What goes up must come down.
I stripped what will be the master bedroom today.
Fearful that the plaster would come down with the 60's wallpaper, I was pleasantly surprised to remove most of the paper and very little wall. As the house has only very rarely been decorated in it's lifetime the old lime plaster in this room is in pretty good condition.
Because the plaster is still so tight to the lathes this room will only be skimmed and this means that all of the original cornicing and skirting will be saved.
I discovered today what appears to be original paper below the cornice. It looks as though it is handblocked onto silk and is incredibly delicate. Sadly, this gem could not be saved as there had been an historical guttering problem which had been rectified but the sodden plaster not cut away. The resulting damage from damp had damaged every last fragment of the paper in that area. The remaining paper is too stained and damaged even to take a piece to keep. Luckily the embossed grey 60's number survived intact…..
While chatting to the present owner I discovered thatat least twomore fireplaces than we knew of are still in the house in their original positions. I'm looking forward to seeing them when the place is gutted out for work to begin in earnest.
One of the rooms has been used as a darkroom and it was revealed todaythat behind the boarded door is the original coloured glass panel which seems to be in perfect condition. There is also an abundance or Bakelite light switches which can be salvaged and some matching fingerplates. The internal doors have been finished in an early from of paint effect, and although they are the original pine panelled doors they look like burr walnut. I am definitely going to look into having these restored as they look really contemporary in a way. They are very heavy, wide and tall and beautifully framed in wide architrave, all of which would suggest the quality of the house in it's heyday.
Most of the floors are covered in lino and I have yet to pull up any significant amount to see what is below. I guess the boards are largely intact - one of the upsides of not having been chopped into for central heating. The down side of no centralheating is that it is bloody freezing of course.
We might have struck lucky and have some shutters in their original boxes in the main reception area. The present owners have never opened the boxes either side of the bays for fear of damaging them and so on completion day I shall be wielding a screwdriver like a woman possessed.
All before images are at the websitefor viewing….
June 15th, 2009 at 3:15 am
I really like your post. Does it copyright protected?