Teen Bedroom Day 4: That’s What She Said

(Teen Bedroom Day 1, Teen Bedroom Day 2, Teen Bedroom Day 3)

Installing the New Ceiling

This ceiling project took on a life of its own. Actually, this entire room is taking far longer than I realized that it would. I have labeled these posts by day, but the truth is that they should be labeled by project vs. day. We started repairing this room around the first of the month, so it feels like it is taking quite a long time to complete.

The original plan for the ceiling was to use the existing furring strips and hang new 2X2 ceiling tiles.

I thought I found some tiles that I liked at Home Depot, but when I returned to purchase them, I changed my mind. I did not think they would look authentic enough for a historic home. We needed a new plan, and it had to be inexpensive and easy to DIY. After some consideration, I suggested using beadboard panels. Andy gave it the same thoughtful consideration that I did, (No he didn’t) and then he answered, “Whatever.”

I estimated that this project would take about a half a day because beadboard is not too difficult to work with. We used it as faux wainscoting on the bathroom walls of our house in California. We probably should have used the real deal here at BHH, but I was looking for something that could be changed out easily if we decided to become historical purists and go back to a straight plaster ceiling. Beadboard comes in 4’X8′ panels, and they are about $20/sheet. We needed about 6 sheets.

Andy and I knew that the project would require help since the panels would be difficult, if not impossible to hold in place and nail at the same time. Since we are new to the area, we called the only friends that we know well enough, and we asked them to come to our house to work all day, doing something out of their normal skillset, and receive no pay whatsoever for doing it. They said yes, so they really only have themselves to blame. Enter, Don and Courtney:

I had all sorts of grand plans which would make the project as complicated as possible while maximizing the potential for a perfect outcome. After much conversation on my part, we went back to Andy’s original plan which was “just put the first one up and see how it looks.” Don was in charge of the liquid nails. My job was to hold up the center, and Don and Andy would nail the beadboard to the furring strips. Courtney became the nail girl since we only own one ladder. Don and Andy used chairs. Neither Don nor Andy have a lot of experience doing carpentry. As a result, more nails were hitting the floor than going into the ceiling. I would not have done any better. I am sure. There was no way that I had the strength to hold the board in place and nail at the same time. After getting the first panel in place, we were all thinking the same thing:  We are buying a nail gun.

Spirits were still high during panel number two. I persuaded everyone into staggering the panels so there would be no definite seam that spanned the entire room. This led to some discouraging words. S. threatened to bring in the swear jar, which he made about two years ago.

It says: Every time you swear put 25 cents in the jar.
There is money in there already, and we use it for family fun. One time, there was so much saved that we bought a trampoline. True story. You would think that buying a trampoline with swear jar proceeds would have been a wake up call to change our habits, but it was not. The swear jar is still functioning as a pretty decent savings account. If I was the kind of person who would throw someone under the bus for our robust swear jar, I would point directly at Andy. I am not that kind of person though.

By panel three, there was a cut involved. Measure twice, cut once is a great motto for DIYers. Don and Andy used the measure none, cut thrice approach. We discovered that our saw blade was garbage, and it chewed up the edges of one panel, rendering it useless. Andy had bought a couple of extra panels in case of error, so we were still all set. He and Don tried various cutting methods, but they settled on using a straightedge and a utility knife. It was the best tool for a fairly clean edge.

By panel four, we were getting silly. Everything became an innuendo, and we all started in with That’s What She Said. I don’t want to be specific because this is a g-rated blog, but Don had us all laughing pretty much continuously. The hours flew by, and the ceiling progress did not. Courtney was promoted to sanding girl as well as nail girl. Beer entered the picture. We took a lunch break at 3:00 pm. It became very clear that this was not a simple half day job.

As we began to slow down, the liquid nails started dripping off the furring strips before we could get the panels in place. Don got some on his head, and Andy smeared a big stripe down the front of his hair. At one point, Courtney accidentally got the entire bin of nails slapped out of her hand. They flew all over the room. We were tired. We became kind of careless. Andy stuck the jig-saw blade through the window screen without even noticing.

Panel after panel, we worked. The room was covered in blobs of liquid nails, and panel nails littered the carpet. We were still laughing…and swearing. Don lost all patience with me, panel nails and anything vaguely democratic.


By the end, my arms were too tired to hold the panels, so I improvised.

Finally, around 6:30 pm, it was done, and it looked…well, it looked not as good as I hoped it would, but it had potential.


We were all pretty slap happy by that point, so Andy and I could only laugh when we witnessed this:

And we laughed harder at Millie’s follow-up expression:

Don looked appropriately remorseful.

We were not sure Don and Courtney would want to remain friends with us after a full day ceiling project, but it seems they cannot shake us easily. We have spent time together since that day, and they do not seem to be trying to avoid us. (Note to self: Make more friends so you can rotate them on project days, and you won’t wear them out.)

Next up: Ceiling finish work and painting prep.