December 5th 2007 10:31 am
Some discoveries are good
Sometimes, when we are working on the house, we find that shock us (not literally thankfully), bewilder us, and confuse us. Other times, sadly not so often, we find things that bring a smile, a little slice of the past poking in to say hi.
While running wires again last night, we figured out a couple things. The holes in the joists where the wires ran through were made with a hand drill. This was evidenced by all the chunks of wood chips which were half circles and slightly angular. This also explained why the holes were not quite level. Made it hard to pull on the wires. 
So I was comforted a little, that eighty-some-odd years ago, some guy in overalls had to contort himself across the floor, just like we were. Except we were undoing all his hard work and replacing it.
Inside the floor, between the joists, is the aforementioned wood chips, some dust & dirt, some plaster chunks and the occasional bit of interest, like that tag we found. This time, I found a neat square of plaster face down almost under the wall. Must be from when they cut the first hole for the first lightswitch, I thought. I flipped it over and noted there was a bit of brown paper, or wallpaper backing, obscuring what was underneath. I gently pulled it away.
Original wallpaper. Faintly art deco. The only down side is the piece is so small.
At least it’s better than what I found in the downstairs bathroom. The bathroom which is a DIY bad dream. The tileboard is installed sideways in there, and yes, you can tell. The floral sprays every other tile are certainly sideways. In one spot, since it goes up the wall halfway, I can pull on the edge a bit to reveal the wall underneath.
I kinda wished I hadn’t, for there was the wallpaper of the renovation before that. Brace yourself, it was probably from the late eighties, early nineties. It is hunter green and cream plaid.
I think we’ll leave that room for a while.
***
We will be off to Aunt Boo’s for the afternoon, so here’s hoping Uncle Leroy will give us lots of blog fodder. Or tomorrow I could tell the story of Grandma Betty. She’s not our grandma and her name’s not Betty, but there you have it.
2 Comments »
Glenda on 06 Dec 2007 at 10:21 am #
I’m out of breath just reading your blog entries. I visit fairly regularly and without fail you’ve been busier than a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. Don’t know how you do it girl!
I have a different sort of busy I guess, tho I’m trying to slow down a little to keep myself healthy. Not easy to do!
hope to see you soon. Maybe we will meet in a store again, perferably not the parking lot this time since it’s gotten cold.
Heather on 06 Dec 2007 at 6:40 pm #
When we reconstructed the tub/shower in our bathroom, I picked out the wallboard for the shower. A lovely cream/gray marbled pattern. After a few hours of work, I walked in to discover my husband putting it up sideways. The “marble” streaks running sideways and a big ridiculous seam running horizontally down the middle. I just about had a heart attack.
I guess some people just don’t know there’s a “right” way to put that stuff up.