a work in progress

In this photo you can see that I finished the taping and mudding of the drywall, painted the walls, and whitewashed the ceiling. I wanted the wood grain to show through the ceiling, but needed to get rid of the yellow cast it gave the room. I mixed some leftover white semi gloss latex with three different clear acrylic mediums/varnishes, and threw in a bit of iridescent medium mixed with water to help it be more reflective. It took 2 coats to get it worked into all the grooves and evenly applied, but the mixture had just enough sheen to keep the light bouncing around without top coating.

I’m still working on the mirror insets for the header over the door, staining the trim and figuring out how to do the floor. Martin brought over his excellent level today and it took me quite a while to realize he was loaning it to me. I’m pretty slow when I first wake up! It will be very helpful to me as I layer pieces of rubber to level the floor and maybe even give a little extra bounce. Martin will be coming back later this week with some more wood for the trim which he will cut. I will then stain it before it is installed. I’m pretty messy with the stain and don’t want to mar my nice new white walls. I think getting the cove molding up to the ceiling will make a big impact and I’m considering using the same thing where the bottom of the wall meets the concrete perimeter wall. I’ve reached the stage of making some compromises in the interest of wrapping things up quickly so I can get back to work.

Tomorrow I need to pick up some more supplies in a nearby town, ship out a little mixed media piece, and drive my godson to school, so I’ll have a much needed break and hopefully regain the feeling in my hands. I think I will also go to the glass shop because I give up cutting my own mirror and have not given up on the idea of a porthole window. I even framed a little box support for it in the wall already.