I know we’ve already talked about the drywall project several times, but I wanted to make sure you guys understood this wasn’t a one-person project with Wyatt doing all the work. Plus, it’s a huge part of how we’ve been spending every day around here.  I mean, seriously, we’re drywalling an entire room and ceiling with just 2 amateurs (seriously, never done this before!) and we both work during the day. I have to keep telling myself, it’s okay this is taking a long time.

I know that not everybody’s drywall projects would take this long, but we’re still proud we tackled it on our own. And that we saved the cash by doing it DIY style.

(FYI, I talk about the process of hanging drywall, and planning out your installation to avoid as many seams as possible, here. And, Wyatt is working on a post about a few more tips and tricks we learned along the way.)

First of all, I helped with the actual drywall by handing Wyatt tools and holding things, like sheets of drywall onto the wall.

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I also marked each large sheet on the studs so it would be faster for him to drill in the screws.

It was also my job to add a layer of compound over the screws. In order to not see those when you paint, you need to make sure all the screws are all the way tightened, then smear some mud on them. It will look something like this:

Then, you sand them down until they look something like this:

It makes the surface perfectly smooth so you won’t see the screws when you paint.

Sidenote: there’s a weird example of why this is so important in our bathroom. Whoever redid it before we moved in left this little wonderful treat for me to enjoy every time I take a shower:

Ugh.

Then, when it was time for mudding all the seams, I was able to help even more. We both did a lot of work with the trowel and the putty knife. It kills your shoulders do work on the ceiling parts, so it was really helpful to have two of us working on this.

And, we both spent a lot of time sanding, which I told you about Friday…

I also helped with wiping down the walls and ceilings after we sanded them. And, I’ll be doing a lot of the painting and priming in the next few days and weeks.

My shoulders are certainly feeling all this work above my head. Yikes.

Wish us luck as we finish this step, and in the meantime, tell me, are you the main “projector” at your house or are you the sidekick supporter. I think at various times, I’m both, but for big stuff, I’m usually the sidekick.