I decided a long time ago to finish the sole exposed post in the house with stonework. My column is larger but this was the idea.
I was tired of looking at the 2 x 4 structure for the column. I had started covering the post a year ago and mounted a cabinet for the internet equipment.
I also had a few pieces of 1/4″ cement board already on the column.
I had enough cement board on hand to finish the job. One day last week I tackled this project and finished screwing the board on. I had to take a detour to buy 1″ drywall screws as I could not get the 1 1/4″ cement board screws all the way into the board.
Buying drywall screws was a turning point since I saved and reused all the screws from tearing out our old drywall. I still have longer screws from that project.
The next step was to uncover the faux stone that I purchased a few years ago and was moved around the garage a few times so that it was very buried. To do that I had to rearrange the mower side of the garage.
The shelves on the left were in front of the mower and the stone was behind that. Now the stone is at the front of the garage where it can be easily reached.
As I recall there were about 14 sq. ft. of stone in the purchase, that is not enough to cover the entire pillar. Plus it is a bit limited by how many corners are available. There are 7 lineal feet of those. I have not laid it out yet. I hope I have enough for at least 3 ft. of coverage. Another interesting project.