Area walls finally prepped...

All the prep work is finally done so I am set to start knocking the bumps off the walls and skim-coating with joint compound. Whew! Since the last post the following has occurred:

- construction-zone converted back into dining room for a lovely visit from my parents
- dining room converted back into construction zone, with plastic on floor, doorways, french doors, and windows.
- last coats of shellac and varnish applied to window frames
- walls finally de-glossed with TSP-substitute. (Ugh-- I didn't even get to the ceiling and I don't know if that will ever happen. The walls were hard enough!)
- last sanding/scrubbing old stain and remaining paint off oak beam and post surfaces where they meet the wall

Here's the dining room now:



And boy will I NOT miss this spot on the wall where I took off the giant 1970's motion detector. (LOL, I wish I had taken a picture before tearing it out).



There are 2 things I don't know how to address prior to slathering on the joint compound...

Around the windows and doors some of the plaster is flaking off. Should I start knocking off all the loose bits, or just hope I can anchor them in place with the joint compound?? I'm afraid that if I start knocking loose pieces off, there will be no wall left. How will I know when to stop???



Also, I am still uncertain how to deal with this area where the post and wall intersect. I'm hoping I finally have enough of the messy sanding/stripping done that I can just mask off the wood and do all the skim coating and painting of the walls, then mask off the walls and add the finish to the post and beams, without ruining the adjacent areas in the process.



(here's the same post a couple months ago before I finished scrubbing the one side).

Alright, well here's hoping that eventually redoing the walls is more satisfying than all the fussing that it took to get to this point!