Believe it or not

I know it is hard to believe, but there was yet another undiscovered layer of wallpaper in our house. When are we going to find that bag of money hiding in a wall? Why do we keep finding layer upon layer upon layer of wallpaper? I will trade eleven of those layers for one bag of cold hard cash.

I don't think our house was built in the way most other normal houses were with beams, joists, pylons, etc. I think when we get down to the studs it may just be layers of old glue and wallpaper stuck together like paper mache holding up the house. We could have turned this place into a museum of wallpapers from centuries past.

This most recently discovered wallpaper, however, was pretty baller. I am actually quite bummed that there was no way to reuse or restore it. The contractor discovered it in the kitchen behind casing for a door that was not original to the 1886 construction. So, when the door was added and the opening was cut, the original wallpaper just remained behind the casing that was added to the new door. Sadly, it was nowhere else to be found in the kitchen. I, with all of my expertise in historic reno's, am thinking the door was added no later than 1920's. That should mean nothing to anyone, I am just creating my own theories in my head.

And now, so you can see for yourself:

You can't really see much of the details, and the colors look entirely more orange-y red than they did in real life, but it was this amazing Chinoiserie style paper with red roofs and pagodas and Japanese botanicals. Quite lovely if I do say so myself. 

And to think, Laura Ashley has been hiding that all these years. Que Nicole Curtis, "Why the hell would you cover that up?"  

Raise the Roof

A few weeks ago, to Jack's overwhelming delight, we found out we had dropped ceilings in the back guest bedroom and the kitchen. I do not understand why people ever did this. Were the savings in heating/cooling ever really worth losing 3.5 feet of ceiling space? Definitely not. Also to add some fun to the mix, all of the light fixtures I picked out were definitely not made for 12' ceilings. Major freak out ensued. 

Apparently, according to our contractor, the ceilings were really easy to tear out and there were no animals, pots of gold, or leprechauns hiding in the insulation. Drats.

What was really cool though was the remnants, if you can even call it that, of old wallpaper left behind in the back bedroom. 

At this point, it basically looks like hieroglyphics, but I cannot imagine how old it is. It was past the point of any restoring, as the original plaster behind it had some pretty significant water damage, but it was pretty cool to find nonetheless. I could make out a vague coat of arms and a few other details, but other than that, not much. Great image quality, I know. 

Here are a few full shots of the two dropped ceilings before & after removal so you can tell some of the difference in height. 

Kitchen before:

Kitchen after:

Bedroom before:

Bedroom after:

Raise the roof. The roof is on fire. The roof is on fleek. All jokes aside though, I don't even know what that means. Fleek is not a word. 

Demolition Derby

I'm back!!! (You're welcome, mom.) Operation Renovation started yesterday in the kitchen. It is a sad, sad day in the Taylor household bidding farewell to our beloved Laura Ashley wallpaper and blue laminate counter tops of which we have grown so fond. How does one even begin to say goodbye!

Still learning how to take a selfie.

 And will probably never be capable of taking a panoramic. 

I imagine this is what the inside of a coffin looks like.

Which is appropriate, since the kitchen is now dead. AHHH!

Stay tuned for updates to be posted at random intervals. Thanks for the memories, Laura!