Closing in on the dining room

I am just about ready to sand, texture, and paint this dining room ceiling.   I've troweled layer upon layer upon layer of drywall compound across the ceiling surface to try to get it to blend with the existing ceiling under the bridge.    I'm pretty happy with the way it's evolving.

Below is a photo taken this morning, followed by a photo that shows the unfinished drywall.

The goal is to make this look like one seamless ceiling.  Below, the unfinished dryall abuts the existing ceiling under the bridge.  Actually, it no longer looks like a bridge, so I guess I'm on the right track.

With the dining room almost finished, I have begun taping and floating the walls inside the new Tea Room.  Below are two photos taken this morning.  It took me about 15 minutes to put the yellow mesh tape over all the joints, and then about 45 minutes to trowel the first layer of joint compound onto the wall.