Wall O' Shame to Wall O' Fame

You've all seen it...or at least caught a glimpse of it in my pictures. [Check out #6 on my "hate list" HERE.] The wall of shame has been a half-torn-down eyesore for two long years. We were sure we were going to have to tear it down and start over because of all the wood glue and torn-up sheetrock. And, to be honest, I didn't have much faith in Steve when he said we should just mud over it. We never got around to attempting to fix the wall because it was in such a difficult spot...right in the stairway. We were going to need scaffolding to do anything...and Adam and I have never sheetrocked before. It was to our great surprise and appreciation that Adam's Mom and Steve offered to help us out. Steve actually works at a GP mill in Camas, WA and was coming to "our" GP mill (where Adam works) to do some union business for a couple of days in mid-October. So, what better time to come and help us out? He started in on a Thursday evening, worked Friday afternoon, and all day Saturday. I can't remember, but he might have put another layer on Sunday morning as well?? We were having some issues with the sheetrock paper bubbling with every layer of mud. But, as each layer was applied the wall looked better and better. Steve had actually done this before a few times and is quite experienced in sheetrock and home improvement in general. Still...I was skeptical.

Scraping the last of the wood off...

Applying the first of at least 5 thin layers of mud...

Because it was taking so many layers of mud to smooth out all the horrendous imperfections, we had to wait until the next weekend to sand and texture. Steve's son has a professional-type texture machine and they managed to fit it into Patty's car and bring it to our house. They sanded and textured within 2-3 hours that Saturday.

Trying to cover the ugly fan so that it wouldn't get texturized as well...

For half of the following week I primed and painted the wall. Because the wall is so high, I had to wait until Adam came home from work to do a lot of the painting and touch-up. The wall remained blank until last week when I asked my mom to come over and help me hang the pictures that have been in boxes since we moved out of our house in Cornelius. She and I work well together when it comes to moving and arranging furniture and hanging pictures. I'm sure I'll add to it as I find more things, but what I've got is a great start.

Sorry it's so dark, our ceiling fan is burnt out and we have no light in the entry. The bottom half will be wainscoting one day...but sheetrock will do for now until we can re-do the other entry walls (they have that ugly wood on them as well).

I didn't believe it could be done...but YOU DID IT STEVE!! Thank you soooo much for making my house much prettier!