The Wonders of a House

I have recently begun to slowly remove pieces of my house. The idea was to enhance the current very segregated room situation, to make the house flow better. Well, as expected I would come across some interesting finds. Well, I was ready for a lot, but not some of what I found.
I removed two doorways from the stairwell into the adjoining kitchen and dining room.

Original doorways:


First weekend:


Second weekend:


With them both, there were 3x5 posts used to construct the door frame. 3x5! Non-load bearing even. Just to frame a doorway. Oh, and they also were old construction... based on the square head nails used to put it together.


Anyway, when I removed the walls, I was greeted by holes in the floor. You'd figure they go to the basement, which they kinda do, but they also go to my stone foundation. Directly....no insulation, no anything in between, just a hole and a few loose foundation stones, right there, behind the base molding.
Anyway, that was only a part of it.

One great thing though, was the discovery of the beautiful brick work under the plaster and lath. (Yes, just plaster and lath, nothing else until my exterior brick wall.)


So after having removed two doorways, I felt the need to start on the living room. A prior owner installed a drop ceiling. The wonders of the 80s will never cease to amaze me. I knew that under the drop ceiling, there was around another foot of ceiling space, and I really wanted to open it up. So I figured I'd remove the tiles.


So what to do next? Ceiling was off, but the lights are still mounted to the ridiculous metal drop ceiling frame, so it couldn't come down without a replacement light setup. Well, I decided to remove the "box" over one window set. What was this "box" exactly...no idea. We knew we had a leak in it, but what was underneath it?


Well, after a few hours of diligent and careful removal (again, I am deconstructing with the intent of reusing everything I can), I found it hid.....
nothing but framing.




Well, I still had a little left in me. And I could now see the beauty of the wood floors on the second floor from underneath. I had this idea before even starting that if the joists were in good condition, I'd expose them and build in between them to hide the floors. But the floors....wow. They are old aged dark wood, with no imperfections. No reason to cover them. So....I exposed some of them to see the beauty.

Imagine that over the entire ceiling of the living room. Heavy large joists with beautiful wooden slats above it. Why was it ever covered with plaster and then dumb 1980's drop ceiling????

Anyway, I am off of house deconstruction duty for a few weeks as I am headed to the Czech Republic later this week. Of course, that doesn't mean I won't be picturing/imagining my next steps. The ceiling, the large wall to be removed, the green wall outside to insulate the brick......

Oh, did I mention I plan on finishing all this before I die?