A couple of weeks ago, we rented a drywall sander, and sanded off all the popcorn ceiling. I have learned that what we had was not the true "popcorn" but rather just drywall compound mudded onto the ceiling, and then dabbed with a sponge for texture. It was rock hard, and it took many hours of sweat with that rental unit. At the end of the day, we actually blew up the driveshaft going to the sanding head of the sander. That is definitely some hard hard spackle.
We also ordered some cabinets from Home Depot. We chose them because the depth is correct (12 inches), and they were slightly taller to match the shelves that we were used to in that room (42" inches tall), and they were the right width (2 cabinets of 30 inches wide for a total of a 60 inch cabinet). I brought them into the room this afternoon, and they look like a good fit.
The plan now is to add a little bump-out wall on each side of the cabinets to make them look "built in". That little bump out section will go all the way up to the ceiling, and then I'll add an eyebrow arch at the top to connect the two. I'll add some nice lighting for ambiance of artwork.
I have it all drawn out on AutoCad, but to see it starting in real life is just as neat. I hope I can take off a week from work to really jump ahead on the progress. We'll see...
