When my parents were up here visiting us on the 4th of July, I talked my dad into helping me hang all the drywall. Lifting a 4x12 foot sheet onto the slanted walls was a very interesting challenge. But we got it all done in about a day.
Then it was onto taping and mudding. After some long days and 3 coats of mud, I got the walls pretty smooth. Man . . how the pros can whip out an entire home in 3 days is beyond me. Dry sanding is also not a very fun job, but it's quicker than wet sanding. The mud doesn't look very straight in the picture but the walls sure were smooth!
After the sanding was complete it was time to texture. Normally texture is sprayed on the wall with what's called a hopper and an air compressor, but our home has what's called an "Old World" texture finish. It's a smoother finish and requires you to spread a very thin layer of mud over the entire wall. Boy was that tiring, but I believe I got the desired effect although it's a little rougher than the rest of the house. What can you expect? I'm not a professional.
Then it was onto installing baseboard and painting the primer coat on the walls. I will tell you that painting diagonal walls is a pain in the rear. Especially when they're so low to the ground. Painting vertical walls is much easier. You'll notice the circular pattern on the window screen. I used the box fan you see in the picture above to help suck the dusty air out of the room and blow it outside. It actually worked pretty well. I need to clean the screen still. Also this was the first time I've worked with MDF baseboard and trim. It sure is nice stuff. No sanding required and it comes pre-primed.
The final step was the the final coat of paint and then blinds and misc. stuff. You may ask why blue? Well, we're going for the outdoors look. Eventually we'll paint grass on the lower part of the walls and then we'll sponge some clouds on the ceiling and stick little glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling as well. So the blue is supposed to represent the color of the sky.
Throughout this whole process, the kids loved coming up and watching Dad work on the playroom "AGAIN!". Isaac enjoyed watching me put the mud on the walls and was glad that it was not the same as the "bubbling mud" that we saw while in Yellowstone last month. The kids were also very good about getting Dad water. Now that we have an automatic ice and water dispenser on our fridge, they are very proud of being able to get the water by themselves. Granted sometimes the glass would be completely full of ice with about an inch of water at the bottom, but they were good helpers and kept me going. And they sure are excited about the new playroom. It's been a long month and a lot of work, but rewarding. The carpet was the final touch and it's really not that much different than the rest of the carpet throughout the house as you can see on the landing here. Hopefully the kids will enjoy playing up there and Tami and I will enjoy not having to pick up toys all over the house, although something tells me we'll never get away from that.
I believe I mentioned that the only thing that separates the poor from the rich is a wall. Hopefully you can see that from this next picture. This area on the other side of the hotel wall is actually one of the nicer little neighborhoods.
My normal day consists of getting up and heading down to the hotel buffet, the only chance I have of eating somewhat familiar food. The driver then picks me up out front of the hotel and thank goodness the cars are air conditioned to compensate for the 95 degree/90% average humidity outside. There's a constant dust cloud that hovers over the roads due to the lack of paved roads on many of the side streets. Pedestrians, bicycles, cars, busses, and motorized rickshaws all have an equal right of way on the main roads. I'm amazed that the cars all have their side view mirrors still. I wouldn't be at all surprised if people were wearing secret body armour underneath their clothes for the occasional side swipe by vehicles. It still amazes me that I get to the office without hitting anyone. Here's some pictures of the thousands of rickshaws on the road including some other forms of transportation. 
Here's a shot of a typically dressed Indian woman walking down the street on the way to the office. These potholes are pretty mild compared to some of the roads I travel on. This road already has something going for it . . . it's mostly paved!
The Indians at work claim that the roads are bad here because there's a lot of construction going on. Uh . . . nice excuse. Here's a typical street corner that doesn't look too bad.
Coming back to the hotel is actually very refreshing. However as the car comes through the gates the security guards stop and take one of those convex mirrors at the end of a long pole and walk around the car looking for bombs. I like to think they're looking for people clutched to the underside of the car hanging on for dear life just to get into the gates of the hotel. That's one thing that everyone has around here . . . their own personal security guards. It's comforting, but sometimes I wonder how much security they really provide. Back in the hotel room I turn on the TV and am bombarded with the World Cup on almost all channels. Don't forget the Cricket 24 hour channel. Someday I may actually look up the rules and try to figure out this strange sport. I have gotten pretty good at understanding the heavily accented English that the Indians speak here. Just a final tid bit . . . thanks to Brett, my colleague at work for giving me a copy of Angels & Demons (the prequel book to the Da Vinci Code). I stayed up until 3:30 in the morning finishing it. By the way, very very good book. I just started the Da Vinci Code this afternoon. I've been ordered by Brett to read the book before seeing the movie, which is fine. I like Dan Brown's style.
