Home Ownership...
...is a strange and wonderful thing.
You find little goodies in the most unexpected places like this old old OLD flowered wallpaper behind my bedroom radiator.
Today I found out that I own a "historic home." Who knew?!
That is all well and good but what that really means is I have to jump through a series of flaming hoops if I want to change my house in any way - say, hammer in a nail, hang a picture, yadda, yadda. After all, it is HISTORIC!
In other news, my house is NOT from 1910 as I suspected. It may have been built closer to 1860. Wow. I wonder what other treats are waiting for me as I give this old girl a facelift?
Who ever thought I could own someplace with so much damn history? Pull back a radiator and there it is, starring out at you in faded colors. Still blooming in her own way.
Another recent discovery, my lath and plaster walls are being held together with horse hair! That's right, my bedroom walls are filled with the hair of long dead horses!? Not sure how to feel about that one. But the walls have the nicest cracks.
And in other important news, my granny's bunnies and family o'mice finally have a home!
8 comments:
wow, that is exciting news. how did you find that out? it's possible that you might find out your house has a few illegimate children out there. she's a mysterious one, that old lady that is your house.
i'm free sunday for painting.
enjoy the weekend darling!
Eva, we now have something else in common. Oh, those bunnies are akin to the goodies I bought back from Lazy Acres, the spread built by my grandparents.
Here I thought I was living in such a historic building with a date of 1885 which in California does almost qualify you for Daughters of the Revolution status. That's about the age of the place I had in Park Slope Brooklyn. You know, I say I think a house is actually cozier with a lot of ghosts hanging around, provided they are of the Casper variety. And as you might guess, Casper just LOVES to give decorating tips. Hmm, wonder what that means?
I heard Joan Jett built it.
Bitch is old.
If you're taking the old paint/paper off the walls use a 50/50 mix of cheap vinegar and water. Sponge the mixture on and let it soak for a few minutes. You could get one of those wallpaper scoring tools from Home Depot to speed things up. After the vinegar/water has soaked thru sscrape the stuff off with a wide bladed putty knife. Be warned, the stuff stinks and is heavy.
I love plaster and lath construction. Horse hair is a great binder for the plaster. I redid an entire wall in a bathroom and it took a few days. Drywall would have been cheaper/faster but not look nearly as nice.
Oh yeah, if you do remove the paint/paper try to save a 12 x 12 piece for framing. We did that in out old house. 60 + years of paint/paper build up. It was 1/4" thick in places. We did manage to save some of the wall covering and frame it. Looked pretty cool.
WW - thanks for the tips! My electrician recommends that i just paste drywall OVER the lath and plaster when it gets super crumbly. Cheap and easy!
But for now I am gonna watch the cracks as they grow and imagine the spirits of long dead horses floating around my bedroom.
Herb - watch it or I will upload that sex tape of yours that I have been nice enough to sit on, for NOW.
Gregg - omg, my friend used to be the caretaker of The Daughters of Revolution building in SF. we would creep around that creepy cool place late into the night - talk about old and full o' long dead people. I do not mind ghosts so much as long as they are not going all Amityville on my ass.
Suz - the green is sooo pretty! Love it. Love it. Thanks for making my house feel homey and for bringing Ella too!
Eva, I didn't even know that place exists here! There's something wrong about having such a place in California. Maybe a Daughters of the Summer of Love, thought didn't that happen in 1756? The survivors of it look old enough to have been alive back then.
That house was build so long ago; fucking Jesus Christ was the Carpenter...
/end "wet hot" reference.
Lath and Plaster... i still have nightmares of gutting a house filled with that stuff; horse hairs and all. Good luck Eva!
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