Framing Out the New Walls

I’ve been hard at work on our new rooms, and as we mentioned in this post, our guest bedroom/office is going to have one awesome built-in bed and shelving unit.  Making it possible to also have a closet off the kitchen near our side door.  After redoing the exterior wall in the room with new insulation and Sheetrock and adding fresh paint to all of the walls, I was on to framing out the new walls for the built-in bed and closet.  It was slower going than anticipated, but it’s beginning to take shape.

The framing of these walls was a little different than how you would normally frame walls because to maximize the space in the room we wanted the walls to be thinner than normal. Instead of framing with 2X4′s we mainly used 2X2 studs. This is very similar to how I did the framing when I insulated our laundry room and furnace room. For certain areas we needed a little bit more strength so in those areas we just turned 2X4′s sideways.

When framing walls, you actually measure, cut, and assemble the walls on the ground before lifting them into place. Because we were only using 2X2′s, we decided to pre-drill holes and then insert 2 1/2″ wood screws to assemble the walls to avoid splitting the boards with a nail gun.

After assembly, we lifted the first wall into place and adjusted it according to marks we previously measured out on the floor and ceiling to make sure everything was square.

There was one wall that didn’t have any studs to attach the new walls to. For that section we used heavy duty wall anchors. We drilled holes in the 2X2 followed by counter sinking the head of the screw into the wood so it wouldn’t stick out.

We then drilled holes in the drywall and inserted the anchors into the wall. After that you just use a screwdriver to tighten them all. It’s surprising how strong it becomes. It’s really hard to tell the difference between using wall anchors or wood screws.

After the first wall was in place, we based the rest of them off of that while constantly checking to make sure everything stayed true.

Here you can start to see it all take shape. At the top is the start of the framing for the archway that will eventually connect both built in book cases.

Here is the framing for the other side.

When we were in the planning stages, I knew that we were going to want a way of plugging in things like a lamp or alarm clock near the new built in. I didn’t want to move any outlets so i came up with the idea of creating a hollow spot in the wall with open outlet covers on either side where we will be able to slip an extension cord through keeping it hidden from view.

After the framing was mostly complete, we decided to get started on hanging the drywall for our highly anticipated side entry door closet.

Here’s the current view from the kitchen/side entry into the new closet. We are still working on the design and are debating how we want it to function, but we are already pretty excited about having this new feature in our home.

Earlier this week I talked about how amazing the Frog Tape was that I bought for painting the stripes in our nursery. I also discovered another new product in this project that is worth giving a try. If you’ve ever hung drywall before, you can probably relate to my disdain of the task. It’s heavy and messy, and it usually takes 2 people to lift into place. I discovered these new “Ultralight Sheetrock” panels at our local Home Depot. I decide to throw down the extra $1.00 a sheet to test it out, and like the Frog Tape, was totally worth it. One person can carry it fairly easily.  Plus, it cuts easier, and it’s not as messy. It really made the job a lot easier.

There is still a lot of work yet to do on our built-in bed like finishing the drywall installation along with a few sheets of plywood for the book shelves. Then it’s on to building the archway, trimming it all with decorative molding, and priming and painting it all.  But we are making progress.