home improvement

[hudebnik]

When we moved into our house in 2001, the spare bedroom (which we use as an office, and occasionally as a guest bedroom) was lined with bluish-white faux-wood-grain paneling. About a year ago we removed some of the paneling in preparation for having the windows replaced, and a few months ago we removed more of it, exposing 1940's-vintage (?) wallpaper on one wall. And every place that we've removed paneling has exposed somewhat-damaged plaster. Which we could probably repair ourselves, but it would drag on for the rest of our lives, so we've decided to hire professionals for the job so it gets done in a week or two.

The "window frames" and "door frame" before we started this were effectively made of paneling, so they disappeared before the windows were replaced, leaving only a strip of 1"x4", perpendicular to the wall surface, around all four sides of the windows and 1"x2" similarly around three sides of the door, and we need to cover the raggedy gap between these strips and the plaster. I've done this before, in the attic with 1"x4" or 1"x6" and ornamented-quarter-round molding, and I'm sure I could do it again here, but it needs to be coordinated with the plaster repair, and again it'll get done much faster and better by professionals.

And if we're having the plaster repaired and painted, we might as well get rid of the acoustical-tile ceiling first, so the plaster repair and painting can go all the way up to the ceiling. I don't know what's behind it -- probably plaster -- much less what condition it's in.

Then there's the closet. When we moved in, there was a closet the full 9' width of the room, with sliding wooden doors. We removed the doors and the track they slid on, put in some wall-mounted shelf brackets and shelves, and filled the closet with about a thousand books. But the closet is clearly a retrofit, built of plywood and 2"x4", lined with the same paneling but installed just after the acoustical tile ceiling and the paneling (both of which continue behind the front of the closet), so it may be impossible to remove the acoustical tile and paneling without dismantling the closet first. Which of course means moving a thousand books and storing them somewhere until the work is done.

And regardless of the closet, we'll need to move some furniture -- a single bed (which can be disassembled), two filing cabinets, an upholstered wingback chair, and the desk on which sits the computer on which I'm typing this now -- and store them somewhere until the work is done.

Anyway, I put out a "request for quotes" on Angie's List yesterday, and have gotten calls back from two contractors: one is coming to look at the room on Wednesday, and the other on Sunday.

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Comments

[franksdottir]

Let's see. Kitchen renovation done? Now the "second bedroom"? And didn't you redo the attic as a sewing room a while back? You'll have the entire house completely rebuilt soon!

Best wishes for a speedy (and hopefully not too inconvenient to you) room recovery.

[hudebnik]

Yup. A few hours after we closed on the house, we started pulling down wallpaper on the ground floor; we had bought a wallpaper-steamer, but it was good-quality wallpaper that came off easily in whole strips so we never used it. Then we painted those walls, then pulled up the W2W carpeting on the ground floor, then polyurethaned the hardwood floors, then moved furniture in. At some point we sponge-painted the master-bedroom walls, and parqueted the master-bedroom floor. Ripped down the dark brown faux-wood-grain paneling in the attic, patched the plaster where the paneling had taken bits of it with it, painted the walls, and built new window frames. Had professionals renovate the bathroom about five years ago, and the kitchen two or three years ago. Had professionals replace the acoustical-tile master-bedroom ceiling with drywall and install an overhead fixture. And now it's the spare bedroom's turn.

[hlinspjalda]

It's bad enough having to play Tetris with possessions. But when it extends to remodeling, well, argh. Good luck with the quotes!