More Crown Molding and my worst disaster ever.

That corner is done. Trouble comes later.

The left wall is plaster on lathe. The right wall is block. 

I've been moving forward with the bar/sun room over the past couple weeks. We settled on a molding we liked, an unfinished pine with an interesting knurled design. After selecting and applying a walnut stain, I put three coats of a polyurethane coating. I did this in the basement and each time there was a rather strong odor from the fumes throughout the house. I would have preferred to finish the wood outside but the weather was just not cooperating and I really need to get this job done. Of course, the real fun began with the installation of the molding. As I have written before, crown molding installation is very difficult, mainly due to the compound angles involved. You have the corners of the room but it's the angle of the molding that makes it difficult as it doesn't sit flat on the wall. Add to this that almost no house is perfectly square, and in our home, the block walls, and well frankly it's a pain in the ass. When I installed it with John, he brought a air powered nail gun and experience. My experience is growing but I was not about to spend several hundred dollars on a compressor and nail gun just for this one job. I asked two different "experts" about installing crown molding on a block wall and got two dumb looks as answers. Not helpful.  Eventually, I decided to tack the molding on the block wall, holding it in place while the construction adhesive set. This was more difficult than it sounds simply because there is no good way to hold the molding tightly to the block wall short of using huge masonry nails that would damage the molding. Eventually I was able to get it tight enough by tacking it to the ceiling and holding it in place while adhesive dried.

After many struggles the crown molding is installed and overall I'm happy with the job. Some of the gaps, especially on the cinder block wall are not perfect, but that's what they make wood putty for. This is when I made the most spectacular mistake and disaster of my short DIY career. I went around the room setting the nails and putting the putty in the holes, and more importantly filling the seams and corners. The next step is to stain the putty so it matches the molding. As I was moving the ladder I forgot to remove the can of stain from the top step and down it came. Walnut stain splattered everywhere. Cindy heard the crash and came running and we spent the next three hours desperately cleaning stain from everywhere before it dried. The good news is that miraculously did not hit any of the painted walls, and it did not stick to our freshly refinished hardwood floors. It was all over me and my shoes. my tools, my ladder and my folding work bench. Sorry, but no pictures of the disaster exist as my sole focus was clean up and recovery. Believe it or not, thanks to Cindy's help, no trace of the disaster exists, other than my shoes.

I plan to climb back on that ladder soon and finish staining the putty. I then have some paint touch up and the room will be done. We have already purchased an area rug for the room, and have some tacky Tiki Bar art for one of the walls. We need to find a high table and chairs, and perhaps a bar for the corner and the room will be done. I do plan to rehab the windows but that needs to be done for the entire house and sounds like a good retirement job,