So ive been in the trade since I was 14 hanging on weekends and after school ( family ) im now 33 and have been full time since highs school, I have over 15 years of solid exp as a piece worker, hanging and finish, seeing someone say if they can hang 70 sheets in a week they are happy makes me wonder if they really know how much money they could make if they learned how to "piece work"??!!.... my brother and I charge $25 per sheet for a basic house with 8 ft cielings, if its a house with more detail we could charge up to $35 per sheet, that's just labor, if we supply material its anywhere from $50 up to $70....the location plays a factor also....houses on the coast tend to be a higher price....anyways say we have a house that's 150 sheets ( 12 foot sheets ALWAYS ) we hang it in 2 days and tape, finish, sand in 5 days.... hanging is always faster money cause your only doing it once! so say we are charging 25 we split it in half 12.50 to hang 12.50 to tape...so that's $1,875 we split 50 50 that we made in 2 days.... we always get a check after hanging then again after finish....and most of our contractors are right there to pay when the last screw is in then when the dust hits the floor......if we are charging 35 we would take 15 to hang 20 to tape....we also do commercial work when we want a break from houses....and that's through another bigger drywall company.... but you can make a lot more piece working commercial stand ups....we mostly tape when it comes to that but we can do anywhere from 350 - 500 sheets a week 10' stand ups, but since its through a different company and not for our own we may get 12-14 a sheet.... but still 350 sheets a week at 12 is a 2,000$$ week!! ( its not always like that but it can be!!) and if your thinking well why doesn't every0ne do that then.... cause not just anyone can!! even guys that are good drywallers and do a great clean job and really know the skill doesn't mean they know to "flow" and hang 80 sheets a day or tape 400 a week.....and just an fyi, our work is by far top quality so no just because we run and go fast doesn't mean we "butch" anything!!.... its called pride and wanting to be the best at what you do!

Hi. Just an update on the fabric for my window treatments in the kitchen. I received a pretty nice size swatch of the Patna Paisley Spice as discussed in this thread with a picture attached above. Those who responded back felt that the pattern would work well in my kitchen. We hung the swatch in various locations and we do love the fabric and it definitely works well on the side of my kitchen with the window located near the back door but doesn't seem to work as well on the window above the sink due to placement near the cabinets. There doesn't seem to be enough contrast when put up against the cabinets - in fact the fabric seems to match the cabinets too much.. Please refresh your memory with the pics I posed above.. With that said, since we love the fabric so much, I was wondering if you thought I could add a separate solid fabric (possibly dark brown/bronze) to the Patna Paisley fabric to add some contrast. If you look closely at the picture posted of the fabric, you will see that there is a little bit of that color running through some of the paisleys now, but not near enough. Since we plan on making relaxed roman shades, I am wondering if there is a way to add some other fabric to our design. Maybe sew some solid brown fabric to the bottom of the shade where it curves? Or maybe there is some other area in the design that we could add the brown. What do you think? I just think we need a little more "pop" and I thought the brown might do it since there are many bronze accents in the room. Thanks to all for your responses.. This post was edited by frank1203 on Mon, Feb 10, 14 at 6:19

It sounds like you have what you need, and that you just need some practice. Any corded drill (or cordless) can handle this job. It sounds like you have standard, inexpensive bits which are usually high speed steel (HSS), and those are fine, too. You may want to get some better quality bits (like titanium coated) in the future. Unless your walls are actually concrete, you have no need of specialty tools, like a hammer drill or masonry bits. Impact drivers are wonderful specialty tools for driving fasteners into tough materials, but it would be the wrong tool to use on this project. (It would be nice to have a cordless drill-driver if you are driving screws, but you don't absolutely need that, and you need to master the use of a regular drill first.) Plaster drilling dulls bits faster than using them in wood, so you might want to have some extra bits on hand. And even though I have been using tools for over 50 years, I, too, occasionally break small diameter bits, so I keep cheap spares around. While I tend to buy high quality power tools, when it comes to disposables, like bits, I look for bargains since I do a lot of drilling; for your drilling needs, you might want to look at a place like Harbor Freight tools: Drill bits You can get decent bits there for cheap, including things like a set of half a dozen 1/16" or 3/32" or 1/8" bits for a couple of bucks. They have stores in many areas of the country and you can buy online. Too many homeowners have one set of bits that get dull early on and never get replaced, so I suggest you pick up some extras and toss them out when they quit performing well. Good luck, and tell me what happens when you try this again. Do you think it would help your skills development if you practice drilling into a scrap of wood first, just to get the hang of handling your new tool? I also assume that you have a standard variable speed drill, and it would be better to use it at a slower speed when going in to plaster. And did you confirm that the forward-reverse switch was in the correct position? :-)

When people say 'eye height' that can be tricky because, for example, I am 5'2" and DH is 6'4"! I usually hang mine a few inches about my own eye level, which would probably be around 64". In my house, 57" would seem low. To some extent it also depends on the room, the ceiling height, and what, if anything (ie, furniture) is below the picture. If you were hanging a piece of art over a mantel, it probably would be much higher than eye height. But over a sofa, it usually looks better to have it lower than eye height. I find that most people hang their pictures too high. It's one of those things that makes me a little bit crazy whenever I see it!