Day One

Now don't expect this to be one of those professional do-it-yourself shows where the people finish the project in 1-2 days. I'm thinking two weeks before this room will be done, and that might not even include final touches. But I'm working with a budget of just $200, so I'll be reusing lots of things when I can. The carpet is going to be replaced, but that's outside the room budget.

Most of day 1 was spent driving around to various carpet places and buying lumber for a few special projects at Lowes.

After we got home, I started work on the half-wall/counter top. I found out that apparently I didn't have the right nails for assembling this stuff, as my nail gun's nails just fell right out. Instead, I ended up using giant screws to hold the wall together. It worked, but it took quite a bit longer because one drill's battery died and Lowe's doesn't carry the 24V charger I needed. I just used one drill.

Pulling up the carpet and the threshold between the carpet and the tile was easy. Once I had all the lumber cut and assembled, I cut and put the dry wall in place. Finally, I stood the wall up and attached it to the wall and the floor. It seems pretty solid. I'm still not sure what to use for a counter top, but something will come up, I'm sure.