Redoing the master bedroom is a project that has now taken at least 6 months longer than we thought it would. We've stripped several layers of wallpaper off the walls, repaired the plaster underneath, installed supports for a ceiling fan, demolished the current closet and rebuilt the shell for a new one, and put a new ceiling up.
Through all of this, the part that has been the biggest pain in the ass is the sanding. Betsy has written before about the dust that permeates our lives, and sanding those walls did take forever. However, that task cannot compare to sanding the ceiling.
When you sand a wall, you are next to it. The plaster/joint compound dust falls between you and the wall. When you sand a ceiling, you are on a ladder, directly beneath it. The dust falls into your eyes, ears, and nose.
Now, I'm not an idiot - I'm taking precautions by wearing a mask and safety glasses. I'm also wearing a hat. But there are some complications. First of all, I can't wear my contact lenses while sanding. The fine dust that's in the air immediately starts irritating them, and they get dried out. So I need to wear my glasses. On top of my regular glasses, I wear the safety glasses. As I breath in and out, the air I exhale gets pushed out the top of my mask and fogs my regular glasses. To combat this, I push my glasses far out to the tip of my nose. This pretty much eliminates any peripheral vision. The safety glasses get covered with dust almost immediately, so every few minutes, I need to stop and, using my index finger, wipe the safety glasses clear. But they never really get clear.
My friend Andy suggested putting a sanding block on a long pole, and sanding from the comfort of the floor, but I just don't see how you could get any leverage that way. It would be nice to not have to climb down the ladder and move it a foot this way or a foot that way every 5 minutes.
Anyway, the ceiling is almost finished. After that, the room gets a serious cleaning and the fun part begins - painting!
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