Potato Chips Off The Ceiling

Back in October of 2003, soon after the original roof was removed, we had a lot of rain that worked its way passed the tarps. Although no structural damage was done, the water took large sections of the living room ceiling paint with it. We were left with a stained and peeling ceiling that, in places, looked like there were potato chips stuck to it. We are just now getting around to fixing it. That is the current focus.

Jenn got all of the furniture out of living room and we prepared to scrape the peeling ceiling. We are only pulling the worst of the paint off and hope to minimize the seams between the bare spots and the layers of old paint. Next, we are going to hit it with a coat of primer and at least a couple coats of ceiling paint in hope of softening these lines between the layers of new and old paint.

Not only is a lot of paint coming off with the scraping, but so is a lot of ceiling texture. Since we don't really know what is in either the paint or the texture, we are trying to protect ourselves. We are wearing decent face masks, enclosed goggles, and head socks. I’m not sure this is excessive or inadequate, but it does make us feel better. And, if we run short of money, we can always go rob the nearest liquor store. Just kidding.

While we are restoring the ceiling, I'm also pulling the old crown molding off. The crown was thin and painted and was not doing much to improve the look of the room. For now, we are just going to go without any crown and see how we like it. We have no crown upstairs and like the clean look. We can always add it back later. I have filled in all of the old nail holes and gaps in the plaster with joint compound. This will need to dry, then we can prime and paint it.

I will, however, take this time to retrim the base molding. I just need a 1x4 white oak board on the east and west sides of the room. I’m going to just cut and fit it first, then worry about installing it after the we are done painting. I'’m more than a little nervous about trimming with those old plaster walls. Then, after the baseboards are in place, the next question becomes how dark to stain the wood. But, I am going to wait on that decision.

I'm also playing with our new digital camera. These pictures were taken with a Canon Rebel XT digital SLR. So far I like how the camera handles, but the optics of the "kit" lens leaves something to be desired.