Basement Bathroom Walls

Where we last left our basement bathroom was after a whirlwind week of prepping the shower and covering it with tile, before we hopped in the car for a lovely week at the beach. Now that we're back and the vacation is over, we've been working on getting the walls finished. (Ideally, the walls would've been done first, but we were still waiting on them to finish up the gas for the stove above, which prevented us from closing in the ceiling).

Step 1. Cut and Install Missing Pieces of Drywall
The contractors got started on drywalling the bathroom, and then stopped abruptly when we told them we were planning to do it. So where they left it, most of the drywall had been cut and fitted, but wasn't actually installed. The ceiling was completely open. We could have rented a thing that helps hold sheetrock up the ceiling, but thought that since it was such a small room, we could do it ourselves. We did- but it might have been worth renting the thing. Sheetrock is surprisingly heavy- so lifting and holding it above your head while trying to figure out why it doesn't fit and how you're going to cut out the light or whatever- well, it's less fun than it might sound. After two nights, we had all the pieces cut and screwed in.

sheetrock going up

Step 2. Mud
Joint compound, aka mud, is an amazing thing. You smear it into all the seams and over the screws, and then easily wash off any mess. Then it dries, while you watch tv.  Then you sand it down, or wipe it with a wet cloth to smooth out the imperfections. Then you add another coat, slowly building up low parts and filling in imperfections. With every step, you can see the walls become more and more perfect. The only problem is fighting the uncontrollable urge to just paint it asap. After a third layer, I finally called it done.

Mudded and ready for paint

Step 3. Prime
Bright white primer goes on the walls and ceiling. We covered the shower to protect the tile from splatters, and then I edged while R rolled. After the first coat, a couple bad spots started showing up, so I quickly re-mudded them, and then we put up a second coat of primer.

primed

 Step 4. Paint
Finally, the walls get a coat of paint to match the rest of the apartment. The ceiling is staying bright white, so we don't need to do anything to it. Both this step and the one before are a little trickier than they should be because the shower tile is up and the trim around the door is installed, so I have to carefully edge around them. Ideally, they wouldn't be up yet- but we're not doing this the easy way.  Even so, it was a quick project to paint such a small room.

painted!

Next Steps
Thankfully, the walls and ceiling are now done, so we can get back to tiling. We need to install the floor tile, and then grout everything.