Design Dilemma: A room with no light... WHY?????

Just in case you are wondering...that is a empty ceiling, which brings me to this week's design dilemma.

When we moved into our house, I decided to turn the room downstairs into a spare bedroom, even though I think it was always meant to be an office. I soon realized as I was painting...and the room was getting darker...that I needed some light.  I went to the wall, flipped the switch and nothing happened.  I then looked at the ceiling.  There was nothing there.  I was a bit confused.  I have found out since then, that this is normal. There are rooms out there that have no light.  My question is "why?".  Why build a house, provide electrical wiring in every room...except for one?  I think this was a terribly irritating and bad joke.  I combated the issue before by having sconce lighting, but now that I have converted this room into it's original purpose...an office...I NEED light.  

As inconvenient as this is, I thought it would be a pretty simple thing to rectify.  Just cut a hole in the ceiling, splice wiring from one of the outlets and "voila".  I actually suggested exactly that to my electrical engineer husband, to which he promptly burst into irritating...and somewhat condescending laughter.  Ok.  So, I don't know a thing about wiring.  I just know that I married someone who is very handy...and who can do anything when he puts his mind to it.  I actually said that exact same thing to him...and he continued to laugh.  We go through this dance a lot when it comes to house projects.  I decide on a vision...and Jason is stuck trying to make it happen   Poor guy : )  

It's best to let him mull these things over for a while, but he actually shot himself in the foot on this one.  He told me that I could only work on one room at a time.  He actually made me promise.  I have a tendency to be a bit erratic in my home improvements : )  So, the missing light is the last thing to do in my office...at least for now...and he is responsible for stopping my progress.  

I have bought the light...

...and I can't wait to see it up, but Jason has pointed out approximately a dozen possible problems we could encounter.  I don't remember even one.  I just nod and act as if I understand what he is saying.  All I hear is white noise that can be translated into "this is going to be difficult".

So after giving him what I consider to be an appropriate amount of time to figure this problem out, I asked him what his plan is.  And what came out of his mouth actually makes me SOOOO excited.  He is proposing using an industrial solution of metal conduit that will pick up on some of my storage solutions...

 ...and the modern vintage feel I am going for.  As soon as he said it...I was completely on board!  And I could see him let his breath out as if he was proposing something he was going to have to fight for.  Let me just say that I am not that difficult...but, sometimes it is hard for the realistic side of this partnership to reconcile with the completely unrealistic side.  No reason to say which is which : )  

The conduit will run from the light switch, up the wall and across the ceiling to the center of the room. No need for any hole cutting and the potential for the dozen problems that I have no knowledge of, is greatly reduced.  When looking for pictures for inspiration, I could not find anything that matches what I have in my head. No surprise there, but I do know some pieces that are a must.

Jason wants to have a vintage button light switch, which I think will be AWESOME...

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...and the conduit we use will look something like this...

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The pieces are coming together!  This project is still a couple of weeks away from being completed, so maybe Jason will be ok if I jumped to another room.  Wish me luck with that one : )

The truth about removing a popcorn ceiling...

Everyone has something that makes their skin crawl.  Maybe yours is rats...or maybe cottage cheese...or even politics.  Mine is popcorn ceilings...they are the bane of my existence.  Last year, we had a leak in our master bathroom which led us to cutting a hole in the ceiling downstairs ...which in turn led us to have the popcorn ceilings scraped away and replaced with lovely, smooth, beautiful, snow white ceilings (you can see it here).  At that time I told myself I would never undertake removing popcorn ceilings myself.

A lot can happen in a year. 

After I finished the design for Isabella's "big girl" room, I was ready to start painting when I realized that no matter what I did in that room, I would not be happy with the end result, if the popcorn was still there.  I called the same company who scraped the ceilings downstairs, to see how much it would be to scrape that one room...11 sq ft of flat space...and was told it was going to be $350 dollars.  I couldn't do it.  Not for one room. So, I resigned myself to the fact I was gonna have to suck it up and deal with it.

So, once again, I pulled out the paint, laid down the plastic drop-cloths, and was about to begin, when I acknowledged what I knew all along.  I was going to have to do it myself.  Crap.

I headed to the hardware store at 7:30 pm and was scraping by 9:00pm.  I do not mean this to be a DIY or a "this is how you do it post".  I am not going to tell you how simple this procedure is, or how you can do it in a day.  I am going to to tell you what I experienced.

This is what I started with:

I bought 3 packs of 3 drop-colths, a spray bottle, a 10" scraping blade, a large plastic bin and a roll of painter's tape.

