Part 4: My Office Flooring, Paint and Lighting

202012-202101

The Trip

The photos below are what we saw.

The ceiling had been scraped during the popcorn removal effort several months prior.  The tape was left in place assuming that the walls would be draped when the ceiling was textured, but our plans changed.  The heavy/awkward bookcases and all their contents will have to be moved to allow flooring to be installed.  More "slippery slope" logic: If the contents have to be removed, might as well repaint too; if painting, might as well upgrade electrical fixtures as well".

The outside window in the office was replaced in December 2020, but the original popcorn on the vaulted part of the ceiling remains.  Since the walls were going to be repainted, we decided to remove the popcorn too.  Likely a good decision, but it substantially increased the scope and difficulty of the overall effort.

Removal of the bookcases revealed that we (in this case, "I") had painted around the bookcases during the previous upgrades, leaving the fugly, original white paint in all its glory.

Once the contents were removed, the carpet and padding was stripped revealing bare concrete, albeit with glue, paint and drywall mud residue.  We placed all our internet access electronics (cable modem and router) in the cardboard box for protection and easy movement.  Internet access remained intact for the duration of this effort.

Carpet tack strips were pulled and the baseboards were removed.

Many years back I installed a whole-house fan which pulled air from the vaulted cavity of my office.  It works great for cooling the house during the summer months, but it does accumulate dust.  Its height and awkward location generally precludes cleaning so it was filthy with accumulated dust.  Some tears in the corner drywall take was also visible once my desk was removed.

Existing track lights were removed and the holes in the ceiling were patched.

After the new windows were protected with plastic draping, the mud gun was used to apply texture to the ceiling.

Draping  was also installed to insure that the texture mud stayed within the office.  There was over-spray on the walls, but since we were repainting anyway and the walls were already textured, it was ignored.

Our decision to remove the popcorn on the vaulted portion of the ceiling came after we repainted the cavity walls.  The new decision added a few days to the schedule.

While the cavity painting was in progress, I hand-scraped the floor.  There was plenty of scraping debris produced and while it took the better part of a day, the results were good.  After the scraping was complete, the holes in the slab were filled with concrete patching compound.

Before the popcorn removal could begin a full drape of the window was needed to protect it from the slime that is produced by the scraping.  Tall ladders and flexible shoulders were required to access the top of the cavity.

When the ceiling of the cavity was scraped and wiped, we could start applying texture.  Above, Kathleen uses the mud mixer attached to my drill to get the mud to the correct consistency of the spray texture compound.



Kathleen uses the mud gun to apply the ceiling texture.



The concrete patch compound took several days to fully set-up.



Once the ceiling texture has dried, we could paint.  Kathleen used our spray gun to get coverage.  The gun makes a mess and is rather wasteful of paint, but when correctly used it does a good job.



Once the "pure white" ceiling paint had fully dried, we applied our main color: "Moroccan Red".



A 3-color palette was chosen: "Moroccan Red, Clay Pot and Safari Vest".  The new colors were a welcome change from the blue.



When the painting was completed, we installed the flooring.  We completed the tile in one day.



This photo shows the Safari Vest against the Moroccan Red.



We have become somewhat of an expert on laying vinyl tile.  Above, Kathleen sets the last course of tile.



Next was baseboard installation with our pneumatic nail gun.



Installing baseboard is when you discover than nothing is really straight or flat or square.  But the result was good despite unevenness in the walls.  After the baseboards were complete, we installed replacement lighting.



Finished office with new Stressless chair and wall dressings attached.  I recently ordered a new metal print of a photo I took back in 2017 of "Horseshoe Bend" on the Colorado River near Page, AZ.  I had the photo printed 2' x 3' and Bay Photo did a great job, as they always do on my prints.



The only rational thing to do when a big project is complete is to start another big project.  This project, however, was in the kitchen.  Kathleen decided to attempt Beef Wellington.  Note the sauce flambe in-progress; brandy as the fuel.



Puff pastry was rolled out flat in anticipation of the beef.



The beef fillets were browned in the skillet and then cooked in the sous vide.  The resulting components were then wrapped in ham and mushroom slurry, put in plastic wrap and then briefly chilled in the refrigerator before the final assembly.



Puff pastry gets a good egg wash prior to the installation of the meat.  The pastry is wrapped around the fillet tubes and browned in a hot oven.



The finished wellingtons looked like a burrito only much tastier.  They were served with mushroom-cream sauce, boiled new potatoes and fresh cherry tomatoes.

This dish was a feast for both eyes and stomach.  The sous vide insured that the meat was correctly cooked and resulted in an excellent outcome.  The wellington was served with a brandy-flambe-ed mushroom cream sauce

Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2020, all rights reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.