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house update
Sep. 16th, 2015 03:26 pmWe'd been waiting on buying the wood flooring we'd picked out for upstairs, because we didn't need it immediately, and we hoped we might catch a sale. Now, it turns out it we may not buy what we'd chosen at all!
When we pulled up the carpet in our room so the builders could do the floor reinforcement, we found that the wood beneath was old...really old. So old that it has worn down to nearly half its original width in places (you can tell because the knots HAVEN'T aged, and they stick up a substantial amount). Looking at how they've aged, we began to wonder if they might actually be the original floorboards, which would be really cool, because there isn't any other visible feature we've identified that is possibly original. And other than being thin in places, and having a few gaps, they're actually in rather good condition; they'd need to be refinished, but we started considering options for doing that rather than putting a new floor on top (especially because the floor isn't QUITE flat enough to make putting a new wood floor on it anything but a daunting task. We asked the builders for their recommendations. They suggested carpet...). The other day Joel spoke with the historic buildings expert that we have doing some other work, to see if Barry had any suggestions for what to do. It turns out that he thinks the floorboards have both been in place for a very long time---perhaps even original---and are also reclaimed. Joel says: The installation is clearly very old due to being put in with iron cut nails, and also the uniform look of the wide floorboards and the repair around the hearthstone. But the floorboards don't all go full-length and the joints aren't staggered. The floorboards themselves are also clearly very old due to their width. So, he thinks these were reclaimed from something else, but hundreds of years ago." Which is rather awesome, and now we're interested in preserving these as much as we can.
Unfortunately, we can't just go with what's there, because there ARE some gaps, and one place where the boards have been replaced with newer ones. Barry said he'd talk with his wood supplier to see if he could put his hands on some reclaimed wood that would be a suitable match; and called back later the same day to say his supplier had actually just gotten in some wood (probably from a church or a mill, given the amount) which is an almost perfect match, in terms of type, width, and likely date of origin.
So now we're glad we hadn't bought any floor, because we're considering using some of that to finish off our room and then, why not?, the rest of the upstairs as well.
--
Being an early 18th C building, it has rather low ceilings (its one drawback). In particular, the arch in the hallway to the kitchen is not the highest. It's fine for us -- neither of us are very tall -- but some of the builders, who are, have commented on it! Now we're thinking we need to stencil a warning sign, in a nice Gothic/blackletter font, over the arch. Some options we're considering:
* Cave caput; Cave caput vestrum.
* Cave fornicem (just THINK of the humor possibilities here!)
* Ad altiora tendo
* Ecce fornicme
* Sic itur ad astra
* Vide supra
--
We bought cheap linoleum for the bathroom, but it's a temporary measure: in a few years' time we're going to take it up and put in a penny floor. The big question: Do we use US pennies, UK pennies, or EU pennies?
--
I haven't managed to convince Joel to let us paint our bedroom glittery purple, but we HAVE agreed on some shade of deep/bright purple/red, with a medieval-illumination-style vine pattern stenciled across the top in gold.
--
Sometimes I wonder how much of our home-decor is influenced by "we can do whatever we like! we own the place!" The end result is certainly going to be...unique.
I like it.
When we pulled up the carpet in our room so the builders could do the floor reinforcement, we found that the wood beneath was old...really old. So old that it has worn down to nearly half its original width in places (you can tell because the knots HAVEN'T aged, and they stick up a substantial amount). Looking at how they've aged, we began to wonder if they might actually be the original floorboards, which would be really cool, because there isn't any other visible feature we've identified that is possibly original. And other than being thin in places, and having a few gaps, they're actually in rather good condition; they'd need to be refinished, but we started considering options for doing that rather than putting a new floor on top (especially because the floor isn't QUITE flat enough to make putting a new wood floor on it anything but a daunting task. We asked the builders for their recommendations. They suggested carpet...). The other day Joel spoke with the historic buildings expert that we have doing some other work, to see if Barry had any suggestions for what to do. It turns out that he thinks the floorboards have both been in place for a very long time---perhaps even original---and are also reclaimed. Joel says: The installation is clearly very old due to being put in with iron cut nails, and also the uniform look of the wide floorboards and the repair around the hearthstone. But the floorboards don't all go full-length and the joints aren't staggered. The floorboards themselves are also clearly very old due to their width. So, he thinks these were reclaimed from something else, but hundreds of years ago." Which is rather awesome, and now we're interested in preserving these as much as we can.
Unfortunately, we can't just go with what's there, because there ARE some gaps, and one place where the boards have been replaced with newer ones. Barry said he'd talk with his wood supplier to see if he could put his hands on some reclaimed wood that would be a suitable match; and called back later the same day to say his supplier had actually just gotten in some wood (probably from a church or a mill, given the amount) which is an almost perfect match, in terms of type, width, and likely date of origin.
So now we're glad we hadn't bought any floor, because we're considering using some of that to finish off our room and then, why not?, the rest of the upstairs as well.
--
Being an early 18th C building, it has rather low ceilings (its one drawback). In particular, the arch in the hallway to the kitchen is not the highest. It's fine for us -- neither of us are very tall -- but some of the builders, who are, have commented on it! Now we're thinking we need to stencil a warning sign, in a nice Gothic/blackletter font, over the arch. Some options we're considering:
* Cave caput; Cave caput vestrum.
* Cave fornicem (just THINK of the humor possibilities here!)
* Ad altiora tendo
* Ecce fornicme
* Sic itur ad astra
* Vide supra
--
We bought cheap linoleum for the bathroom, but it's a temporary measure: in a few years' time we're going to take it up and put in a penny floor. The big question: Do we use US pennies, UK pennies, or EU pennies?
--
I haven't managed to convince Joel to let us paint our bedroom glittery purple, but we HAVE agreed on some shade of deep/bright purple/red, with a medieval-illumination-style vine pattern stenciled across the top in gold.
--
Sometimes I wonder how much of our home-decor is influenced by "we can do whatever we like! we own the place!" The end result is certainly going to be...unique.
I like it.
