Tuesday 20 May 2014

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.







Monday 12 May 2014

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?!

Saturday 10 May 2014

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

Thursday 8 May 2014

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