Baby's room progress

With my perfectionist husband and a really busy work schedule the next couple weeks, this could turn in to 10-12 post series. I'll try to keep it as minimal as possible, though, so not to bore myself (and you, perhaps, if you read this.)

The main gist of the project is to make the baby's room drywall and not plaster-and-lathe before the wee one comes, because our entire house is plaster-and-lathe and cracking in every which wall. Which makes for a nice visual representation of how old our house is but isn't very good for safety and, well, usefulness.

Last Friday, with the giant help of the in-laws and sister-in-law and her boyfriend, we did demo...and by that I mean they did demo while I safely stayed ensconced away from the enormous piles of dust that are created when you demo plaster.

(see beautiful taping/plastic jobby to your left...which I think managed to keep in about maybe 25% of the total dust produced. all the rest went literally EVERYWHERE in our house)

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Because I am pregnant and not supposed to breathe in a whole lot of poisonous building materials, I got a pretty large break on Friday evening. Which meant I worked on our baby registry (ACK) and did some very useful Pinterest research on gender-neutral baby rooms. It will all pay off in the end, right?

Saturday morning we got started bright and early (the brightest and earliest I've been up in...well...longer than I'd like to admit, really). We then traipsed to our nearest Menards (save big money!) and spent an inordinate amount of money on...

you guessed it...
drywall and insulation. Best shopping trip ever!










Then we set to work installing the insulation and electrical stuff. Because I am not a bodybuilder or freakishly tall (or normally tall, according to my 6'1" husband), I wasn't much help until we (they) finished the ceiling and the technical stuff.

                           

above two photos thanks to my F-I-L

We got this awesome denim-recycled insulation, which I 100% recommend if you're near remodeling/DIY-ing anything that needs insulation. It's a little pricey but you literally just tear it with your hands and stuff it in the cracks. Super simple, easy enough to figure out, and recycled. Aka awesome.

                                 

We then had to take a short break for a family party in Omaha, so didn't get going again til right after 6 a.m. Mass on Sunday morning. (Again, wayyyy too early for me. I looked like a zombie most of the day.)

Drywall was the next step - cutting, measuring, re-measuring, triple checking to make sure we didn't mess it up, and using about 1000 screws to get it to stay up on the walls. That's an exaggeration, but it was a lot of screws.

As a first-time drywall-er, I recommend two things: a big tub of screws, and cordless drills. So much better than trying to avoid tripping on electrical cords, and/or getting numerous paper cuts getting drywall screws out of those tiny boxes they put them in. You'll use more than you think you need, anyway, just go for the giant plastic tubs.

Currently the room looks a lot like the last photo -- although with every square inch covered with drywall (besides the electrical work areas that need to be left open for the electrician because we have scary wiring, even for an 85 year old house). So we are pretty excited!

Tonight I think we might start tackling the trim we're keeping, which is currently taking up every square inch of floor in our basement. Stripping and repainting and trying to save as much of it as we can is the plan...we'll see how it goes.

As soon as the electrical is done, we're moving on to mudding and sanding, new windows, and then finally PAINT! I'll keep y'all updated.

HG