Don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone? Thank god. Rounding the corner into the light, we were nearly shrieking for joy. In one clear pass, a hatchet job at the popcorn ceiling, we leapt from dead grey to bright white. An instant before/after. See? It’s OMG unbelievable.
To celebrate, we headed from bad to worse. Funny chaos to outright refugee status. The wide open plains of the living room are calling and we think we can. (We-think-we-can-we-think-we-can). All aboard?
Can we? Can we renovate the big, doorless living room? First, its expanse of hundreds of square feet of popcorn ceiling. A massive stretch of prickly poison. This fat, open space is everything all at once: living room, dining room, office. Yea, we totally can. The renovations are no problem, it’s the living here that stings. In the way – all our furniture and heaped belongings. Into bedroom and dining area we’ve moved and stacked couch, coffee table, and all sundry items. Every possession stacked in a dusty Tetris game.
I thought we’d build little plastic jail cells – pocket by pocket. Then realized that meant more time to move poly than do actual work. “You know what, you’re just gonna have to go big” a friend laid it out for us the other night. Emma Thompson jumped in with wise words too, applicable always.
“Listen, it was always going to be a totally shit time.”
Enough with the pussy-footing. Time to accrue some Ceiling Miles. So we’re sucking it up. Half first, half later. We split the room down the middle with a Texas-sized sheet of poly to divide our lives in two: dust-free and less so. Get the popcorn out, skim coat, prime, rip up the carpet, clean up, draw breath, move everything to the ‘finished’ side, repeat. Then. Then! The floor.
Whether eating, showering or trying – hopelessly – to find, then read, the day’s mail, we’re shimmying between dusty sheets of floor-to-ceiling poly. Our bubble world’s expanding and this place looks a crime scene waiting nervously for the crime.
Early reports say the work’s not as awful as expected and, if we keep up this sort of pace, we might just survive. We think we can.
Choo choo.
P.S. Massive thanks for the fantastic & thoughtful feedback on yesterday’s kitchen ideas. I’ve got lots to take in & think about. Take a look what you came up with: there’s a ton of wisdom for anyone with an apartment-sized kitchen reno in their future. Thank you, you guys are super!
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Love Actually photo via Google Image search
Hey, you want a s'more? Some more of what?
I think the 50/50 split is a good approach. Maybe the mask and safety glasses look will be big this year!
Yea 50/50 seems to be working so far. Re. mask/goggles, I should suggest it to Gaga’s people.
I can’t believe you are living like this!! I can’t imagine!
It’s… um…. well not exactly the 5-star experience. I can’t hand-on-heart recommend it.
I bow down to you, i think I would lose my mind within 2 hours of living in the bubble. But it’s going to be fabulous.
My mind has long since been lost – but you’re right, it will look good… one of these days.
Wow that last picture really puts the popcorn ceiling into perspective! That’s some major thick popcorn!! (the first picture only confused me, but then let’s face it, that’s pretty damn easy to do)
Maybe you should have just built a big bubble to live in…or a hamster ball! How fun would that be! Just rolling around the house….
The hamster ball would be a perfect solution – with maybe some arm holes for the palette knife & paint roller? Perhaps a bit trickier to get a smooth surface, but who cares?? Invent it & you’ve got your first customer.
I LOVE getting rid of popcorn… what a HUGE differentiator for your place vs. any other in the building. It will definitely stand out… and this job is CHEAP, but man is it awful to do. We took down 1000 sq. ft. of overreaching stipple in our house.
It. was. so. dusty.
OMG is it ever!!! I can’t stop staring at it. Mostly out of morbid fascination – that what I thought was white is actually far, far closer to black. Yuuuck.
1,000 sqft? That’s Iron Man territory.