One Room Challenge: Take Chances, Get Messy, Make Mistakes

When I first did this room, I was 5 months pregnant with my little twins.  Mistakes were made.  The drywall isn’t super even, I used pre-mixed drywall mud, and the wallpaper wasn’t the right quality level for a peel-and-stick that is really removable…

Still, the “before” of this room worked really well for my big twins for four years!  Now I’m getting back in and using what I’ve learned in the last four years to make it better.  One thing I’ve loved about editing these rooms is seeing how far I’ve come.  And I’m giving myself some grace for a 2020 pregnancy.

To be honest, when I did this four years ago, I knew it wasn’t a permanent arrangement for this room, so meeting my skills where they were doesn’t bother me.  The big things -electrical and egress window excavation and installation- went to the pros.  To see more of the goals, head here!  We have been making progress, and I posted a tutorial for painting our cat exercise wheel -and other laminate furniture- earlier this week!

Since most projects in the One Room Challenge are much further along than I am, and are working on more realistic timelines, head over to see this week’s progress on other projects!  Big thank you to Apartment Therapy for sponsoring the challenge!

Since I’m working on repairing the walls and ceiling… I’m sure folks are questioning if I’ll get this done in the next week.  I’m still confident!  Accessories are mostly ready to go in or are prepped for final assembly.  I have a new dresser that will get a refresh early next week, and I am itching to add some additional moldings when the walls are repaired.

The big thing I’ve been working on this week has been additional cleaning (10 year olds keep a lot on their beds!) and wall repair.  The wallpaper that was on the upper walls and ceiling tore the walls apart: mud and tape and everything.  My skillset has upgraded to using powder joint compound, and I’ve already found it to be more durable and much better bonded than the premixed.

Joint Compound

Floating the joint compound over everything has been an incredible difference with a change in product.  I’m not a quick taper, but I don’t need to be.  Instead of mixing an entire bag at a time, I’m mixing the powder with water in the hawk as I go.  I bought a 5-gallon bucket with a lid to store the powder when I wasn’t using it, and sacrificed a measuring cup to scoop it.  Currently, I’m using Easy Sand 90, but can go to a faster drying mix as my skills improve.

I’m mixing around a 3:2 ratio of powder to water, and I’m using larger taping knives than I used to use.  It’s a huge difference.  I’ve been getting better at taping over years of trying all over my house.  But it’s a huge difference when I went all in to upgrade my materials.  Quality materials make a huge difference.