Progress

I was originally planning on building the benchwork for the lower (staging) deck this weekend. As it turns out, we'll be away for most of Saturday and Sunday, but I'm taking Monday off so we'll see what I get done.

But it's also been partially delayed because I decided that we should go ahead and paint the basement before building the benchwork. It is New Haven #246 Silver Gray. I picked up the NH Color Guide at the NHRHTA table at the show this year (I've been meaning to get it for a while), so I had it color matched.

In addition to the painting, I had to patch the hole where the closet door used to be. In the process, I found that the short section of wall from the door frame to the corner was not quite square...



Yes, that's 3/4 inches of putty to square up the last section of the wall so I can put the molding on. I tacked a piece of masonite on the side of the wall (you can see one of the nail holes) so I could use fill the area to the correct depth. As expected with that much putty, it cracked. That was OK, I simply put a couple of courses of drywall tape, then the corner piece, with another course of tape. The tape I'm using is the nylon screen kind, so I think it should keep it from developing surface cracks in the future. It sure took a lot of putty.
 I'm only concerned about painting the main part of the room right now, so I can start the benchwork. I still have to patch the hole where the door to the laundry room used to be. The trim will be in New Haven #212 Hunter Green, and I'm still working on getting Laura to let me try New Haven #292 Warm Orange for the two doors. I think they'll look great set off by the Hunter Green door trim.

Anyway, if I'm lucky we can complete the painting by this weekend so I can pick up the supplies and start on the benchwork. I also need to design a workbench for the east side of the layout. There's enough room to fit it, but I think I'm going to make it collapsible so it won't be in the way for operation nights.

More to come...