Kitchen Day #13: Spackle, round 1

You've likely noticed that I have a count of sorts going on here in post titles.  I counted the first post (when we packed everything up and hung the plastic) as day #1, and have been counting consecutive days since then.  When it's all said and done, we'll have a count of the number of days we went kitchen-less.  Thirteen days in, being without a kitchen isn't as bad as I expected.  The worst part is that we have to go outdoors (and around the house) to get to the refrigerator.  Luckily, I'm pretty good at rock-paper-scissors, so Justin takes the ice cream back to the freezer more evenings than I do.

Now, on to today's updates...

When I last wrote, we had all but the last wall covered in drywall.  We hung several more pieces Wednesday night, but my camera battery was dead so it didn't make it to the blog.  Today, we hung the last two pieces, and also finished the first round of spackling.

In addition to finishing the walls, I got a start on the ceiling.  Hanging the drywall on the ceiling was our first-ever home improvement project here (back in July 2010), but it has remained unfinished since then.

The seams, screws, and other imperfections (oh!, and the red chalk lines marking the studs) have all been visible.  Our spring break visitor also added a "Maura was here" and a little cartoon spider (both vaguely visible in the following picture) with Sharpie to the ceiling in a panel-list doodle extravaganza.

My least favorite renovation task of all time is painting ceilings.  Given that sanding drywall is a close second, I decided that the traditional smooth, painted finish was not going to work for the kitchen.  Instead, we decided on a textured ceiling ~ a hand textured ceiling at that.  Basically, I smear joint compound on the ceiling, then stamp my hand until it makes a nice consistent texture.  It is far easier than 3 coats of spackle, sanding, priming, and painting...yet it is taking longer than I expected!

I have perhaps 1/6 of the ceiling finished in this manner, but the happy news is, I only have to go over each area once!

I'll do my best to keep the blog updated, and to keep the posts about drywall from becoming as monotonous as the tasks itself :)

P.S. I think I had an all-time high of 3 comments on the last post.  Keep 'em coming!  If you aren't sure how to comment, check out my tutorial HERE.