Kathe, I think your walls look fabulous!
My husband and I live in a home built in 1893 and have plaster walls with many imperfections! You probably would have thrown yourself out of one of the 3rd story windows by now......I choose to ignore all the dings!
Great job!
Sue

I think with the contrast between upper and lower, you have achieved what you are trying to do. It looks smooth to me :) If you are able to paint the lower with oil base and a brush, and sand between coats it will fool the eye even more.

My painter (who has taken me on as a charity case, I think), does these type of treatments and also lacquered walls, which need to be pool table flat to look their best with a brilliant-finish lacquer. They will often do 6-8 skim coats with intensive sanding. Its hard work and I can't imagine the expense of having a pro do it.

Yes, you are obsessing. :) Looks good to me!

I would have skipped all the labor intensive troweling/sanding, and used the more expensive approach by using furniture grade plywood for the base.

A coat - probably two - of XIM's Peel Stop could very well move the texture to a more even state. Maybe even what you are expecting.

Peel Bond is for interior too.

It's a high build primer - and that might be enough to fill in the valleys you have left, even out the profile. Watch the commercial...

Here is a link that might be useful: Peel Bond

Newhomebuilder, I hear you, but I think I went the easier route. The part I didn't show, but is in the album is there is existing frame molding on the wall. So to do the cuts to get the plywood to fit would have been a bear. Or to remove the molding would have been a bigger headache to repair.

When DH saw me start this project - he works from home - he said, 'why don't we just do real paneling?' Snort, yeah, sure. I like how it's 'we'. This is our 4th house together. My quick $40 'get the look' project turns into several hundreds of dollars, or what would really happen is nothing. He'd never 'get around to it.' Just like our other houses. We did a complete kitchen overhaul in 1999 in our first house, and he's still taking a break from all that hard work LOL!

I think you all are right about the obsessing. I'll just finish up my priming and get to work with the paint. I'll post pics when I'm done. Or when the next obsession hits - color - drapes - urgh!

Kathe

Here is a link that might be useful: Molding in dining room

If your terminology of bumpiness is waviness or wavy rolling left behind from the mud being troweled on, it could be you haven't smooth sanded down enough in those areas to feather it out and then again it could be the drywall in the original already had these conditions when you remudded over. If this is the case primers "are not" going to fill in those types of voids.

High build acrylic primers such as gripper, textur-fil and XIM will help when trying to fill in some form of texture or when you are bringing up a sanded area to blend in with an adjoining area.

From the picture you posted looks and appears as if you've done a fantastic job on mudding and sanding. Does not appear to be any type of texture or bumpiness or whatever left behind. By the time you put your primer on and then use a good acrylic or urethane , may not even be noticeable to you, especially with the molding inserts already there.

Funcolors, thanks for the recommendation of Peel Bond. I know it's something I'll be able to use in the future. I'm not sure if I'll need it on this current application, as I'm ready to call it a day. However, if the imperfections really get to me in the future, I'll grab some PB.

I know this is something I'll need on the exterior of my house.

Thanks so much!!!

OMG! I had no idea there was a product like Peel Bond out there! Thank you, Funcolors!

Kathe, you're the only one who can say if it's okay the way it is now or not. I'm not there to see it and say one way or the other. Deciding to get happy with the way it is now is definitely the easier alternative.

Peel Bond is pretty awesome stuff. My local Dunn Edwards has XIM products on the shelves and I've seen it at SW before too. Check with your "real" paint store. If they don't have it, maybe they can order.

I see you can order online with them now too. I never have, altho we have other paints drop shipped all the time with great success - I wouldn't hesitate or order it online.

just be careful ordering stuff online and having it shipped in the "winter months". Paint products and freezing temps. don't mix.

Excellent point, DW. Thanks for chiming in to add that. Living on the border, it's not much of a concern and I forget about that factor.

A lot of vendors who ship paint use FedEx and -- supposedly -- paint is shipped and it is managed with temps in mind thru the process. Supposedly being the key word. ;) It is definitely wiser to be cautious.

Thank you so much for all your opinions and help. I'm still in progress, but I'm so happy. I'm doing the Snoopy happy dance! After funcolors said it's up to me how much imperfection (the gist) I can tolerate, I went back over and spackled any pits or indentations that I felt would show or bother me. I sanded with an pieces of paper bag (unprinted side). It's a trick I learned somewhere, the paper bag is basically an ultra super fine grit. Then I vacuumed, cleaned and primed over those spots. I stayed up late to get the first coat of Cabinet Coat on. The instructions said the first coat needed to dry overnight. I got it up and got curious what it would look like with the darker upper wall. I had a quart of Kwal's version of Tobacco Road in flat and put it up on one wall. It's thin, but I was just looking to get an idea. Although this version of Tobacco Road is a bit darker than I wanted, I'm thrilled with the overall results. I'll probably either color match my Sherwin Williams sample or just buy the SW version.

I took pictures, one is a long shot the other more of a close up.

Yeah, there's imperfections, but they're not noticeable when standing up or seated at the table. The Cabinet Coat leveled out great.

Why Cabinet Coat? I had it on-hand and wanted a durable finish, wipable finish.

In case anyone asks about the color, the formula mix for the Cabinet Coat is:
5 parts White to 1 part Almond

I'll update again when I'm finish (hopefully tonight). : )

Kathe

Here is a link that might be useful: Dining room in progress

I've still got a couple more walls waiting for a 2nd coat, but here's what I've got.

I used Tobacco Road as mixed by Sherwin Williams. She pulled out the old deck. Mine appears to be a darker golden brown that other people, but could just be might light. I'm happy with the color.

The picture was taken this morning. The window is west facing & has no blinds up. The chandelier is also on, so that's the shadow in the middle of the wall.

Kathe

Here is a link that might be useful: Dining room update