Man Cave Update
Still plugging away on the Man Cave.
I have now put a couple of coats of joint compound on the paneling, but I have to say that I'm not loving the results. It seems to be filling in the crevices just fine, but I think you'll still be able to see the paneling when all is said and done.
The worst case scenario is that we resort to Plan B, which is covering up the paneling with some decorative baseboard molding. It's not the worst thing in the world, but I was trying to avoid that. I still have some tricks up my sleeve to minimize the look of the paneling, but more on that later.
What I am happy about is the initial results of cleaning the brick wall around the fireplace. Here's the "before" shot of the wall.
It doesn't look all that bad from afar, but I wanted to start the entire room with a clean slate. I did a search for "how to clean brick" and this site was one of the first ones I found. After doing a little research I discovered that the methods recommended on this site were consistent with other sites.
I decided to start with the very first method, which is using dish soap. Before doing that, though, I gave the entire wall and inside of the fireplace a once-over with the shop vac. Chased away a few spiders in the process. Yuck.
The dish soap and salt paste was easy to make, and it made the room smell good. An added bonus! I rubbed it on with a rag, just like the instructions said. I used a soft-bristled brush to scrub it off. Man, I underestimated what a mess that would make! There was salt and dirt and brick particles flying everywhere! I am so glad I decided to do this before painting the walls - there was quite a bit of splatter on the walls.
I thought it would be a good idea to use a sponge instead of a rag to get the paste off the wall, but that was a mistake. The sponge kept making new suds on the wall and I had to rinse about a half dozen times. I finally smartened-up and used a rag to rinse off the paste. If you ever decide to do this yourself, follow the instructions and use a rag instead of a sponge - trust me.
It was a bit horrifying to see the amount of dirt and grime that came off of that wall. The house is over 40 years-old, though, and I can't imagine that anyone thought to wash that wall much during those 40 years.
Check out the awesome results:
You can totally see where I did a small area of the wall, in the upper-left corner. Pretty nice, right?
I was hoping to start painting the room this weekend, but this cleaning is taking a while. Ultimately, it will be worth it though. Whoever said renovations were easy or fun?
I have now put a couple of coats of joint compound on the paneling, but I have to say that I'm not loving the results. It seems to be filling in the crevices just fine, but I think you'll still be able to see the paneling when all is said and done.
The worst case scenario is that we resort to Plan B, which is covering up the paneling with some decorative baseboard molding. It's not the worst thing in the world, but I was trying to avoid that. I still have some tricks up my sleeve to minimize the look of the paneling, but more on that later.
What I am happy about is the initial results of cleaning the brick wall around the fireplace. Here's the "before" shot of the wall.
It doesn't look all that bad from afar, but I wanted to start the entire room with a clean slate. I did a search for "how to clean brick" and this site was one of the first ones I found. After doing a little research I discovered that the methods recommended on this site were consistent with other sites.
I decided to start with the very first method, which is using dish soap. Before doing that, though, I gave the entire wall and inside of the fireplace a once-over with the shop vac. Chased away a few spiders in the process. Yuck.
The dish soap and salt paste was easy to make, and it made the room smell good. An added bonus! I rubbed it on with a rag, just like the instructions said. I used a soft-bristled brush to scrub it off. Man, I underestimated what a mess that would make! There was salt and dirt and brick particles flying everywhere! I am so glad I decided to do this before painting the walls - there was quite a bit of splatter on the walls.
I thought it would be a good idea to use a sponge instead of a rag to get the paste off the wall, but that was a mistake. The sponge kept making new suds on the wall and I had to rinse about a half dozen times. I finally smartened-up and used a rag to rinse off the paste. If you ever decide to do this yourself, follow the instructions and use a rag instead of a sponge - trust me.
It was a bit horrifying to see the amount of dirt and grime that came off of that wall. The house is over 40 years-old, though, and I can't imagine that anyone thought to wash that wall much during those 40 years.
Check out the awesome results:
You can totally see where I did a small area of the wall, in the upper-left corner. Pretty nice, right?
I was hoping to start painting the room this weekend, but this cleaning is taking a while. Ultimately, it will be worth it though. Whoever said renovations were easy or fun?
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