You need legs to have a table

Alright, time to get back to work.

I might hem and haw about the type of finish to use, but I can worry about that once the legs are built. So I might as well get cracking on putting something together.

This table is a few inches longer and wider than the old one, so even if I had been able to get the old legs off in one piece they might not have worked. Fortunately I think I have a better plan for this one, plus keeping them separate will make it a lot easier to move them once they're ready.

These are nice, way nicer than the old ones. I don't think I'll even need finish.

I went with 7 8-foot lengths of cedar toned pressure treated 2x4's; the finish is so nice I think I'm going to just leave them as they are, or at least not stain them before I seal them. 7 of them only cost about $40, which will bring the total cost to around $100 if things go well. Math is not always my strong point though; I was worried about my numbers here and almost got an extra board but this was actually perfect to within a few feet. Here's to not messing up.

Trimmed four lengths to 29.5 inches, then four more a little shorter with room for the aprons to fit on.

Glued them all at once and left them there all day. 

These will hold the two long apron supports for the table, I just had to decide how far apart to put them. Turns out 27 inches would put the aprons right in the middle of the two outside boards, so that was my spacing.

Consider this proof of concept at least. 

Even dry fit this put me in a happy place. 

I was a bit stressed at this point as I had to figure out how to get the mower out and stored since the grass was getting pretty long. Eventually I moved the legs out just to have more space, and was pleased with how well things were staying together just balancing there. And I could do it in pieces and still move everything myself, so that was a bonus.

It sounds so simple in four sentences but this was more than a weekend's-plus worth of time working when I could. It didn't help that we also bought 15 bags of mulch and I spent some time putting that out. Ah, home ownership. It put me in the mood to be outside at least, so hopefully I can get this done in the near future.

Media stand part 9: I thought about stretching it for 10

But then thought better of it.

With the little things I mentioned last post taken care of, it was time to get the old stand ready for retirement. Got all the important stuff out and set up on the top so it's still working but ready to move, emptied out the old drawers and OH GOOD LORD look at that mess! And that's why I like how the new one is set up better.

I was kind of disappointed I couldn't use any of this stuff building a new stand, but I'm at least keeping the drawer slides just b/c. I've also got an idea to recycle at least parts of the MDF, so we'll see what happens.

With the drawers out the new stand actually isn't impossibly heavy but still had to stay in the garage until I had some help. The boy wanted to help too, bless his heart, which usually slows things down more than anything. But it's up now, and I'm liking the set up.

So much cleaner.

Taking the old stand apart I realized building in a spot for a power strip would have been a good idea during this build. Maybe even putting an outlet on that middle shelf, but by that point it was too late. Fortunately the open middle section ended up perfect to put the power strip in, along with the modem and all the slack from the power cables for everything. Then on top all we have is our cable box, bluray, and router.

Plenty of room to hide the mess.

I'm a little unhappy with how the drawer fronts ended up lining up, but it's not a big enough negative for me to want to tear them apart and start over. Overall this was a fun build. I'm a bit surprised I got 9 posts out of it, (and will probably do a 10th pic post) but I guess I shouldn't be based on how quickly these bigger projects seem to spiral nearly out of control while they're coming together. I'm sure eventually I'll look at something and realize how I could have done better doing it differently, but for now it's a big improvement on the console table and looks like it will serve its purpose well.

Hopefully the kids can keep their sticky mitts off of it for a while to keep it clean. As long as I don't see fruit snacks stuck to it or milk spilled on one of the shelves I'll be happy. Now if you'll excuse me, I have quite a mess in the shop to clean up.

Wait, so that's the last step?

Picking out door and window trim meant all that was left was getting the baseboards in, and guess what I spent this weekend doing? That’s right, trying to find an excuse not to do the baseboards. 

But none were to be found, and we got one step closer to calling this project done. “But wait,” you’re thinking, “weren’t the baseboards all that was left?” Yes and no.

Yes b/c that was the last step in the initial plan, but like anything else, the initial plan has a tendency to change. So while this is almost done, there are new next steps to finish.

I'm too old to keep moving furniture around.

We picked a very simple trim to match the doors and windows but it was still not without its issues. I had to move the coaxial box a little higher (still kicking myself for how that came together), move a couple of door stops, and pull a handful of nails before all the walls were ready. But once they were things were pretty easy. At this point cutting miters and nailing trim seems pretty simple compared to everything else.  

Again, looking so much better not even 100% finished.

So that’s about it; walls are done, trim is in, tv is up, things are pretty much in their final form. Things still need to be caulked, I’m planning on tiling the fireplace, and the wife is talking about trying a spray texture, but things are pretty much how they’re going to be. And I have to say, I love it. I'd love it even more if the cable kept working but whatever. It’s not perfect, but we did it all for under two grand, counting the tv (but not the couch). I will take some slight imperfections and a savings of several thousand dollars over having had someone do this for us. Plus, I got a lot of mileage out of having something physical to do this spring/summer.

Totally worth it.  

Finishes make all the difference

I don’t know if it was just wanting to take a break or if having the couch and tv there just clogged things up for while, but progress had stalled on the basement recently. So this weekend I dragged myself to Lowes to get some door and window trim.

