Christmas Gift 2014

Good morning.  As I type, it is Christmas Eve morning and only Kate and I are up and about.  I was up last night sorting stuff for one of my gifts.  I still have some wrapping to do, but I will get it done even if I have to close myself off in the basement.

Brian arrived on Saturday from Minneapolis.  We had almost half a day on Saturday and most of the day Sunday to spend some nice time catching up on all of his activities.  Rob and Kate arrived mid evening on Sunday and we have had non-stop talking and laughter since.

I did put them to work yesterday.

Many of you are aware that I had started painting my living room to freshen it up after Rudy died.  I got the living room part done, but got stymied at the ding room part.  In peeling off wall paper on the long dining room wall, I discovered an area where water had been intruding on the wall for years.  There was a large and fragile patch in the plaster and I just was not sure what I wanted to do to repair the wall and then make it look pretty again.

Since then, I have referred to the wall as my ugly wall and everyday as I looked at it, I tried formulating a plan.  I first had to block the water from coming in.  It was the result of an untreated, cinder block chimney/flue for my furnace that would suck in water from heavy rain and then wick down to the interior wall.  A little help from Danny..... no, with a lot of help from Danny.... I got the outside of the chimney painted with DriLock paint and then covered the top with a chimney cover and no more water!

I kept going back and forth on how to finish off the ugly wall to hit the patch and make the wall look nice again.  There were multiple layers of old and ugly wall paper that had been used to cover the patch and hid the damage.  In some areas it came off easily, in others, not so much!  I finally decided that I would cover the wall with bead board paneling that I could paint if I wanted to and add some texture to the room.

So...... I figured while I had both boys home, it would be a simple task to cut and fit the three panels of bead board to the wall.

Brian and I purchased the panels and some plywood to go under the trundle mattress before Roab and Kate arrived.  So, yesterday was the day!

Here is the ugly wall before we started...

At this point the patch in the upper left-hand corner has been treated with a couple of layers of DriLock which soaked into the bad plaster repair job and has stabilized the fragile patch.  It has been sanded close to level with the wall so the paneling will lay flat and the little propane heater has been removed.  The baseboard has been removed and it is ready to have the paneling applied.

Rob and Brian established a level line alone the bottom of the wall where the straight edge of the paneling will rest and have taken measurements for cutting the not in any way, shape or form level ceiling line.  Rob had remembered some of the cutting techniques that he and Danny had used to cut the peg board in the basement build and they were using my circular saw to cut the paneling.  The first panel was close, but needed an additional trim in order for it to fit.

We took a break, before installing the first panel and went to dinner at Dyers Restaurant with some of my friends.  Marji and Danny came up from Maryland to join us.  Then came back to the house where Danny jumped in and assisted in the completion of the restoration.

The results can be seen in the pictures below.

They were very methodical in their measurements and took time to test fit everything before applying the glue.  We secured the panels into their drying position with a few brads and voila.....

The best Christmas present ever!!!!!!!  Isn't it a lovely wall???  Just a little trim at the top and some paint and it will be perfect!  Thank you from the bottom of my heart to Brian and Rob and Danny for making this into my beautiful wall.

Merry Christmas to everyone.