Finishing the Bookcases
Fall 2024 One Room Challenge, Week 4
It’s Week 4 of the Fall One Room Challenge and we are making such good progress! Once all the priming and sanding was done, we were ready for the first coat of paint! We have a paint sprayer but we have never used it indoors. We were both a little nervous but decided to give it a try. We spent a lot of time protecting the ceiling, floors and walls before starting this venture! There is a lot of prep that goes into a project like this!
What about these paint suits? Mine was about 3-4 sizes too big and I felt like I needed to grow into my onesie, you know?!😂 We joked around that we looked like we were in Breaking Bad and that maybe we should send some pictures to our kids and say we are trying our hand at a different path to retirement.🤣
We set up the compressor and got the paint gun ready. Doug did a few practice runs on an extra board and then went for it. He got a full coat on both bookcases, but neither one of us really liked how it turned out. My job was to keep the cord out of the paint (and supervise Doug)!😂 The paint gun was sweating, or condensation was building up and it was leaving drops of water on the surface. That left a weird dot of wrinkled looking paint on the surface. We were both frustrated with it so decided to just toss the paint gun after we got that first coat done. (It was a $23 paint sprayer from Harbor Freight and we have had it for years—we’ve linked a better one that is still reasonably priced at the end of this post!) We decided it had had a very good run but it was time to say good-bye!
Once the paint was dry, we decided it was time to BRING THE MURPHY BED BACK IN!!!! We have been SO excited for this day! We saved a piece of the old carpet so we could slide the Murphy bed back in without damaging the new wood floors! That was a bit of brilliance on Doug’s part. We were able to get a neighbor to come and help because we knew getting the bed picked up was going to be tougher than controlling it falling forward when we took it out. Plus, the fit was going to be tight, so it had to go straight in.
Success!!! Doesn’t it look great! We are so happy with how it’s coming together, and I hope that green accent wall makes a little more sense to everyone now! I love it!!!!
We then got immediately busy building the face frames for the bookcases and this had to be made to order so they close any gaps between the bookcases and the wall and on the side shared with the Murphy bed.
We still need to add a second coat of paint once we get the face framing attached. I plan to use my tried-and-true method of hand painting it. It will take more time, but it will also be easier to control, with less drips and overspray.
Stay tuned for next week when we will get all of the face framing attached, caulked and painted. We have our handy dandy cabinet maker, Bobby, working on the doors and drawers for the bookcases. He’s even making a special door for the top so we will have the hidden storage so we can store extra bedding and pillows for our guests. We also still have to make the shelves for the bookcases and we really hope to get started refinishing some of the furniture pieces.
If you haven’t checked out the other participants’ projects yet, please go to One Room Challenge at ORC blog and see what others have done! There are so many great projects out there and it will be so exciting to see them come together!
Paint Spray Gun
Wooster Brush
Bose Quiet Comfort Ultra Earbuds
White Vinegar
Sanding Sponge
Aluminum Mini Disposable Loaf Pans
Mister Rui Foam Paint Roller
Brown Paper Roll
Frog Tape
Brown Kraft Paper