 Usually, people will drape every surface with plastic.  I knew I was going to paint the walls, so I concentrated on making sure the carpet, the doors and windows were sealed with plastic, and I left the walls bare.

I started by spraying the popcorn with warm water and then began to scrape.  The popcorn literally peels off and falls heavily to the ground.  It is a very messy job, but surprisingly, it went very quickly.  You have to wear a mask during this part.  Not only is the popcorn being scraped, but some of the joint compound underneath is being scraped away as well, so there is a massive amount of dust falling down on you.

I could not take pictures while I was doing it, but the scraping looks like this-

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The floor looked like this after all the popcorn had been scraped.

 ...and the ceiling looked like this

There were no surprises during this part of the process.  I was actually very encouraged, and maybe a little over-confident at this point.  The next thing I did was the clean-up.  This part I know I did right, even if I made several other mistakes along the way.

I placed the plastic bin in the center of the room, and rolled the plastic towards the bin, until it was a big ball full of popcorn.  I put the plastic bundle in the bin, which made the possibility of spilling popcorn throughout the house impossible.

You will have a few places where the plastic does not catch all the popcorn, but those spots are easily vacuumed up.  Over all, I was very pleased with how clean the room was. 

The next day, I laid down more plastic and taped it off around the room.  I bought another 10" mudding blade and joint compound.

While scraping, you may loosen the tape around the room, which is what happened with me.  You may also scrape down to the drywall screws which also happened with me.  I went around the room and re-mudded all the spots that showed imperfections or needed a little bit of smoothing out.  This process was tedious, because in several spots, the mud will be thicker and you will have to wait for it to fully dry and then sand it, and then realize you will need to apply more compound and then sand again. 

Expect to look like the guy from "Powder"- you remember that movie right?  Let me remind you...just in case.  

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I could not take pictures during any of this, because of the amount of dust.  Every part of me was bright white.

I had been told to use my hand to feel whether I was done sanding instead of looking.  I did this, and what I learned was that my hand thought the ceiling was smooth when it actually wasn't.  When you are done sanding, you will need to prime the ceiling.  But once you do this, you can not go back and add more mud, or smooth out any imperfections, so be happy with it before you go to the next step.  I mudded and sanded three times, and I don't know if I really thought I was done, or if I was just tired of sanding. This was my first mistake.

Lesson learned: Don't rush.  Realize it will take longer than you think it will, and your arm will be exhausted by all the sanding, but you can do it.  The pain will go away. 

Next time, I will apply a skim coat to the ceiling before I prime.  I totally forgot that this is what the professionals did downstairs.  Jason kindly reminded me of this...after I had primed the ceiling.

Before I primed, I wiped down the walls and the ceiling with a lightly dampened cloth.  I used an oil-based primer, so that all the dust and joint compound would be sealed before painting with the flat ceiling paint. 

Here's another mistake I made.  I think the oil-based primer did a great job, but it smelled soooooo bad.

Lesson learned:  I had opened the window, and closed the door to the room, before I started painting.  This was not enough to keep the whole house from stinking.  Not until I put two fans in front of the open window, blowing outside, did the smell begin to dissipate.  I am still debating whether the benefits of the oil primer were worth it. 

This is what the ceiling looked like after the primer and 3 coats of flat ceiling paint. 

I have my smooth white ceiling now, but it is not perfect by any means.  In the daylight, the ceiling looks amazing, but at night, when you flip the switch on, all of the imperfections are highlighted.  

Here are a couple examples-

Lines around the room are not as sharp as I would have liked

The tape is visible in a couple of places.

I am usually bothered by "not perfect", but in this instance I am at peace with it.  I do have a plan to correct my mistakes next time.  And I do know there will be a next time- we still have five more rooms upstairs that we will eventually have to de-popcorn.  It will be a while before I tackle this particular project again, but I do think it was worth it.

What would have cost me $350, cost me a little over $100 including all of the paint and supplies. 

Another lesson I learned through this whole experience: all it takes for my mind to be made up about tackling a project is someone telling me how messy and difficult it is.  I don't know why, but I consider it another challenge in this ongoing adventure of home ownership.

The take-way: You can do this. It will be messy, tiring, and not perfect, but there is always something to be said about doing it yourself.  I love every project we have tackled in this home...whether it be laying down hardwoods, knocking down a wall, or rebuilding the front porch columns...with each new project, I gain more confidence.  And with all the imperfections come wonderful stories : )

DIY: Suitcase table

Sometimes, projects can evolve from one idea...into something completely different.  This is what happened to me when my aunt gave me this suitcase. 

