New Room

Handy Man and I have been busy with our winter DIY home improvement project. We are busy framing and finishing a space in the basement - okay that's a bit of an embellishment. Handy Man is really the one doing most of the work. But I have been helping! This new space will be our 4th bedroom and will be used as a guest room/office/exercise room. I also have BIG plans to be able to use this room for future crafting projects and my annual Christmas present wrapping room. I am so excited because I will be able to get all my stuff out, make a big mess of organized piles and then just shut the door in between sessions. Out of sight, out of mind!

The original space consisted of a small office area to the back of the room where the window was and then just open storage area. We originally had planned to expand that old office area for a bedroom and then make a separate office nook. The more we thought about it we decided on one large room. The first thing Handy Man did was tear down the old wall and prep all the space. He bought insulation foam board and adhered that to the concrete foundation. Then he framed up the room, ran ducting and electrical and fitted more rolled insulation. Guests, this will be the coziest room ever! Taking reservations!

Handy Man hard at work.

Future closet space.

The entrance to the room was a little challenging given you enter under the stairs. I really think Handy Man did a great job of contouring the entrance to make it flow well. There is a better picture below once the drywall was up. 

One thing I love that he did was frame a little nook for a special nick-knack item utilizing this odd corner. He didn't even tell me he was going to do it. I was so excited! I mean a cute little place to put - crap.  

 

Future place to store suitcases and left over paint. 

Once all of the final insulation was in, it was time for drywall.

Drywall....

Leave it to Handy Man to swing by the home improvement store after work, the night before we are forecast-ed to get a ton of snow, and bring home all of the drywall. And a LOT of drywall. Exactly 14 12x4 sheets of drywall and 7 8x4 sheets of drywall. One amazing fact about drywall is that you need to keep it dry...

Do you know how heavy a 12x4 sheet of drywall is? Not to mention, do you know how cumbersome it is for two people to carry a 12x4 sheet of drywall. Carry it from the pasture, through the back yard, into the house, around dancing kids, barbies and a futon?

Do you know how many 12x4 sheets of drywall Handy Man and I can carry at one time?

One... Uno... Just 1.

We could carry two of the 8x4 sheets at a time which was exciting.

So at the end of a long day, kids biting our ankles to be fed dinner, Handy Man and I made 18 trips back and forth carrying floppy, fragile, heavy, cumbersome sheets of drywall from the truck parked in the pasture, through the back yard, into the house, around dancing kids, barbies and a futon?

Wife. Of. The. Year.

The next night, a Friday night after a long week, Handy Man asked me if I would help him put the ceiling pieces up. Yeah sure no problem!

As a rational person, I "assumed" the lighter, more manageable, 8 foot pieces were meant for the ceiling. hahahaha - nope.

No, Handy Man intended to put four, 12 foot pieces up that night. The really super floppy, fragile, heavy, cumbersome ones. How does one do that you might wonder? Well, if it were me, I would call 2-3 of my strong, guy friends that all owe me a few favors for helping them build decks and fences and tell them I will be buying a case of beer and feeding them if they come help me for a bit. But not Handy Man. Nope. He asks his wife to help him. Just the two of us. He told me to think of it like a Friday Date Night...

This first piece that went up was HELL.  

Basically, Handy Man screwed two little 2x4 pieces into the studs of the wall to act as our third man. Together we picket up and raised the %$#(*^ piece of drywall to the ceiling. Handy Man guided the sheet onto the 2x4 helpers and then while I held the whole darn thing in place, he ran over and took the end from me. I then ran over and positioned a ladder in the center and climbed up pushing the middle snug against the floor joist. With one hand, Handy Man held his side, climbed a ladder, and used his other hand to screw a few screws in. Of course he forgot to mark the studs before getting to this point. So after a few missed attempts to secure the sheet to the ceiling, several choice words and trembling arms, we succeeded.

But I almost passed out. I was just NOT strong enough to hold the middle up tight against the ceiling like he needed. So for the next three pieces I would climb up as high as I could on the ladder and bend over using my back to press the middle against the floor joist. Either way it sucked. My legs cramped and it was ridiculous.

Almost two hours later... we were done. Done hanging 4 pieces of drywall.

I conveniently had to work the rest f the weekend showing houses.

In two days, Handy Man and his two friends, 2x4 A and 2x4 B, completely drywall-ed the entire room.

I have to give it to the guy... he's a hell of a handy man!

And his work space is so clean.

The new closet again. 

Entrance.

Place for the suitcases and leftover paint.

My cute little shelf. 

Ladies, you won't be disappointed if you marry a handy Man!