Saturday, September 26, 2009

Wallpaper and Nails

One of the joys of rehabbing an old house is uncovering what was done by those who came before. In painting a small bedroom we found three different papers on the wall. Actually all of these were hidden under a fourth wall paper -- a solid rattan kind of paper. That paper had been painted over in green and then tan.

I think there should be a rule that prohibits more than three layers of wallpaper. Kind of like a roof. If you get to three layers of wallpaper, you have to tear it all off and start new.

We also found some square cut nails. Very cool stuff. These old nails didn't have the pointy ends of newer wire nails. Can't imagine hammering these blunt metal things into wood all day.

7 comments:

Petrea Burchard said...

It must be a special old house. Are you doing the work yourself or have you hired someone who specializes in older homes? We want to do some work on ours but are hesitant to use just anybody, and we're not exactly tool-savvy.

Michael Coppess said...

Thanks Petrea. We do some of the work, but leave the difficult or precise type of stuff to others. This is our third Pasadena home project. One day we will hopefully get to live in a completely redone house.

Anonymous said...

The one on the far right almost looks like fabric. Is that the oldest?

Michael Coppess said...

Hi Hiker: Actually the papers on the left are both fabric based and were under the purple designed paper on the right. All old stuff.

Mrs. EastofAllen said...

By the way, the piece on the far right is a border pattern that seemed to be installed at the same time as the center one.

Anonymous said...

Thank you MEOA. Show us the whole room when you're done.

Mrs. EastofAllen said...

Actually, I misspoke. The piece on the LEFT is the border that seemed to be placed at the same time as the center item.

These were in an attic room. We removed what appeared to be a closet in order to expand a pint-sized bedroom for our no-longer-pint-sized daughter.

I suspect these papers were placed in the 1940s. This house had been neglected for a couple of decades by then. A family bought it and rehabbed it.