Surprises

Most people like surprises, 

at least the good kind of surprise. 

In a hundred year old house, there are surprises- some good, some not so good. 

Finding the original plaster wall in bad shape beneath the ugly wallpaper paneling in the kitchen?

Bad surprise.

Finding original 100 year old hardwood under living room carpet in good shape?

Good surprise.

Photo of the scroll work

Another good surprise was discovering some interesting indentations on the wood running along the bottom of the railing along the upstairs hallway.  

I've been up and down the steps tons of times and never noticed anything.  

Then one evening, the setting sun hit that section just right 

and threw enough shadow to pop out the indentations.  

Originally there appears to have been some scroll work on the wood 

that was painted over many times.  

Eventually someone removed the scroll work 

(yes, I'm screaming and sobbing inside as well), 

but the layers of paint left the impression.  

My plan is to use a pencil to rub the edges to make them stand out and 

take the time to paint the curls and swirls so they can be seen again.  

It won't be the wood scroll work it was back in the day, 

but at least the shape and decor can be salvaged.  

It's little discoveries like this 

that get me excited and give me the motivation to poke around and find more surprises.

I'll be sharing them all,

no matter how unpleasant

(finding mouse poop in the drop ceiling in the kitchen and realizing it's been used as a stealthy mouse superhighway? BAD surprise. Especially when you have it nearly dumped on your head.

Excuse me while I go shower in scalding water and bleach)

Tear Down This Wall!

President Regan  said it best:

Last night the house settlement was completed,

and it was time to tear down the wall.

While not as significant as the Berlin Wall, 

the wall of paneling that separated the upstairs from the downstairs

needed to come down.

 

The wall was simply two pieces of paneling.

The railing for the staircase is behind the wall in the above photo.

In the next photo, you can see the other side of the wall

showing the railing.

 This is the doorway to get to the downstairs of the house.  

My sister refers to it as the Alice in Wonderland door.

In fact, when she first saw it she wanted to know where the magic mushrooms were she needed to consume in order to shrink small enough to fit through.

 You can clearly see the resemblance.

Seriously, normal things don't fit through it.

Like lampshades, shop vacs and laundry baskets.

Even my husband has to turn sideways to get his shoulders through.

So once we got home from dinner,

the demolition began. 

This is the view from the bottom of the stairs now.

And the view from our hallway.

I had to halt demolition because it was a school night

and I had just put the Brat Child to bed.

These "studs" need to be cut to remove them safely and

without damaging the railing

(I have threatened certain death if that railing is harmed in any way).

It's strange to see so much light in the hallway.

And the cat is enjoying the new set up.

Already he found he enjoys sitting on the railing and looking into my bedroom.

Without my glasses I was certain a short little man was looking at me from the hall.

Scared the crap out of me.

The Living Room

This is the living room in all its glorious 1972 red carpet splendor.

Back in 1972, I'm sure this was all the rage-

not so in 2015.

My husband and I were pretty sure that there was 100 year old hardwood under all that red.

Question was, what kind of shape was it in?

So we began pulling it up.

This is the padding underneath-

a good sign as it appeared that the carpet was installed using tack strips and not glue.

Voila`! 

Gorgeous 100 year old hardwood floor.

There were a few worn areas, 

but we plan to sand and refinish all the hardwood in the future.

For now, it's usable- once the tack strips and staples are removed.

I jumped on removing all those tack strips right away.

I'm notorious for stepping on nails

(I even once spent time in he hospital because of stepping on one)

and I had already stepped on a tack.

So I broke out the trusty hammer and putty knife and got to work.

I also had my trusty helpers.

The Brat Child helped me for about 10 minutes then asked for a 15 minute break-

he never came back.

Chunk the kitten was more interested,

but a lot less help so he eventually was banished.

It only took a day to get everything removed.

We're moving onto the dining room

and eventually the kitchen 

and then we'll give everything a good scrub down with some Murphy's Oil Soap.