that came with the cyclone.   They also had plans for platforms with casters but I didn’t want to waste any time on that.  This looks ridiculous but it works.

I also bought a couple extension tubes for the vacuum so I don’t have to bend over and hurt my back while cleaning up.

I bought my cyclone from Amazon.  I know Rockler has one too but the Oneida was cheaper on Amazon when I purchased it so that’s what I bought.

It’s a $60 option has been a great help in keeping my shop and project areas cleaner.

Just for fun, here are some more plans that I think are really interesting and different from anything I had thought of.  I’m sticking with the plan I shared yesterday but I think these are really great ideas!  These  were all drawn up by a very creative reader, LaTonya.  Thanks girl!

Working within set parameters is limiting.  It would be incredible to just go wild and draw whatever my heart desired and then have it built!  Someday I’m going to design my own house…I think I’ll recruit LaTonya and all y’all to help me!