Our Family Room Vision and More Demolition

You might have noticed in the pictures I've shown so far that our new house is a little dated. And rather ugly. But we're slowly making some progress, in the two and a half weeks we've owned it!

But more on the progress in a minute. First, I wanted to share the vision we have for what our family room/breakfast nook/kitchen will eventually look like, so you all can see the potential we see. This below photo was taken Wednesday night. Hooray for painting progress, although I haven't gotten good at photographing the color yet (it's less teal in real life).

And here is a quick mock up I threw together over the same photo, to illustrate what it will eventually look like. One big open and flowing room!

Eventually we will be taking out the breakfast nook chandelier and installing recessed lighting, so we won't be stuck putting a table only centered under the light. The wall color and hardwood floors will flow the length of the area (and the floors into the rest of the house), the ugly dark cabinets in the kitchen will be updated, and we will be covering the fireplace with built ins (which I'm very excited about, because I'm not a huge fan of painting brick fireplaces since it's really hard to take off, in case red brick comes back into style in 30 years when you want to sell. With the built ins, we will not only get extra storage, but will have the perfect place to mount our TV, and hide all of the cords behind a false back in the built ins, and it can always be taken down if we want to see the brick again.). For now, we're keeping the beams natural, at least until we get hardwood floors. They might get painted white eventually, but we don't want to commit to that until we see them with the dark flooring.

So now you can start to see a little of what I see when I look at this room in our house. It's going to be so pretty, eventually!

But back to the progress I mentioned. Our Wednesday night project was to remove this pointless railing and beam, that separated the family room from the breakfast nook. Not only was it really dated looking, but it was getting annoying walking around it, when it blocked so much of your path between the kitchen and family room. With open and flowing our goal with these rooms, this railing just had to go.

Remember this photo from when we took down the kitchen cabinets over the peninsula? Yep, that post and railing were doing nothing for the look of the room, and just getting in the way. I'd much rather define the breakfast nook area with furniture and maybe a rug, than with a fence in the middle of the room.

So my husband attacked it with a reciprocating saw.

He cut out about a 10 inch chunk from the middle of the post, so he could wiggle it back and forth until the nails came loose.

I was told to stand out of the way, so naturally that meant taking pictures of the progress. He continued with the wiggling of the railing, since the bottom legs were just nailed straight into the sub flooring. Also, these photos taken with more natural light are a closer representation of the true color on the walls.

A little pry bar action on the wall side, to get those nails loosened.

And then I got to help with the wiggling, and with both of us holding the railing at either end and moving it back and forth, slowly it came detached from the wall and floor. Goodbye ugly railing!

We are left with some holes on the floor, which we knew we would be. Short term we are planning to patch these with closely matching pieces of laminate, and get a new strip to bridge where the laminate flooring and tile meet. But eventually, as you saw above, we'll be upgrading all of the flooring to hardwood, making the rooms flow together even better.

We also came across a fun surprise when removing the piece of wood from the wall, that the railing was nailed to. A patch of wood paneling. Can you just imagine how dark and dreary the room would have looked back with the dark beams and dark paneling on the walls? Yikes!

So now we get the joy of taking out this sad little forlorn piece of wood paneling that was left behind when at some point previous owners put in drywall. We can pull it mostly free right now, and see the studs behind it, so we'll just get a piece of drywall and hopefully it won't be too hard to cut it and replace the paneling with it. And then I can continue painting the pretty blue into the breakfast nook and kitchen. That neon yellow has got to go!

 Here's another look from the family room, looking toward the kitchen.

Such an improvement in the 2 1/2 weeks since I took this picture!

But we've still got a loooonnnnngggg way to go. You know, since eventually we'll end up changing just about everything in this house to fit our needs. I can't wait to see how it all evolves!

Have you ever attacked a post or railing with a reciprocating saw? Or found the surprise of 70s wood paneling hiding behind something? And who has home projects on their to do list for this weekend. You know I do!

 

Signs of Spring in Our New Neighborhood

Last week we had a huge pollen explosion around Raleigh. Every surface outside was covered with yellow dust, and people were sneezing left and right at the grocery store.

But it was all worth it. Seemingly overnight, leaves were popping out on branches and flowers and trees are blooming.

One of our favorite things about our new neighborhood (other than the fact that a lot of the houses are a lot nicer than ours, so we can fix ours up as much as we want and still not have to worry about going too far) is the lake, with picnic tables and benches next to it. There's actually a lot of little lakes in the Raleigh area, many nestled between housing developments, and we're happy to have this pretty lake, with blossoming trees next to it, to be able to visit once we finally move in.

So pretty and springy! Have you had a pollen explosion yet this year where you live? Any signs of spring yet in your neck of the woods?

