Lockdown II

I will remember Lockdown I for the upstairs hallway that I painted yellow (and the white trim and the grey stairs) and for mom's Shutterfly photo album, capturing nearly 60 years of our lives together. Mother's Day present, natch.

Then I had my July trip to Scotland and September in Westport. Lockdown II allowed me to knock off another challenge. I began at the start of August. I am still not done--it's Nov. 8. Oh, and the U.S. has a new president. But back to my home repairs.

The upstairs front room, which has a big bay window, has been the master bedroom since we moved in. I've decided it will henceforth be an upstairs lounge. It has the best light in the house and was wasted as a bedroom.

Step one was to use a tool with a long razor to scrape off wallpaper that had been painted many times. I stand on a ladder holding the scraper over my head against the ceiling and push with a lot of pressure to get under the paper.

It was a messy job. I had to take a two-week break when my shoulder became too painful to continue. Then I limited myself to 15 minutes a day. In other words it took forever. The Haitians have a saying: Mountains beyond mountains, and that's what this job feels like. Once the wallpaper was off, I had to spray the liner paper with water and scrape it off. In the picture below, you see the lining paper on the right, the cleared plaster on the left, and at the bottom is an area of plaster that was patched and painted--no paper.  

After that I spent about three weeks with a scrub brush and sponges, getting off a layer of glue and bits of paper.

The point of this exercise is to get a smoother ceiling painted a brighter colour than the dreaded Magnolia (which also featured in my three-story hallway). The old wallpaper had opened up at the seams, the patched and painted areas were quite lumpy. Once both layers of paper and the glue were removed, I spackle and sand the cracks and sand and spackle the lumpy bits of plaster that had been patched ealier.

Today I'll be sanding the spackling I did last night. Then cleaning the floor and wiping down the ceiling.

Next will be a coat of primer on the ceiling. Then repaint the moulding around the ceiling, which chipped when I pulled off the paper. Then the colour coat on the ceiling. Once the ceiling is done--a project that will have taken 3.5 months in another week--I can paint the walls and have wallpaper put up on a feature wall. Then I can move into the new upstairs lounge a sofa, rug, lamp, and three chairs that are destined for that room--and crowding other rooms.

When I whine to my friends about this project and how tired I am of scraping a ceiling, to a person they say, why didn't you get someone in to do it? Good question. I think the answer is twofold. I am taking great care in scraping the paper because the plaster is a bit delicate where it's cracked. It's like tectonic plates that are at slightly different angles. I can't see a hired person taking that care--resulting in me having to get a plasterer in. They are hard to find. Anyone taking the care I have taken would cost a fortune. And sure, what else am I going to do in lockdown?

The reason the project is taking so long is I work full time, I walk a dog twice a day, I play golf twice a week. I've also been trimming hedges, mowing the lawn, getting up leaves, hoovering up dog fur. I go to the store occasionally and make three meals a day. This project has made me realise how little discretionary time I have. When I went to Westport, I decided something has to give. I stopped going to Helen's Bay to swim twice a week, that gained me 3-4 hours. But I still feel stressed by all I've taken on. (I'm also making changes in the kitchen, dining room, and new master bedroom--more on that later).

August, September, October, early November.