New Wallpaper Disoveries...

The Little Blue House keeps revealing her secrets, slowly but surely, telling us perhaps some of her stories. I think the front parlour of a brothel must have been an opulent place at the turn of the last century, even in a small Gold Rush town such as Atlin. This would have been where Eva Daniell, the madam, first entertained guests. I imagine the tiny, smoke-filled room, with the gramophone playing (we've seen it in the local museum - it was Eva's) and people drinking and talking, the walls covered in expensive papers imported from Paris, the shady ladies dressed in their finery...

You can almost feel it, peeling back layer after layer from these old walls, the faded beauty attempting to show itself once again.

The Devil Made Us Do It

We were going to wait. Really, we were. But the wallpaper was already peeling off, you see, by itself... The ceiling paper in particular gave us the creeps, sagging under its own weight, and occasionally allowing small showers of unknown matter to rain down upon our heads.

We thought we'd have a peek. A little look. Just to see what was under those layers. We didn't mean to trash the place; honestly, we didn't! The devil made us do it.

Parlour, Looking Toward Front Door

Parlour, Bay Window and Former Wood Stove Nook

Parlour with Entrance to Original Bedroom 

Ceiling Paper Coming Down

Layer Upon Layer

Much of the Ceiling Paper Fell Down Under its Own Weight

What Have We Done?!

Bates Motel

A Teaser - Pre-Demolition...

Saving the Trim!

We removed a lot of finishing nails from the original bedroom trim today. We will save it, with hopes we can use it in either the bedroom or parlour. 

Closeup of Original Trim from Bedroom

More Trim

Removing Finishing Nails from Trim

We Have Some Cleaning to Do

Parlour, with Bedroom Trim Piled Up

We are going to attack this mess over the weekend. We will save the pile of trim that came from the bedroom, removing the numerous nails. It's all piled up in the parlour at the moment. I'm not sure how much of it we will be able to use, but we will save it just in case. Perhaps we can use it for something else in the future. The wood is nothing special, but it has this gorgeous patina that only comes with age. It'll be hard to replicate. 

The nasty job - my husband volunteered to do it - involves cleaning up the parts of the old mouse nest that fell through the floor gaps during the demolition of the bedroom wall... Disgusting. It's in our new (previously spotless) crawl space. 

I ordered a new window for the bedroom - the original was not salvageable, with both panes broken & a bent frame. Sad. We were especially sad to part with over $1500 for a new one. Ouch. It was expensive because it's all wood, & has triple panes. Plus, it opens due to the fact that it will be in a bedroom. Oh yeah, it must be shipped from Prince George to Whitehorse, too. Still, I do not wish to repeat this exercise - we plan to keep our original windows, installing storm windows in the future to keep out the draughts. 

Hope you have a great weekend. Happy Mother's Day to the mamas out there!

Kitchen - Ugh

Little Blue House, Spring 2014

Bedroom Update

Here's where we are at right now. I took these photos of the bedroom yesterday. What a difference! It looks really good. It will be warm in there. The R-ratings are really high for a 116-year old Gold Rush house; well, at least they are in this room. It took many hours - over 80 - to get to this point in the bedroom.

The rest of the LBH looks like a construction zone, the kitchen is full of garbage and bits of insulation, and there is dirt and dust on every surface.

We have decided our plan of attack for the rest of spring and early summer:

1. Install new window in bedroom (existing window panes are broken and frame is crooked).

2. Remove old chimney from front parlour and repair roof.

3. Install new wiring in most of original house, including baseboard heaters in crawl space, bathroom and bedrooms.

4. Install new, smaller hot water tank.

5. Apply sealant to new foundation and backfill around house with gravel.

6. Landscaping (rearrange massive dirt piles that currently surround the LBH).

We may actually use this bedroom this summer, sort of camp out in there... The work on the inside of the house will wait until early fall, just so we can enjoy the house, even in its state of upheaval.

The Back Wall of the Bedroom - now R-28

The Entrance from Bedroom to Parlour

Angled Part of Ceiling is R-22.5 & Flat Part is R-40

We plan to complete the rest of the house over the next couple of years. In the end we will end up with a historic house with modern insulation values!

Insulation!

Never before seen at the Little Blue House... insulation! We now have new wall joists and insulation in the bedroom. (Actually, the crawl space was insulated last summer when we replaced the home's foundation, so I lied.)

Furthermore, we plan to raise the ceiling about 6 inches. That's fantastic news for my 6'4" husband. It will give us a few more options when it comes to finding a ceiling fixture also. 

Our trusty contractor is going to insulate the ceiling, too. Room by room, this restoration is slowly moving along. Next step: finding a window to replace the one that's broken. We may end up buying a new one. We will of course stick to a period-perfect wood frame sash window. I shudder to imagine what that will cost. I'll let you know.