Drywall Arch for DIY

Remodeling our TV room, I wanted to give it a little pizzazz.  I've always wanted to do a drywall arch, but never had the opportunity.  Here it is.

I formed my arch with plywood sandwich a 2x4.  The actual arch is simply small chunks of 2x4 cut up and glued in place.  

Each segment is perhaps 1.5 inches long.  I glued them across the entire archway on one plywood sheets with the arch already cut out with a jig saw.  

With that plywood and glued-arch assembly, I simply attached the mating half of plywood.

Arched corner bead is nice to work with.  I simply stapled it into my wood arch area.

No picture, but mudding the arch was simple, too.  I used the good bonding mud that dries pretty hard, and it's turning out real nice.  

All is Well

I went back to my home town this afternoon for a family friend's viewing.  It was good to see all my old friends again.  When I got home, I took a walk outside after kids got tucked away in their cozy beds.  I found a nice sunset illuminating the back yard.  It makes me think we're all right where we're supposed to be.

TV Room Remodel Progress

Well, progress on our TV room is slow, but I think it is positive. 

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...

Just a few Updates

Wow - it's been a long time since my last update.  

Life is pretty full these days.

#1 Kiddo had some art selected for an art show.  

She's also showing off her new braces here.

#2 Kiddo also had his artwork selected for the same show.

We're all pretty impressed with him.

#3 Kiddo is demonstrating what happens with a lack of humidification during the dry winter months at our house.  

The TV room remodel is going well, but I don't get to spend a bunch of time on it.  I still have yet to sand/scrape off the popcorn ceiling, and buy cabinets for near the fireplace.  It looks alot better already without all the paneling!

A Christmas-y Weekend

We had a busy weekend of Christmas type things.  

Cutting out snowflakes:

One of the highlights was Tuba Christmas at the Loeb Playhouse.  

It was announced there were 108 horns there.  Wow!

Then over to the Union to visit the giant gingerbread house:

And the gingerbread Santy Claus:

 And the monster Christmas tree:

Sunday afternoon we made gingerbread houses (out of graham crackers), and decorated with all of last year's old and uneaten candy.  That kept everybody busy for a good many hours.  

A good start to a great season.

Kindergarten Thanksgiving

This was our last Thanksgiving Party for Kindergarten.  I can't believe Kiddo #3 is growing so quickly.  Here's a few fun pictures from his Feast.

It's a little hard to read here, but his turkey says, "I am thankful for my sister".

And his teacher.

It was a good day for all of us.

We Have a Winner!!!

Kiddo #2 is the Grand Champion Winner of the Raingutter Regatta!!

He out-puffed all of his friends and won a huge trophy!!

Here he is in action, showing his good form!

He was super excited, and we're all very proud of him.