New Bathroom, Part 42

Since Thanksgiving, I've had an almost-usable bathroom. See how pretty it is below? Working lights, a functioning sink, toilet, and bathtub, with pretty green drywall walls.

Okay, so I'll admit that drywall is not actually that pretty, and it is not a long-term wall solution. For those of you who don't know how houses are built in the US, you may be surprised to learn (as I was) that walls are basically made of dust. After you build a wooden frame for your walls, you attach drywall, which is basically sheets of powdery material held together with a paper backing. If the drywall ever gets wet, it completely disintegrates, which is one of many reasons why flood damage is can be so serious. 

You keep the drywall dry by applying a water-resistant coating (aka paint) on it, but before you do that you have to mud the seams. This means applying a plaster-like substance to the edges and smoothing it to be pretty. I turns out I hate this job. Even with friends helping me get started, I did not want to do it. And if you look at the picture below, you might partially see why. My semi-functional bathroom is now gone so I can make better seams.

I decided this job was better done quickly, so I used my mad project-manager skills to create a 10-day plan involving a task breakdown and (most importantly) rewards for each step. Hopefully I'll have good "after" photos in about a week and a half.

In completely other news, let me distract you from construction debris with this beautiful garden picture. Everything is colorful and blooming!