The first day I was alone with the house, I decided I’d do some poking around to see what is under the paneling in the big room on the west side of the house. Boy, wasn’t I surprised! It turns out the space isn’t an addition at all! Total surprise! As I pulled away the paneling and saw the old wallpaper underneath, I was giddy with excitement. To see true shiplap under the old wallpaper, that sent me over the edge. I may have had a few tears. This is the sort of discovery that goes right to the heart of every person who loves restoration and preservation. At the same time, I was rather perplexed as to when the the space came to be and why. I wouldn’t come to know the answer to that until my brother, Trey, and I got around to pulling sheetrock in the living room. Because we are currently using the space as a storage area for all our stuff, we didn’t do any further deconstruction in this space.
Here’s the before. Not so pretty, but y’all know back in the day when this paneling was put up, we thought this was awesome. Notice the lack of windows. They are underneath the sheetrock. The door to the right in the first photo below is where I pulled away the paneling.
That same door is on the left in the photo below.
The doorway below leads to a closet/bathroom area. I’m excited to eventually gut this room to see how it was laid out originally.
Here we are looking into the rest of the house.
Some close up shots.
Look at the detail! Could you imagine what this space looked liked way back when?
Here’s that genuine shiplap. See that notch between the boards? That notch or rabbet is the mark of real shiplap. You can read more about true shiplap on The Craftsman Blog, a blog I’ve come to rely on for information about restoration and preservation.
The House on Avenue B 