What a ceiling!

Sorry, we watched Flashdance this weekend. But yes! We got our ceiling in! It took 2 days and our shoulders are sore, but the rain (and reign) of lead paint chips and mouse poop is over. We decided on tongue and groove boards - beadboard, actually, though we used the non-beaded side. And thank heavens our neighbors had a ladder we could borrow. Otherwise it would have been impossible.
In order to keep the new ceiling from falling on our heads at some unknown point in the future, we had to find the furring strips behind the plaster and add some screws where they cross the joists to reinforce them. Hopefully we did the right thing.


Our original plaster ceiling in all its glory (new light fixture boxes are in), with a few boards started along the end. We had to cut down each board and screwed them in a few places and nail them at others.

A close-up of the boards going in.

Reagan using the nail gun.

The boards marching their way across the ceiling. Cutting around the boxes for the light fixtures was a little tricky, but overall successful.

Done! The dinky old light fixture is still there, as it was the only light source for a while. But don't worry, its time on the new ceiling is very short-lived.

We had just enough to fill in the hallway area...only the last board is spliced together.

Weird, huh? It does kinda look like the floor is on the ceiling. But it will be painted white and hopefully look less cabin-like.

Walls are Nice.

It's amazing what a difference walls can make. We tried it, and we like it.

We got the kitchen sheetrocked! (Can sheetrock be used as a verb?) Just witness for yourself the many before and after shots:











This is all the crazy framework Adam had to create to be able to put sheetrock on that area and close it up.

It feels so nice and bright in here now that there are reflective surfaces! We still have a little more work to do on the walls, but first the ceiling must go in. We finally decided on some tongue-and-groove boards, which were delivered this weekend. It's going to be a very laborious process, but we'll post those photos when we have them!