Logan

So what else did I do in March?


Since I was recovering from surgery, I wasn't doing much and had to put the bedroom renovation on hold. I had been waiting for Logan to be released so we went to see it at the movie theater.

The movie was inspired by, but not based on, Old Man Logan. I guess mainly Wolverine being old and the road trip through an unsettling future.

I couldn't place Boyd Holbrook until after the movie but remembered I liked shows he has been in. We liked watching Narcos as well as Hatfields and McCoys which were both good series.

 

Of course Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart were always favorites and with the "R" rating for the movie, they had some better than usual dialogue.

The movie was extraordinarily violent, to the level of a horror-slasher film. This is how I remember Wolverine in the comics, perhaps only the Punisher was more violent. What we didn't understand was how parents were letting their children see the movie. Even with the special warning signs at the theater about how violent it was and all of the cursing on top of that. I've seen kids at the theater when watching Machete, which wasn't for kids at all, but it was a camp film and meant to be ridiculously violent and over the top but this was different and meant to look real. Those kids should have been watching Lego: Batman instead, which was also a great movie we saw recently.

I think the end of the movie was predictable from the start along with what Hugh Jackman said about this being his last movie as Wolverine. The point of the movie was how he gets there.

Bedroom Renovation I

Yes, yet another renovation. This time we are renovating the entire bedroom.

The "To Do" list:

1. Remove the popcorn texture on the ceiling

2. Paint the ceiling

3. Paint the walls

4. Replace the blinds

5. Replace the flooring (including repaint trim)

6. Build custom closet

Here is how the room looked when I started

The removal of the popcorn texture took a while to do.

Here I am just getting started in the room after finishing removing the popcorn in the closet.

I'm finally making progress. See the spray canister on the ladder with me and the wet spot I am scraping? Spray the area you are going to immediately scrape and work your way across the ceiling.

Here the walls are painted gray. Also notice that the closet was painted white.

 

Look, a new blind!

The ceiling is now smooth and painted white. A new custom blind was hung. We had it custom made to fit the big window. It had been sitting in the garage for months waiting for the time to renovate the room.

I still have replace the flooring, paint the trim, and build a custom closet. Maybe now you know why there are so few blog posts lately. Between doctor appointments, cooking, and working on this room, I have almost no free time for anything else on the weekend. Don't forget, work takes 12-14 hours of my day so weekends are my only chance to work on the room. 

 

Guest Bedroom Closet Renovation

It seems like everyone else on blogs, Facebook, and Instagram is having a great time. Meanwhile I am not keeping up with blog posts and even then, the posts are about working around the house. People always ask when I'm going on vacation. I'm not. I block 14+ hours a day for my job (10 hour shift, 2+ hours driving, 1 hour getting ready, and 1/2 hour unpacking). There is hardly any time left in the day for anything else. Then there is the weekend. Buying groceries and cooking is at least 4 hours of my weekend. And here is the rest:


Guest Bedroom Closet Renovation


You may remember from the Closet Renovation post for my master closet that we moved all of the clothes into the guest bedroom for the time being and the result was this:

Whoever hung the shelves and the rod never mounted the brackets on a stud. So for a year we had to pile things on the floor. The plan was to renovate three closets in a row. You saw in January that I finished the linen closet. From January to February, I worked on the guest bedroom closet. It didn't come out perfect, but I'm getting better at building these things.


Step 1: Remove everything and patch up the holes. Make measurements and design the new closet.

Step  2: Remove the popcorn ceiling just like the other closets. This is a standard house rule. Whenever a room is empty, the popcorn ceiling will be scraped.

I'm spraying the ceiling so that the popcorn can be scraped off like mud and comes off the drywall on the ceiling easily. I've learned that I did not do this correctly (as pictured). I initially sprayed the entire ceiling through the popcorn which made the walls and floor wet too. The better way is to scrape some popcorn off to get it going and then spray the missing patch. Scrape that little bit off and then spray the edge of where you are about to scrape (Not the whole area!). Just wetting the edge of where you scrape is the way to go. The water is soaked up immediately and you can spray as you go. No need to wait long for it to soak in.


Step 2A: Paint the ceiling and closet.


Sorry no photos available.


Step 3: Cut the boards according to the design of the closet

I painted the shelving white like the linen closet. White is a good neutral color so that if the bedroom ever gets repainted a different color, the closet will still match.


Step 4: Install the boards for the closet

These were some of the tools I used. They were just the ones I started out with. I have two Bosch laser devices there. One is a laser guided measuring device that will measure distance. I use it like a tape measure that I only need one hand for. The tool also remembers the measurement so I don't have to write it down. The larger laser tool is the Bosch GLL 55. I've also got my pencil, drill and bits, stud finder, two levels, tape measure, and sand paper. I used other tools but these were the essentials.

 Now for the laser in action. I used this on my linen closet too. I bought the separate pole attachment so that I can hang the laser-guided level in the middle of the room. The laser is projected on the wall at the location I set it to on the pole. I would measure the wall and mark it with my pencil and then adjust the level of the laser to match. Now I can hang my first cleat and not worry about holding a level to mark the wall. As with the linen closet, the shelving came out as level as I've ever hung anything before.

 In the previous photo, the laser indicated where I wanted to install my top cleat. In the photo above, I can mark where I want to install my bottom cleat. The laser also has a vertical function that I can use to mark a stud or the center of my cleat.

 I'm really using this laser level a lot to hang shelves and cleats. I just installed cleats for a shelf along this line.

Step 5: Install shelving and rod fixtures

 I used pegs to support three shelves. I wanted one shelf with cleats to hold heavier items, like something other than just clothes. You may wonder why I used the 4" boards as cleats along the wall. I'm using an unconventional design to hang clothes by placing the rods to hang the clothes up against the sides of the closet unseen. This is where I will be installing the closet rods to hang the clothes. The circumference of the flange for the rod is almost 4" so these cleats work.


Why hang the clothes on the sides of the closet?
Well this is a guest room so I figured that whoever uses the room would have a suitcase and would primarily use the shelves. They will still have more than enough room to hang shirts, pants, and sweaters (don't forget that I live in Florida and haven't worn a coat since I lived in Virginia). We don't need the space for coats. Also most of what is going in this closet will be mine so I want to use it as storage.


Step 6: Finishing - Install trim, cover nail holes, caulk gaps, and paint

 Here is the view from another angle. The bare wood on the shelving is trim that I used to cover the sides of the plywood and give the shelving a finished look.

This photo has some bad glare, but I kept it anyway. 

 Here is the finished closet with lots of storage room.

Here is the closet from another angle. You can see the rods to hang clothes from this angle. There is an identical set on the other side of the closet as well. The floor under the bottom shelf is designed for shoes and is high enough to fit work boots.