Help me fix my stupid bedroom so I can work on my stupid truck again

My house is built poorly. I'm fixing things as I go. We're down to the home stretch now, as I finish up the bedroom. Some of you saw the refinishing thread where I fixed the dressers, old Craigslist finds. Last year about this time I finished our bed, and in the middle somewhere I built a cool bookcase. Now it's time to paint the room. The ceiling has a slanted portion, and the people doing the sheetrock there must have been drunk. Among the numerous nail pops, the seams at the slanted portion wave at you when you walk into the room to say hello. I think the right answer is to carve out the seams with a painter's tool, by the appropriate angle plastic section, and remud both seems. I don't want to do that. Tunawife is unusually sensitive to dust, and I'm not very good at sheetrock either. We have been tossing the idea around of adding some trim, or even some paneling, or even some beadboarding to that back wall and the angled section. I honestly don't know what would look good. I willing to do anything though. Especially if it's not sheetrock. See the pictures and give me some advice if you want. The first two are other angles just to give you an idea of what the bedroom looks like. Don't worry, the blinds are already on order.

I can't see any waves, but, have you considered painting it the wall color instead of ceiling white?

mikeatrpi said:

I can't see any waves, but, have you considered painting it the wall color instead of ceiling white?

I didn't take any up close. I can paint that section wall color but the seam at the ceiling isn't any better. 

Textured finish for drywall hides a plethora of sins. Its a mother to match if you have to repair or replace any sheetrock, but it might be something to look into.

The fastest and cheapest option might be a wall paper that you like (assuming the angled section isn't textured in any way). I'd probably run it up the wall as well as the angled section, all the way to the horizontal ceiling

There's always shiplap too (insert Joanna Gaines meme here):

My personal favorite option is probably making it a paneled accent wall:

What about boxing in a fake beam?  Also, I like your bedroom guitar hangers. Just bought the same or similar. 

In reply to STM317 :

I like the panel accent wall idea!

In reply to jh36 :

Maybe? Give a picture.

I think those are stringswing. I like them a lot. Guitars are pretty.

Appleseed said:

Textured finish for drywall hides a plethora of sins. Its a mother to match if you have to repair or replace any sheetrock, but it might be something to look into.

Pass, good idea, but I have had it on walls in the past and not liked it.

Those are the guitar hangers I have. 
 

From the google. 

And another. 

Frame it like a giant fake skylight. Paint it blue inside with clouds. Line the trim with dim LED ropelight.

jh36 said:

And another. 

ok thanks. I think I like the panel accent better, but then again if I can get Tunawife to pose like that I could be convinced.

 

ok thanks. I think I like the panel accent better, but then again if I can get Tunawife to pose like that I could be convinced.

 

Right. I had to send that victory pose. Yeah, I like the panels too. 

If the waving seams are between the wall and the angled ceiling, and not the angled ceiling and ceiling itself, another option could be crown molding depending on the severity of the problem. 
 

I personally would go with the paneling, I think it looks much nicer and is probably easier or at least less tedious. 
 

Side note in the form of unrequested marriage advice from my parents, my in-laws, and my wife and I: a king sized bed is easily one of the best things we have all done for our respective marriages. 

In reply to mtn :

The waviness is roughly equal on the two seams, but the crown molding has been discussed.

That bed is a queen, but it's not going anywhere as I built it for her from scratch (it has to have a tilt) and spent good money on a really great mattress less than a year ago.

Not that it'll fix the janky joints, but don't use a bright white ceiling  paint, use some with a tiny bit of black/dark tint in it. It sort of creates its own shadow, makes nail pops and waves less noticeable. On that same note, use a proper ceiling  paint, you want the flattest/most matte paint you can get for the same reason as above.... I know people who use low sheen wall paint for their ceilings..... it looks like ass. One last paint tip, use a long nap roller, say half inch or even a little longer. It gives the paint a rougher texture which will help hide flaws.

I like the shiplap/lining board idea, you could even couple it with the false beam idea to really hide everything.

Good luck, sorting  out other people's  berkeley ups is very frustrating. 

Old theater trick to making things look like they aren't plywood and glue is to spatter paint.  Paint the section of wall your intended color.  Then take two cups of the paint.  Mix in a tablespoon of white to one cup and water it down a bit.  Mix in a tablespoon of a darkening color that fits the palette (like I would use a light brown with that yellow or possibly a battleship gray) and water it down.

Use a short-bristled brush and drag your thumb across it to spit the lighter/darker shades of paint on the wall.  No texture to annoy, you can't see it from 5 feet away, and hides millions of sins.  Also, use dead flat paint.  It will reflect light evenly.  Having a sheen on a wavy wall you'll see how every wave reflects light differently.

A printed wallpaper would do the same thing as the paint spatter, as long as it's not shiny

I do love that accent panel wall.  Ironically I just finished building two of these for an upcoming show.  Mostly random heights of 1x2 mitered frames that suggest old victorian raised-panel walls.  The randomness does two things; 1) symbolism... big pretty rich-man's house, but something ain't quite right, and 2) your eyes go directly to the randomness of the frames and not the fact that it's luan and 2x4s.  Once these get a coat of paint and a glazed woodgrain, they'll really look good.  Don't be afraid to go all random on stuff.  The more symmetrical and precision your design, the more perfectly it must be executed.  The perfectly square panels on that gray wall above will require some precision or your eyes will be drawn to the seams and details.  Random sizes are more forgiving (and I also hate symmetry.  It's the designer in me)

Also, a great way of covering those seams is to use Bed Moulding.  It's like miniature crown molding.  Way cheaper, forgiving, and comes in a few flavors.

I did a bed mould above my sliding mirrored doors for my closet because the ceiling isn't level.  A simple twist of the bed mould as I followed the slope of the ceiling and you really can't tell it's not level.  Your eye sees that it's one continuous strip of moulding and never asks questions.

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

Also, a great way of covering those seams is to use Bed Moulding.  It's like miniature crown molding.  Way cheaper, forgiving, and comes in a few flavors.

I did a bed mould above my sliding mirrored doors for my closet because the ceiling isn't level.  A simple twist of the bed mould as I followed the slope of the ceiling and you really can't tell it's not level.  Your eye sees that it's one continuous strip of moulding and never asks questions.

Thanks for this, I love the mirror wave!!  I showed tunawife and she wants to stay symmetrical, but I appreciate you taking the time to suggest it. We start today. Stay tuned. 

Big mirror.

iansane said:

Frame it like a giant fake skylight. Paint it blue inside with clouds. Line the trim with dim LED ropelight.

Or paint it black with a star field on it.

You can use the method curtis mentioned for stars, it's what I did on the band room

Already started

NOHOME said:

Big mirror.

When you have an 835 sf house, mirrors go a long way to making it not look like an outhouse