Studio Update #2

Once we finally got the roof finished, we turned our focus on the inside of the studio. When we built our house, Greg did all of the rough electrical so he's got a good handle on how to do this stuff. We discussed where I would need outlets, where switches would be handy, and how many overhead lights I would need and where they should go. We picked up a small ceiling fan with lights at Home Depot and figured out where it would go, what height would be best, and where we might want to put stereo speakers (probably in the ceiling over the porch, and a set aimed out at the firepit area). Once Greg completed the electrical rough-in, we spent a couple of days putting the insulation in the rafters and the walls, then covered the walls with plastic vapor barrier.

Last week, we picked up six 4 x 8 sheets of grooved plywood (grooves every four inches) which I had thought would look great on the ceiling. I primed them and painted them with the paint I got at the Habitat Store, which is an off-white, semi-gloss latex. On the rough texture of the panels the paint still reflects quite a bit of light down and makes the room look much bigger than it is. We attached these panels to the rafters with screws, and then moved on to the drywall.

Last Saturday, we rented a drywall lift from a tool rental company and used this to lift the grooved panels up to the vaulted ceiling and Greg attached them, making sure everything was square and lined up correctly. Once we did that, we lifted several sheets up into the loft so we could finish the ceiling up there. This was fun because the drywall sheets just barely fit through the loft doorway. We put several full sheets up there so we can cover the loft ceiling when we get around to it.



We also used the lift to hold the drywall sheets underneath the bottom of the floor joists of the loft.


















Here's a picture of us shoving the drywall sheets up into the loft space. They barely fit through the opening and I'm not sure how we would have gotten them in there without using the drywall lift. I guess we would have had to cut them into smaller pieces.