Corner repair with molding (summer 2012)

I am not sure what my block is but I have been avoiding writing anything - or even finishing a project! - in weeks. But we just signed up on a home exchange website so there's no more procrastinating! This weekend we hacked away at a few small outstanding items, which is a big relief. Nothing to write home about, for sure. But I don't want to stop writing so here goes...

The family we bought our house from lived in it for three decades. During that time they made some questionable repairs - I think carpentry was a hobby for the Dad, which I can appreciate. And he even owned power tools, which is leaps and bounds from what I'm comfortable with. Yet we keep discovering issues -- e.g. this seam was covered with a strip of 1" molding that did not extend the length of the wall. It bothered me day in and out, and finally I plucked it down.

What lies beneath... in this case, beneath the previous owner's slap-dab repair job on our family room ceiling

My timing wasn't great. While this bothered me, I was content to lounge on the sofa and had no intention of pulling out the spackle just then. Unfortunately, if I don't strike while the iron is hot, repairs tend to wait... and wait. I sat with this for weeks. (Funny, my husband never noticed...) Finally yesterday I got out some extra trim and made the repair. I could not find my miter box and saw, and was impatient (of course), so I grabbed a little hacksaw I found in the garage and free-handed the cut. I was a half inch off, but luckily the error was excess.

The nails I had were awful. Flimsy long nails with ribbing -- there must be some purpose for them but I can only drive them about 1/2" before they start buckling. I've just snapped off the excess in frustration on other projects. Still, I have never thrown them into the recycle bin, and when I find myself in need of a nail, that little box is always right there waiting for me.

This trim matches the trim on the back edge of the built-ins below it, and it's cheap, so I figured what the heck

After nailing this up in the middle and at each end, I spackled the remaining gaps. It still looks ugly, but I can sense an end in sight.

Seam is now sealed up and ready to paint... whenever that might happen

Now I need a burst of motivation to paint. I bought some Behr "ultra" for this wall behind the TV months ago, after I painted our bedroom and got excited how fast a room can be transformed. Unfortunately, I did not have time to complete the job the day I bought the paint -- so of course it is still not done. This green seems fairly neutral but cheerful and bright; I assume it will work well with the light blue & white curtains.

Spring Green 1A59-4

I know it shouldn't take long - this is only approx. 10' x 5' and a room four times that size only took the morning to complete. This brand's claim that priming is not necessary was pretty accurate when I painted a cappuccino color over standard white walls; very few touch-ups were required. The paint is low VOC but in the back of my mind, I've used my kids' health as the reason to put this off. With the weather  turning, I should be able to get the windows open and will be out of excuses... so I should be able to update this post in the not-too-distant future with "after" shots.

Update autumn 2012: I was too lazy to paint myself. We did a home exchange over the summer and I hired a friend to do the work. He also spackled, which looks so much better than the slap-dab job I usually do.

As soon as I saw that fresh, clean wall I remembered a cork board map that was stowed in the closet. I brought it down and stapled some ribbon around the frame's edges (frame was too dark and in rough shape). I love this corner now.

Trim is lost but everything is much neater (dark mark is a hook for a lamp cord)

Because I did not complete this myself, I can't give an estimate for pricing and time. Note that the corkboard behind the map is from The Container Store (from a few years back) and affixed with spray glue (you can tell it's a little buckled but looks decent in person). The lamp is one of two from IKEA, with my kids' art project from camp, paper plate snakes, hanging from them.