Saturday, January 21, 2017

Master Bath's Crowning Glory

I don't know what prompted Scott to want to <finally> work on projects in the master bath but I didn't want to squash his enthusiasm by asking too many questions. I was here to offer encouragement, take a trip to Home Depot, smile nicely - whatever it took to help him along. Lo and behold - three weeks later - the master bath's new crown molding is in place.
As the tile was installed, we didn't take extreme caution to keep grout off the ceiling. The top edge of the tile didn't match up evenly around the room. Adding a small crown molding would help cover both some grout stains and the uneven tile.
Pre-installation clean-up included washing the ceiling with a damp cloth which - shockingly - removed most of the stains. After spending about 5 minutes on the task, the ceiling already looked 90% better. The chunkier chunks were eliminated with a swipe of the putty knife.
Measuring was the most important step. Previous experience with molding at Grant Street taught us that it's not the easiest task but accurate measurements will ease the pain.
Of course, we drew a little floorplan on which the measurement of each wall was recorded. The small piece of molding in the top of the photo was cut from a piece we bought a couple of years ago during our (very slow) planning stage.
$48 later, the necessary molding was purchased and ready to be cut to length.
As each piece was cut, Scott wrote the name the wall on the front with a pencil. Luckily, we were able to erase all of this before the staining went on. Why do you need to write "southwest piece"? Why include the word "piece?" Sometimes his logic escapes me. All of the pieces were taken upstairs to make sure they would fit before the finishing began.
It felt pretty familiar to be back in the basement with some woodwork to do. 
First the sanding... 
 ...then two coats of cherry stain...
...then one coat of brush-on poly followed by a little steel wool...then two coats of wipe-on poly to bring the woodwork to the perfect finish.
Finally, installation took place this morning (January 21). After a little bit of "let's try that again" and brief moments of "why won't this line up?" frustration, the nail gun and the nail guy got in sync.
The long north wall was the final piece put in place. 
Ta Da!
After about one hour, two ladders, 52 feet of molding, one noisy air compressor and 100 nails, the project is complete. It really does make the bathroom look "done."  Good job, Scotty!

Now - what should we do next?
Stay Tuned for Our Next Adventure!

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