How To: Remove Popcorn Ceilings

Where has the time gone? Oh, right. I've been spending every free moment over at the new house, already moved on to the next project. But more on that later.

However, today I finally have a chance to share how we removed the popcorn ceilings!

First, if you don't have time to read all of the nitty-gritty details and look at the accompanying pictures, here's a quick list of the steps we took to remove the popcorn texture:

Yeah, ok, that's not the quickest of lists, but it's as succinct as I could make all of the steps involved. I won't lie and say any of this was easy. It's a time consuming, work-intensive project, but on the other side of it, I would still say it was 100% worth it. At least in the main rooms of our house. Who knows if/when we'll have the energy to tackle our bedrooms and bathrooms!

But anyway, on with the details.

First, before we even got to the steps I listed above, we did a TON of research. See, here's the thing. No two ceilings are the same. Everyone is going to have a different situation, some ceilings will be painted, some will have messily done drywall underneath, some might just fall right off. And you'll never know until you start actually doing the scraping, which is why it's good to go in armed with as much info as you can, so you can play it by ear with what techniques will work best for your ceilings. So with that said, here are a couple of links I found especially useful when researching removing popcorn ceilings.

Ron Hazelton (video)
Jasongraphix (check out the comments for useful tips too)

Basically, just Google the heck out of removing popcorn ceilings, and read as many forum posts as you can, to start getting an idea of what has worked well for others. I'm adding this blog post into the mix, to give yet another perspective of what worked, which hopefully will be useful.

Then, obviously, test for asbestos. I already mentioned this in a previous post, but cancer causing fibers aren't something you want to mess around with. We used Western Analytical Lab, because of their 24 hour turnaround time, but there are a number of labs across the country that do the testing. It cost us $30.

And then, before you can start the process, you need to gather your supplies. Here was our shopping list, and what we spent, to do the approximately 1100 square feet that make up our family room, breakfast nook, kitchen and entry hallway:

Plastic sheeting (10' x 20') - $3.28 each x 8
Painter's tape - $7.87
Resin paper to cover floor - $0 (we bought 2 rolls at $8.72 each, but didn't use them, so returned them)
1 gallon garden sprayer - $8.98 (highly recommend getting one of these!)
Joint knives for scraping (10 inch and 6 inch, but hardly used the 6 inch) - $5.98 and $4.98
Putty knife (2 inch, flexible) - $2.98
1 gallon joint compound for filling holes - $14.48 (only used about 1/3rd of the gallon)
Sander to attach to pole - $5.46
Drywall sand paper - $10.47
5 gallons of wallboard primer (Kilz brand) - $76.41 (used about 3.5 gallons for 2 coats)
Flat ceiling paint with low sheen % (Olympic brand) - $19.47 x 2 (only used about 1.25 gallons for 1 coat)
Dust masks - $6.47

Already had, so not included in the price:
Shop vac
Green frog tape
Paper towels
Bandannas to cover hair
Safety glasses

Total price for supplies: $209.26 + tax (although we do have leftovers of about everything, and will be able to use the garden sprayer, joint knives, sander, etc for future projects)

Then, it's time to get started! We opted to do a test run in an out of the way area, our laundry room. We wanted to get a feel for how easy or hard the popcorn removal was going to be, and play around with the water soaking times, since everything we'd read said people were having luck with waiting anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes for the water to soak in. So we played around with the garden sprayer (which I highly recommend getting. It would have made such a bigger mess with using a hose, and is why we didn't need the rosin paper--there were only a few drips by using the light mist of the garden sprayer), and we determined that the ideal soaking time for our ceilings was 10 minutes. It was also great to have the opportunity to test out scraping the ceiling, and the different angles that worked best, in an out of the way area, in case there were any slip ups that caused holes in the ceiling.

(popcorn-free laundry room)

Once you're done with your test area, you can move on to the real deal, with the steps I listed at the beginning.

1. Turn off power to the room.

Water and electricity don't mix. Enough said.

2. Remove light fixtures from ceiling and tape off electrical plugs and light switches.

Because you will want to scrape the popcorn from under the edges of the light fixtures, and again, you'll be using water, so protect anything electrical.

3. Cover floor with medium weight plastic, taping it halfway up the wall (optional: cover walls with plastic if you want to protect the paint job).

We used 6 Mil plastic sheeting, because it didn't have to be super thick, just durable enough for us to walk on it and have ladders on it without tearing. Also, we are painting our walls, so didn't care if the paint got a little damp in the process, but some things I read suggested covering up the walls with plastic too. We did cover our fireplace though. And during this step, we also taped up paper towels to protect our bare wood beams in the family room from getting wet, and from falling popcorn material. Cleaning that off of rough hewn beams didn't sound fun to me!

