Espresso bar: Drywall.

After finishing the electrical, the plumbing, and the framing for our built-in espresso bar, it was time to start putting that mess back together. It's looking pretty nice.

It took a little work to get to this point. I also got to break out the jointer jig I made back in 2015 and, well, haven't used since. It was stuffed behind a shelf in our garage. The thing about jigs, though, is that when you need them they're awesome to have. Case in point: I had a bunch of scrap 1/2" OSB from ripping the hole in our wall. The jointer jig would allow me to take messy scraps and use them to fit on the new framing. I'd then attach the (also scrap) drywall to that.

It's really sweet how the jig works. Worth noting: I also built the jig out of scrap. A scrap wood pile is like a gold mine. Almost literally.

1) Take a hacked off piece of wood and place it in the jig. Line it up with the edge of the jig just enough to cut off the messy edge.

2) Slide the jig's miter gauge into the table saw's miter slot.

3) Run it through the table saw and make a perfectly straight edge (hence it being called a jointer jig).

4) Now with a scrap piece of wood sporting a perfectly straight edge, rip it to the size needed.

5) Go from having a pile of seemingly-useless scrap (and expensive!) OSB board to a pile of ready to install boards.

Boom. Installed!

Now I had the surface I needed on which to attach the drywall. Since I hoard scrap everything construction-wise, I (yep) had kept the drywall scraps from building our floating wall last year. They came in handy. I spent an evening after the kids were in bed to cut and hang them.

The key I've learned the hard way to hanging sheetrock and having any chance of smooth seams is to finesse the new sheets in place. Especially when doing remodel work like this where I hacked the wall with a sawzall. I did try to make straight and clean cuts, but it was still by hand with a sawzall. The cuts weren't perfect.

Using a combination of drywall shims (don't leave home without those!) and a drywall file (see three photos above) to carve out sections of the sheetrock, I was able to get all the seams really level. I felt good going into mudding all the joints. Referencing my trusty instructions all the way back from 2010, I got to work.

I found the metal tape outside corners I was looking for at good ol' Stan's Merry Mart. There are a bunch of materials for corner options these days. I've used and swear by the Beadex stuff.

Despite the wonkiness of the various seams and holes I had to mud, I had put a lot of forethought into the mudding during each of the steps leading up to this. I've realized with the couple of construction projects we've done in our new house that I've approached them much more methodically than projects in our old house. Guess that comes with having learned from that house.

With each coat I progressively inched the mud out further from the seams.

I took a truth light to the wall when I thought I was close. Filled in some dings, low spots, and not-completely-feathered edges. Then it was done. Or as close to done as it was going to get. As those handy instructions note I didn't really even need to sand. I did a really light sand here and there with a 220-grit screen. Finally, I painted with drywall primer I also had leftover from our floating wall.

Now K and I have to decide what color we want to paint this room. While we do that, we've got some Ikea cabinet hacking to do and a granite countertop remnant to find…