I really didn’t want to sand today. Crawling into the back of the closet and having spackle dust fall into my hair, while my goggles fog up to the point that I can’t even see, and my breathing is completely restricted by the dust mask and cramped position is not my idea of fun. So this morning when I got up, I kicked into full procrastination mode. I made breakfast, put on the coffee, and settled in to watch back-to-back episodes of Flip or Flop.
After a few episodes though, I started getting this look from Bridget …
… so I knew I better get to work.
I suited up and sanded down the second coat of spackle. My safety goggles fogged up repeatedly, so I had to take frequent breaks. The sanding by itself isn’t that difficult; it’s the combination of sanding while hunched down in the back of the closet, contorting myself into uncomfortable positions, that makes the work very unpleasant. Since my goggles fogged up so badly, I did most of the work by feel. In the end, I was exhausted, so I figured whatever I had done was good enough.
The next step was to cut the trim. While I took a rest, Steve brought my awesome Ryobi miter saw down from the attic. I had measured for the trim earlier, but I measured again to be on the safe side. We had decided to use 1x4s for the trim, painted white. They will match the door and window trim throughout the downstairs, and require nothing more than some sanding and painting.
I cut three pieces for the rear portion of the closet, mitering the ends of the two side pieces, so that I can create clean joints later when I trim out the front portion of the closet. Since the closet is so tight, we decided to pre-paint the trim pieces before installing. Steve volunteered to paint the trim, and I tackled the walls in the closet.
We selected a color from Behr called Feather Plume. It’s a warm, pale yellow, with peach and gold undertones. It’s in the same family as some colors that I am considering for the living room, which are a little darker, so I thought I would try this lighter shade in the closet, to see how I liked it. You can see that I didn’t carry the paint all the way to the edge of the drywall along the front edge. That will allow me to better blend the paint once the rest of the drywall is installed.
Once the first coat was on, it was time for a dinner break. Of course, by this time, Bridget was completely exhausted from all the hard work! She collapsed on a Home Depot bag, next to the tack cloths.
After treating ourselves to dinner at Bobbie’s Dairy Dip, a local Nashville institution, we returned home to apply the second coats of paint to the walls and trim. The trim pieces are now drying and will be ready to be installed tomorrow morning.
Once installed, I will touch up the nail holes, caulk, and then we will be ready to reinstall the water heater. I am very much looking forward to a hot shower!