#170- Get your Popcorn Ready!

Too bad this couldn't be #85 on the list, eh?  If you didn't catch that T.O. Ocho Cinco reference here's the scoop if your interested.  Or perhaps I've already lost you.  Note to self, stick to DIY, no football.

Seriously, though, this is getting pretty annoying.  After days of walking on our new wood sub floors, the only thing in this world that I want is to get started on laying those hardwood floors.  But there were all these pesky little projects that we had to take care of first, and in this case, I'm sure glad we did.  

Remember back in this post when we told you that we had some major plumbing issues that occurred and were fixed prior to our closing?  Well, here's what happened; the pipes froze, and we learned that the only way to fix them is have a plumber come in and turn on the water, and then wait to see where the water starts leaking and damages your walls.  Sounds super scientific, doesn't it?  Once the location of the damage is discovered, the plumber tears out the sheet rock in that area, and then repairs the broken pipes behind it.  After the plumber left, we were left with about a dozen torn and damaged holes in our walls and ceilings.  We only had 1 day between the plumbing repair and our appraisal, so we got permission to get into the property and patched the holes so that they were at least covered before the appraiser got there.  Covered, but not pretty:

We didn't finish them completely because A.) We didn't have time, and B.) We figured that we would knock down the popcorn ceilings eventually, and so patching them now would be a waste of time.  But after spending a good portion of a week up on the scaffolding for our little painting project, we quickly decided that we could live with popcorn ceilings, at least for now.  (I'd marry them if it meant I didn't have to get up on those ladders again.) Which leads me to a little spot in our foyer, about 1' x 2' that needed to be fixed.  Since what goes up must come down, we definitely had to finish this portion of the ceiling before we laid wood floors beneath it. Here are the materials we were working with:

 

 First we would need to apply a  popcorn texture to the newly patched space, with the acoustic texture on the right, and then we needed to paint the area with a matching ceiling white with the can on the left so it blended seamlessly with the rest of the ceiling.  Following the directions on the can, I first blocked off the space around the area with tape and a plastic barrier, as well as laying down a drop cloth below.  

My little death tunnel.

I shook the can for 1 minute, and then attempted to apply the spray by pulling the trigger in quick 1 second busts, while keeping my wrist and arm moving to avoid it clumping in one spot.  Immediately I was showered with disgusting, smelly, non-washable white clumpy paint chunks in my hair, face, and eyes.  Let me tell you, the only thing worse than popcorn ceilings are wet popcorn ceilings in your hair.  To avoid being covered like the Abominable Snowman, I wrapped myself in an old sheet, berka style, covering my hair, shoulders and most of my face.   Unfortunately for you (fortunately for me) I don't have a picture of this daring fashion choice to share with you, but I will say that it did the trick nicely.  It wasn't perfect, but within a few minutes I was able to achieve this:

I let it dry 24 hours, and then came back to apply the paint, both to the ceiling and the wall, which gave me this:

It is actually pretty seamless.  I mean, we can tell the area that was patched because we know it was there, but I'm pretty sure the average person wouldn't notice the area if we paid them to find it.  And with the conclusion of that project my friends, we finally have the green light to install the wood floors.  (Happy Dance.)  I'm sure the happy dance will wear out about 15 minutes into wood floor install, but for now, we're celebrating over here at One Project at a Time, and can't wait to get to work!