Well, it's day 2 and I just returned from the house. I'm taking an 8 hour break, aka going to work, so I need to clean up a little bit. I borrowed a friend's camera (thanks Dustin!) to take some pictures to show my progress so far. By progress of course I mean smashing things.
Next come photos of the stairwell, sans paneling. The woodwork really stands out better without having to compete with laminated woodgrain atrocities. You can see in one of the photos that some of the ceiling remains with some paneling, largely because I need to get a ladder over to the house to reach that far up. The light fixture under the drop ceiling is original, but will be replaced because I prefer a bulb covered by a globe of some sort. Anybody want a vintage light fixture? Lemme know! You can see a picture there of the access points to the tub plumbing, and some unexplained fur lining the stud in the wall. Yuck.
First let me include a photo from my little party-of-1 celebration I had for myself after closing. I added the wrecking bar because I thought it was appropriate for my closing day. I mixed equal parts champagne and demo. A good day all around.
First off, I busted down most of the wall separating the stairwell from the Living Room. I included a photo that I took sitting on the stairs showing the full view of the fireplace wall. I'm really excited about this change, but not excited to try to make the texture on the walls hide any evidence that the closet and wall existed. That's a ways down the road though, I have more distruction still to come.
Next come photos of the stairwell, sans paneling. The woodwork really stands out better without having to compete with laminated woodgrain atrocities. You can see in one of the photos that some of the ceiling remains with some paneling, largely because I need to get a ladder over to the house to reach that far up. The light fixture under the drop ceiling is original, but will be replaced because I prefer a bulb covered by a globe of some sort. Anybody want a vintage light fixture? Lemme know! You can see a picture there of the access points to the tub plumbing, and some unexplained fur lining the stud in the wall. Yuck.
Finally, we have the dining room closet. It's not quite out yet, but down to the studs. The picture of my hand shows how I drug a nail across it, cutting a line dividing my hand in half. Maybe I didn't learn that lesson about my work gloves well enough. Inside one of the walls my friend Chelsey (who enjoys the wrecking bar very much) and I found a 1950's romance novel. I thought it was weird because the wall is from the 80's, but whatever! Basically the plot of the book is that a bunch of young harlots get shipped out to the wild west to become brides. No I'm not going to read it. Chelsey and I ripped up the carpet in the dining room too, even though you really can't see it well under all of the dust. It's in decent condition, but will need to be refinished too. Better than the carpet!
Oh, and that's me. The happy homeowner. With his wrecking bar. Yeah, I took the picture myself; there was nobody else in the house. Taking your own pictures of youself: not cool, I know!
I'll be back to work after I finish... working...
p.s. I've aready had 4 serous 'Oh my GOD what have I gotten myself into!' moments.
6 comments:
The fur in your wall is probably horse or mule hair. It was commonly used as insulation, and a binding material for cement.
Meanwhile, that's a beauty of a cut on your hand. Looks just like stigmata.
I was wondering when you were going to show your mug to the rest of the world. Do you look that happy without a crowbar in your hand? :) It's nice to have a face to put with the name.
Ok Nate, now you've opened up a can of worms. Your stairwell looks a bit similar to mine, so I'm wondering if you have a newel post at bend in the top of your stairs. I can't tell how your stairwell bends...If you do have a newel post, can you take a photo? I know, I'm greedy. All those photos and I ask for one more! I'm just trying to figure out how to solve my newel post problem. I can take a photo of mine if you'll show me yours...I'm laughing now...it sounds so dirty!
Andrea
Wow - I come back to your blog after a couple of days and look at all those photos! Nice!
Love the vintage light fixture with the compact fluorescent bulb! hee hee. Just a funny juxtaposition.
Good luck! Can't wait to see more pictures, especially "after" pics. :)
You're smiling now... Let's see another picture in a month, and a month after that, and a month after that!
Looks like the place has some good "bones" to work with - let the fun begin! The real adventure is just begining.
Awesome place! I love the feeling of those first days after taking possession of a house and just getting your hands into everything...then comes the months and months of putting it all back together again. :-)
That fur is definitely strange - and quite different than the fur we had insulating our pipes. That looks (like kelli said) like horse hair. The stuff around our pipes was more like mink or something really soft like that.
Anyway, congratulations on (finally) closing on your first house. It's already looking so much better.
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