New House Series - Media Room Pt 1 - Walls pt 1

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Hey Reader,

You might not have heard the news, but I BOUGHT A HOUSE! I am so excited. Houses are essentially giant craft boxes. I have a bunch of rooms I get to create and make into themed experiences and... and... sorry I got a little light headed there.

Pictured: My worst enemy
I decided to tackle the room I wanted to spend the most of my time in first, that is the media room. I have big plans for this space so get excited!

There are many hurdles to buying a house, and even more once you get inside and the time comes to decorate. I was very fortunate that my house is brand new and therefore doesn't need a lot of work. Unless of course, you are me.

You see, there is one major problem that I have with this house. It is a problem I have had with every house I looked at during the home buying journey. That problem: textured walls. I hate textured walls. I hate them with a kind of unknowable passion. I am familiar with all the main types, orange peel, knockdown, popcorn, old world. It doesn't matter what the type, I hate them all equally. I prefer a smooth wall. I would put a picture of one here, but you know what flat things look like. I hope. I looked at a new construction where they had not yet installed the texture (which comes out of a spray bottle. What good things come out of spray bottles?). When I was there I informed them that if I bought the house I didn't want them texturizing the walls. They looked at me puzzled and questioned, "wouldn't it just be flat then?" As if that was an absurd idea.

Flat walls are standard on the east coast, where I will always call home. If I am going to have a house on the west coast, I am going to bring as much of my east coast life with me. One of the most immediately recognizable west coast things I see, is textured walls. Therefore, I have been relentless in my pursuit of smooth walls.

I looked at countless websites about how to remove texture. I decided to start with sanding. Reader, to say that sanding your walls creates a lot of dust is an insult to haunted houses everywhere. Everything in the room turned a paler shade of the color it was when I began - including myself. I used a hand scraper and a hand sander and 12 hours later, I had about 75% of one wall smooth-ish. I discovered every mistake in plastering my builder had made, every patch, every nail. I also learned he put the sheet rock sideways - who knew?

Afterwards, it was time for the skim coating. There is going to be a whole other post, but the point of the story is that after I had some stuff left and tried to just use it on the remaining 3 textured walls. That is definitely the way to go. It means I wasted a bunch of time, but live and learn.

That is one of the best parts of making things, figuring out and troubleshooting. More on this to come! Keep making cool stuff.

Until next time,
JoshPrime


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