I had a lightbulb moment this weekend where I realized I needed to trim the doors before getting baseboard in, so that moved up the priority list. But it also probably changed my plans for the baseboard anyway, since painting 1x4 pine boards hasn't been going great and I probably need something a little more flexible.

Having a HD basically across the street is super easy, but it’s not the best in terms of molding and trim options. So I went a little out of my way to a Lowes about 20 minutes away and it was great. Sunday afternoon, no one around, I think it might be worth it to go there all the time based on that trip. But I came home with a car full of molding; three door sets b/c it kept thing simple, then 6 7 ft lengths of matching trim in wood, and 5 in foam b/c some of the wood was in pretty rough shape. 

7 ft lengths are easy after 10 and 12 ft stuff.

Without a nail gun I wasn’t sure how this would go but some glue and a handful of finishing nails seems to be doing the trick. The kits still need a little trimming b/c our doors are short and skinny, but cutting my own for the sliding door seemed to be fine too. Just like the molding, even in it’s rough state things look so much better with the trim on. One step closer.

Some of this drywall/mud around the doors is pretty terrible...

But that's why trim is important! That looks better just testing the fit.

Going in the afternoon, I had time to get one normal door and a sliding door done before everyone told me to stop. Hammering finish nails is not a quiet activity. Hopefully I can get these done this week, and they'll still need to be filled, caulked, and painted, but for a little over $100 I’ll have trimmed three hanging doors, two sliding doors, and three windows. And once that’s done, we can talk baseboards, and now I know to go back to Lowes to find something that works. I can see the finish line, and I’m slowly inching toward it.

Purchase list: 

3 sets pre-mitered trim
6 7ft lengths wood trim
5 7 ft lengths foam trim (the math says 35 ft is enough, we’ll see…)

I can almost see it now...

So how do things look?

Primed!

I can’t always visualize how things might look if renovated/re-done so it’s been enlightening to see the basement come through these last couple of steps. Plus, without any trim or molding to paint around I’ve been able to get entire coats of primer and paint on in one day, which blew me away.

Our color samples

I put samples in three spots to see them in different lighting.

Friday was primer, Monday was the first coat of real paint, with multiple trips to pick samples in-between. I’m pleasantly surprised at how most of the seams painted up. The primer definitely helped make sure the drywall and mud both took paint the same way. There are some rough spots due to my beginner’s technique but all in all it doesn’t look too bad.  

Voila. That ledge looks pretty bad though.

We ended up with a gray in the blue family, which looked more purple to me as a sample but evened out once it was up everywhere. This was a challenge; I primed before we had a paint color picked and absolutely hated the first three samples we brought home, all neutral whites with brown/yellow hints. The second trip yielded slightly better choices, and now that it's up I think trim and some decor will help this look good. 

Most of it isn't too awful.

Hopefully I can get some clean-up done this week and get some final touches on next weekend, since the deadline for getting this done is rapidly approaching. I think it's going to be closer to "done" than completely finished, with the room in good enough shape for guests to stay down there but without any trim or molding. There should at least be a couch to sleep on.

And now for the messy part?

I should have added “repeatedly sweep and mop to try and control the drywall dust situation” to my earlier steps left to finish. Now the messy part starts? I might be in trouble here. Starting to doubt the wisdom of documenting this project a step at a time, since it’s starting to feel like more steps keep showing up.

It's not all pretty but it's up there.

But all the walls are paneled and that seems like an important part to have done. And thank you to HD, for offering delivery service to the tune of $59 to get the rest of the drywall I needed dropped off, along with a huge bucket of primer, instead of my renting another van and hauling a literal ton of materials on my own. So much easier, even with the panels piled in the garage and my moving each one in as I needed it. I even had enough to re-do the first panel I put up since the more I looked at it the less happy I was with how it lined up with the other panels. Finishing with a do-over of the first panel seemed like a poetic and easy way to finish this phase.  

Holy cow I like it so much better that that.

Which was good b/c at this point I’ve had enough surprises and needed something to go easy. After dealing with surprise sealant and insulation issues, I expected getting all the drywall up might feel like a good time to take a deep breath and exhale. But with a huge bucket of joint compound just sitting there I found myself itching to move on to the next step, hence some of the screws already having compound. I have to make a pass at some of them to get them dimpled into the paper more, but fuck that, let’s put some corners on.   

I’m starting to feel like there’s a light at the end of the tunnel on this project, although that’s probably deceptive. I will admit to my confidence taking a hit as some of these surprises popped up. Working on this a few hours at a time meant the demo and paneling was slow going, and the mudding and painting isn’t going to be any less time intensive. I’m still optimistic though, mostly b/c I’m a fool but also b/c I’m a halfway decent painter and there’s probably some skill overlap there. I better stop complaining and just get busy already.   

Purchase list so far for the entire thing:

30 panels mold-resistant 4x8 drywall panels (although I only ended up using 26)
3 bulk rolls fiberglass insulation
3 boards firm insulation w/glue & tape
4.5 gallons pre-mixed lightweight joint compound
5 10 ft paper-covered metal outside corner beads
tape (1 500 ft roll will be enough, right? I’m too tired to math)
4.5 gallons drywall primer
various finishing tools
Bagster plus pick-up fee

So many purchases