Remodeling Lower Level - Painting

Painting began on my first day of retirement on December 1, 2011.  It was also the day that Keith and I took our Dachshund, Daffney, to the vet first thing because she had stopped eating a couple days.  Sadly we were told she was in her end days and we took her home where she can be most comfortable in familiar surroundings and both of us attentive to her needs.  Fortunately, I had all my painting supplies ready to go and the first day went slow as I checked on Daffney off and on.  It was good to stay busy and yet be close.  Daffney passed away three days later and the painting was good therapy and lasted two weeks.  Sometimes the cloth I used to wipe my tears was also the cloth I used to wipe paint smudges so looking in the mirror made me smile once in awhile as I moved forward.

The paint I choose was from Valspar with a one-coat eggshell finish.  The three colors are Canyon Earth, Wool Coat, and Warm Buff. 

Here you can see the colors with Warm Buff inside the closet and under the archway, Canyon Earth on the archway and the wall with the sliding glass door.  Wool Coat is on the wall with the water distiller.

Shortly after I finished all the painting, we noticed how the suspended ceiling looked sagging.  We had replaced about a half dozen ceiling tiles earlier because they were off-colored and slightly stained.  We thought that would be enough.  After the new floor and paint, we decided to tear out the whole ceiling and replace all the tiles and added more brackets for additional support.  Of course, in the process, there was a huge mess to clean up and some touch-up painting afterwards.

The spots on all the photos are from my camera...not on the walls!  Here you can see the dust created from removing the old ceiling.  We already completed the side of the room in the picture and the mess is from the other side.  So I had a big cleaning job!  Luckily, all it took was wiping the dust off the walls and letting it all settle for the shop-vac to suck-up. 

Here's the finished cleaned-up room with some spots still on my camera:

View from end of room by the distiller looking toward the wall that separates the unfinished room with the wood stove and furnace.  The fan will help heat the newly remodeled room.

View from the corner that will be the bedroom looking toward the sliding glass doors in the family room.  This bedroom area will soon be blocked off with storage shelves as partitions.

View from the family room looking under the archway with the stairs going tto the upper floor on the right and the door to the bathroom and unfinished area on the left.

View of the bedroom area from the family room under the archway.  This view will soon be blocked with storage shelves and a curtain doorway on the right.

View of the stairwell from the bedroom area.  This will be soon be blocked by storage shelves and the freezer.  The shelves facing the bedroon will be a closet unit and bookcases.  They will be back-to-back with storage shelves used as pantry with doors facing the stairs.  There will also be a curtain doorway.

View from the stairwell looking across the room to the distiller corner.  This will be blocked with storage shelves soon.  There will be a large hallway from the stairs to the family room.

This is the bedroom area as seen from the stairwell.  We left the overhead light out in that corner because the lighting will come from several lamps.  This will allow the bedroom to be dark if the rest of the room is lighted.  The overhead light in the photo will be over the storage cabinets and hallway.

We have added a wool rug recently and will move in  the bedroom set from upstairs soon.  This will include a nightstand, rolltop desk, and a hutch/dresser.  The closet on the right will open halfway into the bedroom and halfway into the family room.  There will be a heavy curtain separating the two rooms.  This will allow the curtain to be drawn for privacy or open to watch TV and/or get natural light.  The closet is for file storage as my work requires 5-7 years retainment; later it will be additional storage of seasonal clothing.

A beautiful wool rug!  Too bad the bed will cover up most of it!  I have made arrangements with a couple young men in town to help us move everything out of the storage unit tomorrow.  They did a good job six months ago when we moved it all out to begin the remodeling project in June.  We will put all the plastic containers back in the corner near the wall fan until we clean-up, paint, and add 3-tiered rack shelving to the other side of the lower level.  That should take up a whole wall and keep everything off the floor.  The remaining project is removing the wallpaper and painting the bathroom in the lower level.  I will start today.