Ceilings

In the midst of our normally busy fall season, we're having some remodeling work done on the house.  For the most part it is upstairs and out of the way and I've been pretty successfully ignoring it.  Ithink it's about half finished now - the wall and floor tile in the bathroom should go in tomorrow, the walls will get painted next week along with installing the carpet.  All the new trim has been installed and painted and the walls that needs adjustment have been adjusted.  I love all the guys who are working on my house and especially Richard Baron who has done lots of work for us over the last 10 years.

Then there is the ceiling.  The downstairs ceiling.  First, the ceiling was poorly installed.  Then back before we bought this house there was a water heater in the attic that failed catastrophically pouring 60 gallons of hot water down through the floor/ceiling and into the kitchen.  It was repaired badly.  Then the house settled a bit back 4 or 5 years ago when we had our worst drought in decades.  All of this adds up to a ceiling in pretty bad shape.  We had cracks and peeling drywall tape as well as some really nice water spots.  We have workmen here anyway so let's get it repaired!  An easy conclusion to come to.  And it looks stunning already and it hasn't been painted yet.  But what a mess!  First everything had to come off the walls...

Then most of the furniture had to be moved out so the floors could be covered with cardboard.  The entire space - my living room, breakfast room, kitchen and my office - was draped with plastic.  It's a pretty spooky look.

All the drywall was repaired, re-taped and re-floated.  The next day the entire ceiling was sprayed with orange-peel texture.  It should be painted tomorrow and Tuesday so we can get the plastic off the walls and our stuff moved back in just barely in time for Thanksgiving.

The house has a weird feel to it with all that plastic.  Our coffee maker lived for a time in our bathroom.  The two most commonly used doors were sealed shut so we had to go in and out of the front door which is very odd for us.  My computer and all the other office equipment are boxed up and shoved in every corner of the rooms not being worked on.  All my spinning wheels and other spinning and weaving tools have come out here to the studio so my sanctuary is even more cluttered and full than normal.  Ron's office is the same - full of chairs and tables and most of my dust collecting things.

On the one hand, it's disturbing to have things piled in odd piles all over the place and all covered with fine drywall dust and tiny granules of ceiling texture.  It makes me tired and cranky and short tempered.  On the other hand, the broken water pipe from last week has been repaired so we have water for coffee and showers and flushing the toilets.  We have heat and light and gas for cooking.  Our refrigerator works just fine.  All is right with our small world - just a little be odd right now.