 

I used this suitcase at my cousin's wedding to collect cards on the gift table. You can see it here.  I fell in love with it.  From the lilac satin interior, brass accents on the handle and locks... the "Lady Baltimore" signature...I loved it all.   

I asked my aunt if I could have the suitcase because I wanted to make a dog bed for Jada.  I know...what? I was inspired by this idea, but soon realized the suitcase was way too small for her.  At the same time, I was looking...and looking...and looking for a new bedside table.  I LOVE his and hers mismatched bedside tables.  I had already found the perfect table for Jason, but I was having a bit more trouble finding one for me.  Finally, as I was shifting around stuff in my storage room, I put the suitcase on top of a tray table and realized that the perfect solution to my problem had been sitting in my storage room the whole time.  

So, I got to work- with a little help from my very understanding husband, who usually responds "You want to make what?", when I ask him for his help : )  I guess what is important is that he does help...eventually.    

Materials: 

I am not including any dimensions or sizes because the sizes you need will depend on how large your suitcase is and the width of your balusters. 

• 4 poplar stair balusters
• 4 hangar bolts 
• 4 washers 
• 4 nuts
• 1 piece of 3/4" mdf (I chose mdf because I knew I wanted the table to be white.  You can use wood or veneered plywood if you are planning on staining the shelf)
• spade drill bit
• painter's tape
• socket wrench
• pencil
• straight edge
• wood glue
• small dowel
• rubber mallet
• level

Directions:

1. The first thing we did was cut down the balusters with a miter saw.  We cut them at the most tapered point of the leg, right above the decorative curve.   We measured the height of the suitcase and subtracted it from the 29" height we were wanting the table to be.  We then cut the other end of the balusters, leaving us with 4 - 20 1/2" long legs. 

2. We then cut two identical pieces of mdf.  One would be inside the suitcase- the legs would be screwed into this piece to add weight to the table and also steady the legs and make them more stable.  The other piece would be used for the shelf.

We measured the inside of the suitcase and cut the pieces to fit inside the suitcase snugly.  The corners of the suitcase were rounded so we cut the piece a 1/2" smaller to compensate for this.  

3. We marked the position of the legs using a pencil and straight edge on both pieces of mdf.  We chose to have them 2" inside of each corner. Jason drilled the holes through the bottom of the suitcase and then through the first mdf board.  This piece of mdf will be the one that goes inside of the suitcase. 

On the second piece of mdf, we used a 1" spade bit to make the holes for the legs.  Even though these holes are much larger, if you use the same measurements and drill in the center of the 2" marking, the legs will line up.

4.The next step is to drill into the squared end of the legs, and then screw in the "wood screw" side of the hangar bolt into the top of the leg. (Sorry...I don't have a picture of this).  Just make sure that you screw straight into the leg so that the bolt will be at a 90 degree angle to the leg. 

5. Now you can attach your legs.  Place each bolt through the suitcase and the mdf. Secure the legs with a washer and nut.

Your table should look like this-

6. Now, add your shelf.  Coat the inside of each hole with wood glue.  The legs should be straight, so just slide the shelf onto the legs slightly tapping as you go with the rubber mallet.  Use the level to make sure the shelf is level when it reaches the point it will not move any further down. You could stop here, if you are not planning on having anything heavy on this shelf.  Jason knows me better, so he added a pin to each leg to make sure the shelf could not move. 

He drilled a small hole parallel to the shelf into each leg.  He then tapped in a dowel (that was coated with glue) of the same diameter into the hole. These pins can not be seen when the table is sitting upright.  They just add a little more security to the shelf. 

7. Now, for the finishing touches.  I knew I wanted to paint the table with a glossy white, but I wanted to protect all of the cool details of the suitcase.  I used painter's tape very carefully.  You want to take a lot of care that you do not over-tape or under-tape - it creates a lot more work for you later.  Then paint away. 

8. I primed the shelf and legs and then sprayed everything with Krylon glossy white paint.  Do not be surprised if you need to do many coats on the shelf.  The mdf soaks up the paint, but it does allow a super smooth finish in the end.

And now you are done.  Pull off all of that tape and you have a beautiful and one-of-a-kind table that can be used for a side table or a night stand or even an entryway.  The possibilities are endless.

 Of course, I chose a bedside table...

Have fun making your own suitcase table!