chapter 52 in the bathroom chronicles.....the ceiling

I know that the ceiling of a space is not the most important, and probably shouldn't warrant an entire blog post, but since I spent 10 hours on it, you're going to hear about it!

So, clearly this bathroom has been a domino effect.  This happens in design, even with legit designers.  I loved {Jenny's post} (Little Green Notebook) on this very thing.  It made me laugh out loud and of course I completely agreed with and totally followed her train of thought.

I probably would have tried to forget the ceiling even existed, but here's the thing..... The bathroom ceiling is dropped to 7 feet because it's in a basement and there is duct work above it.  That makes is really close to your head when you walk in, so you can't help but notice it.  When I decided what I wanted to do with the vanity lighting, my design called for flush mount fixtures. (more on those fabulous fixtures later!)  The AC vent just happened to be right in the exact spot that the center light fixture needed to be.  Of course.  So I had to call Jim (my fabulous neighbor and AC professional) to move the vent.

When Jim finished his work, this is what I was left with.

So much fun.

Melanie came over and told me what I needed to do.  That girl knows everything!  So I did as she instructed.  I cut the opening into a rectangle with straight edges and then cut 2 x 3's into pieces that fit in between the supports that were already.  Using drywall screws, I attached the new wood pieces to the existing drywall so I had something to attach the new drywall to.

I then cut the new pieces of drywall to fit, and screwed them into the supports all the along the outside.  I even cut a perfect little hole for the light fixture.  You don't want to know how bad I was sweating when I finished.

After that was done, I patched it with some joint compound and drywall tape.  Who knows why I didn't get a picture of that masterpiece.  It was probably 3 a.m. and I was delirious.

Ok, do you know what orange peel texture looks like?  Let me give you a beautiful close up.  Every wall and ceiling in my entire house is covered in this stuff.  And I hate it.

Since I didn't know how (or want) to duplicate that texture to match the rest of the ceiling, I got the bright idea to do a smooth texture on the whole thing so it looked seamless, crisp and modern.  Melanie told me it would be no problem........

It was SO hard and SO much work.  But I did it.  I DID IT!!!

It is a very messy job and I had to wear a mask and goggles AND turn the air off while I worked on it.  I was drenched in sweat from head to toe.  I have NO idea how I haven't lost 20 pounds while working on this bathroom.  It's so annoying.

I also did a smooth texture on the wall behind the toilet and the wall with the door.  It's much, much easier to do walls than ceilings.  The wall behind the vanity will be covered in mirrors and woodwork, and all the other walls are clad in subway tile.

Here is the same camera shot where the gaping hole was.  It's not perfect, and I can (barely) tell where I taped the seam, but I'm not a professional, so I'm pretty dang proud of my first attempt!

After a coat of white, semigloss paint, this is what the bathroom is looking like now.  I chose to use semigloss because this is a bathroom that sees a lot of action with three kids and countless visitors and it needs to be very easy on the cleanup side.

 I'd say it's a vast improvement, wouldn't you?

So here's the deal....I bought a box of premixed joint compound at Lowes for $7.50, a 12" trowel and a drywall tray.  Altogether is was under $15.  The materials were cheap, but the labor was intense and the time it took was extensive since I had to apply two coats and sand it two times to get it perfect.  There are lots of You-Tube videos to show you how to apply the joint compound and smooth it out. 

I'm happy to say that I absolutely love the finished result of the smooth ceiling and walls.  Would I do it again?  Not the ceiling.  I'll pay someone next time!  However, I would do the walls again myself.  They were actually kind of fun and therapeutic.

Next week?  I'll show you the finished floors.  I really, REALLY love them!