Primary Bed Renovation: ORC, Week 3

Now that we’ve reached week 3, it’s especially fun to see all the progress this challenge’s participants are making. It’s so encouraging knowing you’re part of a whole crew of people committing eight weeks to this!

I’m no drywall professional, so my process is usually: thick layer of joint compound, sand it smooth, even out with more joint compound, sand it smooth again (repeat as needed)… with all the patching the half wall and new bathroom doorway needed — this took a while.

Goals this week were to:

• Fix window sill/stoop trim boards (done, just need paint!)

• Prepare half wall ledge top board (done, just needs paint!)

• Finish drywall (done!)

• Get shiplap panels up (halfway done!)

• Paint panels (not done!)

• Start getting it all trimmed out (not done!)

I work full time, so I’ve been trying to fit in working on it a couple of hours here and there as I can to catch up. And Sean joins to help when he’s able as well!

Note on the panels: In addition to being significantly more cost-effective, I thought the panels would help speed the process up a bit — since I’m doing floor-to-ceiling installation, all the measuring around windows, outlets, transporting the massive panels, etc. have ended up making it quite tedious. And quite challenging to get perfectly level! I think individual panels might end up being a bit easier to work with in this regard — if you have the budget (I do not lol)!

Thankfully, I think I got past the worst of it this week — installing around the windows.

If I’m able to catch up, by next week’s update I’ll have:

• Installed all shiplap panels

• Painted panels

• Painted and installed trim (including baseboards)

• Finished Jemma’s bench

• Finished DIY dresser

The paneling process has been trickier to document (each panel takes a reallllyyy long time, so there’s not much to watch!), but I am sharing process videos on Instagram — saved to the “orc main bed” highlight!