Screen Box Built and Hung, Nursery Begun

This is the completed and mounted box/shelf/mantle that I built to conceal our projection screen. No fancy joinery, just a little glue and a lot of nails from a nail gun. I think it turned out pretty nicely. It is a foot deep, so we could put quite a lot of stuff up there, but we will probably just keep it simple. Still no projector, but there is no couch so it doesn't matter. First things first. I have put more pics in the Web Album, so take a look:
http://picasaweb.google.com/dryanlocker/DenRemodel

We have also recently begun work on the nursery. There is not too much to be done in there: strip wallpaper, re-texture, paint, new carpet, new light/fan, decorate. Thankfully this will be the first room yet that we have not had to strip down to the studs in any area. We will keep our fingers crossed. I have created a new Web Album for this room that will have new pics from time to time, so check back:
http://picasaweb.google.com/dryanlocker/NurseryRemodel

I am still working intermittently on the 'coffin' half bath. I still have to finish floating the walls out with mud, sand, texture, paint . . . I have just gotten so burnt out on mudding that I seem to be stuck on that stage. Once I get that done it should not take very long to finish.

Staples Pulled, Screen Hung

I think my estimate of 2,000 staples now looks very conservative. There were a ton. And they're all out now. It tore up the walls, as did getting the last of the wallpaper down, so it is looking pretty rough right now. I think I am going to have to float all the walls out at least 1/16", maybe more.

I hung our projection screen. It is a 106" Da-Lite High Power (2.8 retroreflective gain) with in an eletric retractable version. It is pretty sweet. I still have to build a box around it. It will be black and look vaguely like a fireplace mantle.

You can see from the picture of it rolled down that the high gain screen coating really works. The flash makes the screen look brighter than the walls, which is exactly what it is supposed to do. Our problem is that we are putting the system in the worst imaginable room: one with tons of windows that you cannot control the light. The only way to get around this is to use a high gain screen and a very bright projector (2,000+ ANSI lumens). The retroreflective screen means that it directs most of the light back toward the projector, which means we will have to use a long-ish drop pole for our ceiling mount. The projector will probably end up hanging at about 7' from the floor, which means that you will be able to touch it, but won't hit your head on it. It still will not be perfect, but will serve our purposes very well: Most of the time it will be for movies at night (no light issues) and the occasional Sunday afternoon game (usually overly bright footage anyway).

Death by a Thousand Staple Pricks

So apparently when you cover your walls with padded silk, you have to use about a bo-zillian staples to hold it up. So for the next few days Mandy and I will (very) slowly and methodically be pulling out all of them. Seriously, I conservatively estimate that there are over 2,000 staples in the walls. The staples tore up the walls pretty badly, so I am definitely going to have to put a layer of joint compound over everything just to smooth them out before we can texture the walls. Weapons of choice? Needle-nose vice grips, some very tiny pry bars, and . . . dental probes.