Our Old House: Blogisode 5-Soaking In

Today I unpacked the boxes labeled "Booze".  I just hung my Coke bottle opener on the wall in the kitchen and promptly opened the beer sitting in front of me now.  I guess I'm really home now.

It's been over a month since we moved in.  The new roof is on, but we haven't seen the carpenters in a few weeks as they finish other roofs before winter really hits. Meanwhile David attacked the living room.  He didn't rest until new picture rail moulding was installed and pictures hung. You would never know that the rest of the house still looks like it did when we moved in.  Most of the ceilings in the rest of the house are going to be torn down and replaced. I can't unpack into those rooms until the work is completed, so I feel like I am stuck in a holding pattern.

I have to remind myself that we are moving forward. Thanks to a tip from Ashley at work, wallpaper removal has hit record levels.  In the living room we used my little clothing steamer.  The paper came down easily, but it took more than a week to complete.  I was just about ready to spring for an industrial steamer when I decided to try Ashley's suggestion to spray the walls with hot water.  In less than 30 minutes I had almost a whole wall stripped in my studio.

I stood on the step stool admiring the plaster and lathe I had exposed.  It was easy, just spray and let it soak. The paper practically jumped out of the way of the scraper.  I was feeling very self satisfied.  I surveyed my two hundred year old room, thinking of others in long wool skirts and caps also working here, and paused.  I kept waited for the historical society police to burst in on me.  "Step away from the scraper, ma'am." Should I really just be going to town on these old walls?  The musty stained 1950's wallpaper glared back at me.  Heck yeah! I wiped my scraper clean and got back to work.

This morning David came home from the hardware store with a garden sprayer.  He went all Rambo on the walls in Maizie's room, completing the room in a day.  We had feared that the wall paper was all that was holding the old plaster and lathe walls together.  We were surprised and relieved to find the walls in good shape.  Good shape for two hundred year old walls, that is.  They need a skim coat of plaster, but those naked walls are somehow beautiful. Walking into Maizie's room and not being greeted by faded blue roses lifted my spirits.  

Work is supposed to commence on the ceilings next week. The goal now is to get all the paper down from the rooms before the ceilings come down. While the ceilings are down, the electrician will install overhead lights and switches, and those new fangled electrical outlets.  Yes, I know, I am all about those modern conveniences.

Tomorrow we push ahead.  I remind myself that we have only been here about a month. Bit by bit, our house will come together.  And tonight, I know exactly where my bottle opener is.