My Name is Mud

I was talking to a friend yesterday and we were discussing how hard we, as women, are on ourselves (not just the two of us, but women in general).  It's sad that we spend so much time expecting SO MUCH of ourselves and then putting ourselves down when we don't live up to our lofty expectations...at least I know I do.   Very rarely do I have a kind word to say to myself, about myself.  Together we both decided we needed to do better.  So, in the spirit of patting myself on the back, it's time to brag about my basement...
We have been told by countless people that there is no way on earth they would do the tape and mud in their basement--that it was something that definitely had to be hired out.  So when Patrick was done with the drywall, we started making calls to get someone to come mud.  We got some bids, all around $1800...  And again, most people said that was pretty typical.  But when we started working on our basement five years ago we were determined to do it without borrowing any money (that's why it's taken five years...and why we've done almost all of it ourselves) and $1800 was a lot of our hard earned savings to part with when we have carpet looming right around the corner.  That's when I decided I could do it myself (not Patrick...ME...I have done it all MYSELF...hear that noise?  That's me, patting myself on the back)   It's taking some time, but I'm getting there. 1600 square feet...and lots of mud later...I am almost done!  I was mudding for SEVEN HOURS yesterday.  By the time I got done my legs and arms were jello and my back was killing me.  But I got a LOT done!  Yay for me!

The family room obviously is the biggest but it was also the easiest (except for the ceiling...that was hard on my back)

The hallway was a little more time consuming because of the closets... we also have this strange little angle of dead space that we didn't really consider when we were building but I had to mud it with my fingers because the knife wouldn't fit... it was lame (can't see it in the picture, but it's there...dumb little corner...)

The boys room has double closets...Dylan can't wait to have his own closet!

Patrick is particularly proud of the closet in Savannah's room...it really took some work to get it angled the way it is.  Mudding was a challenge because of the odd corners both inside and outside that closet. (You can't see the closet too well, but trust me, it's an awesome angled walk in closet that she will LOVE)

Again, Patrick is proud of his arched doorway to the bathroom.  There isn't going to be a door on the sink portion of the bathroom,  so a certain unnamed beauty queen isn't hogging the bathroom all the time.


Now I just need to learn how to texturize the ceiling and then I get to do the PAINTING, too!