4. Using a garden sprayer, lightly mist a 3' x 3' section of popcorn ceiling, let the water soak in for ~10 minutes.

Some things we read said do up to 5' x 5' sections of ceiling at a time, but we found that it dried too quickly doing that big of an area. Again, this is something you'll have to experiment with on your own popcorn ceilings, but 3 foot sections, soaking for 10 minutes is just what happened to work well for us.

(If you stepped back, it was easier to see the part you'd sprayed with water, which was a little darker, as you can see above the fireplace)

5. Scrape the ceilings using a 10 inch joint knife, at a 45 degree angle to the ceiling.

Thank you, husband, for doing most of this step! He was able to reach a lot more area than I was, since he's taller, and the popcorn easily came off in sheets once he perfected his technique.

And the aftermath:

6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until ceilings are mostly free of popcorn texture.

Up until this step took, oh, 9 hours to complete in our ~650 square foot space, but keep in mind that we had beams to work around, which definitely made things go more slowly.

 
7. Using a 1.5 inch putty knife, scrape around the edges of the ceiling, where the ceiling and wall meet, to remove any difficult texture.

Again, more edges with the beams made for 7x as much work.

8. Take a pole sander and rub down the entire ceiling.

This worked well to remove any little "nubs" of the popcorn that were left behind. It didn't look like there were a lot to the naked eye, but judging by the amount of dust that came down when sanding, there was still quite a bit hanging around. Be sure to wear your dust masks and safety goggles (and hair protection if you want), because dust in your lungs and eyes won't be a fun time!

9. Putty all of the non-smooth areas of the drywall (center of all of the mud spots that are covering drywall screws, along where the pieces of drywall meet, in any misc holes, dents or cracks.

Super important step! This is where it really starts to count to take your time and do it right, because any and all non-smooth areas will be very noticeable once you paint the ceilings.

10. Wait for the putty to dry, then either pole sand, or use a hand sander to smooth all of the puttied spots. Make sure to run your fingers over the spots to ensure they feel smooth.

So tedious, but so worth it. Again, smooth, smooth, smooth is the mantra you should be singing over and over in your head. Trust me, it's worth it for the smooth look you want your ceilings to have.

11. Repeat steps 9 and 10 if any spots still aren't smooth after sanding.

There were definitely a few spots that needed to be puttied at least 3-4 times, sanding in between each putty application. Building up the putty to fill in large holes or divots takes a while, but again, worth the effort.

12. Vacuum the ceiling, to remove any particles leftover from sanding.

The wide, flat floor attachment on our vacuum worked well for this step.

13. Wipe down the crown moulding or top few inches where ceiling meets the wall with damp paper towels, then tape off with painter's tape.

Another step that took us forever, because we had to tape around the beams too.

14. Prime the ceiling using a primer that says it is for wallboard/drywall. Cut in around the edges with a 2"-4" paint brush, then use a paint roller on a pole to prime the center. Take care to prime over any spots that needed excessive sanding when cutting in with your brush.

We used Kilz brand, because I'd read good things about it. And be sure to get more than you think you'll need. The bare drywall soaks up a ton of primer on the first coat.

15. Apply a second coat of primer, especially if you did lots of puttying and sanding.

After the second coat of primer, we could hardly even see any of the tan colored drywall showing through. Nice and gripy for the paint to stick to!

16. Using ceiling paint (with as low of a sheen percentage as you can find), apply the paint as you did the primer, by cutting in with a brush, then using a roller in the center. Go over the edges, where the brush strokes meet the roller strokes with a small foam roller for a consistent finish.

You don't want to see any brush strokes on your freshly smooth ceiling, so using the foam roller was worth the extra effort.

17. Enjoy your super smooth ceilings. Resist the urge to pet them unless your hands are clean!

Mmmm, smooth! The after photos:

(Kindly ignore any white looking paint drops on the wood moulding. It's definitely not from us, it's from when the previous owners painted the popcorn ceilings. We're pretty sure they were blind, or just really lazy, with all of the paint drips everywhere in the house. Luckily we're going to be painting the moulding white, so you won't be able to see it for long.)

It's so nice to look at the beams and not be distracted by the popcorn ceilings right next to them. Also, you can see a little preview of our wall color and white trim that's currently in the works in the below photo.

Overall, I'd say we spent about 35 hours of solid working time to remove the popcorn ceilings from the family room, dining nook, kitchen and entry hallway. And that's not including waiting for things to dry overnight! But things really took us longer than it will most, since we had the beams to work around. We're hoping this coming weekend, when we tackle the living room, dining room and foyer, it will go a lot quicker. Still, we definitely are glad we're doing this ourselves, and not spending the $4,000-$7,000 we were quoted to get the ceilings removed from our whole home by professionals!

Have any of you removed popcorn ceilings ceilings yourselves? How did it go? And if you've got any questions about our technique, feel free to ask in the comments and I'll do my best to answer!