Kitchen ceiling and staircase update

The last couple of days have been fairly unproductive due to more snow removal and miscellaneous dentist/doctor appointments.  So here's where we are right now.

The kitchen ceiling is at the trim installation phase.  Our kitchen ceiling is actually divided into two areas due to a large support beam.  Right now we are working on the small area as we fine tune the design.

First, we installed the bead board plywood, making sure that the seams between one panel and the next, lined up on each side of the support beam.  On Sunday, we installed the 1X4 pine pieces around the perimeter of the ceiling and across the seams between the panels.

the entire kitchen will be painted semi gloss ultra white

Now we are at the point where we can decide if we want to add an additional 1x4 that has had 3/4" removed so that the reveal is the same on the vertical and the horizontal boards OR a smaller trim piece like a cove moulding OR stop at this point and just caulk the seams before painting.

Luckily we immediately agreed, which is very rare.  I'll confess here that I believe one can never have enough trim.  R on the other hand usually balks at adding anything extra which I attribute to his inability to envision a project in it's finished state before it's actually completed.

I climbed up on the ladder and held the extra trim in place and said "do you like this with or without the extra piece or do you like it with this little piece of trim?"  He immediately said  "it needs the extra piece on the ceiling.  It's more masculine and looks appropriate for the age of the house."  SAY WHAT?  I couldn't believe it.  I was all prepared to plead my case for the extra piece.

R was never a big watcher of HGTV or any home improvement shows except for the Woodwright and This Old House but lately he has been watching more shows including Rehab Addict.  I think this has helped him when it comes to envisioning a completed project.

Tomorrow we will cut down some 1x4's and finish up the small side of the ceiling.  Then we will move on to the large section of ceiling which has some odd angles cuts and a doorway that I need to talk R into removing.  More on that when we get to it.

In other news....scraping continues in the stair case.  The paint on the north wall is not easy to remove.  The more layers of paint there is, the easier it is to remove and I can count only 3 layers of paint in the staircase. I've also started removing the paint from the window in the stair case.  The trim was never stained or shellac and the wood appears to be clear pine.  The paint is gummy and is not coming off easily.  I found this same condition when I removed the paint from the exterior trim.  I think that the paint combines with the natural oil or sap in the wood and after almost 90 years, it results in gummy paint removal.

As I removed the paint in the staircase, I was sure I was going to uncover a lot of damage because there were poorly executed patches everywhere.  What I did find were small plaster pops (the size of a quarter to a half dollar) that were repaired with a mound of drywall compound 8 inches in diameter.

Removing the paint near the ceiling will be a chore and I haven't yet decided how I am going to tackle that area.  Like Scarlett O'Hara said, in Gone with the Wind, tomorrow is another day.