One Room Challenge: Week 5 | Texture and sanding fun

It’s week 5 of the One Room Challenge and I’m still working on the drywall. Oh the joys of primer: Any mistakes you’ve made, the primer will put on full display. That’s exactly what happened when we tried to prime the ceiling on which we’ve been working so hard all week after week. Just a little bit of primer showed all of the areas that needed further sanding.

Drywall compound dust on PPE mask, safety glasses, and scarf after sanding. — Wear PPE to protect yourself from dust!

One Room Challenge: Texture and sanding fun

Before this project, I considered a drywall sander. I never got one. I reckon that would have been extremely helpful. To suffice, my boyfriend used an orbital sander connected to our shop vac to further sand the drywall. Meanwhile, I sanded by hand to feather out the edges of the dried joint compound.

By the way, texturing is not easy. I don’t care how many YouTube videos you watch, it is not easy. My home was built in the early 1970s, and the stomp texture on the walls is hard to match. Thus, I came up with my own strategy of stippling thinned joint compound onto the walls.

Creating stomp texture on fresh drywall — Stomp texture

I had to flatten the brush to better match the old texture. After I applied the new texture to the wall, I let it dry for a couple minutes and then knocked it down just a little bit with a roller and a taping knife. I overlapped the old and new texture to make it blend. By the way, this is called stomp texture. The tools to achieve this were hard to find in stock!

I think it would have looked better if I rolled on the compound with a roller first and then applied stop texture.

I’ll cover primer and paint next time!

-Felicia.

P.S.: Check out the other One Room Challenge blog posts!