Layers of History

We have sporadically been able to work on the house lately.  We are still in the demolition process, so it's basically one big, messy, dust bomb of a project.  My brother, Jordan, graciously volunteered to help us this week.  He and Jack were bulldozing the plaster walls away.

 As the plaster and lathe were being knocked down upstairs, I was busy peeling off layers of wallpaper in our to-be family room.  The walls throughout the house were covered by wallpaper, although it had all been painted over.  Many of the rooms have a few layers, and if I'm careful scraping, I can see what each layer looked like.  I am amazed at the intricacy of the designs of the original paper.  Most of it has metallic elements to it, both silver and gold.  The borders are often thick; in one room it was about a foot and a half wide!  The ceilings were also papered, often in different designs than  the walls.

Upstairs Hallway

Master Bedroom

Original Wallpaper in the Laundry Room

Dining Room.  It's hard to see how metallic this is.  It was beautiful!

Living Room

To-be kitchen

Every room has gas light hook up in the center of the ceiling.  I wish some of the original lighting was here, but unfortunately they were replaced for electric lights, and none are left.  We did find a crystal chandelier piece, which was likely in the house at one time.  I wonder if it looked like the chandelier from Downton Abbey.  :)

I so wish we could see what this house looked like in it's original glory.  For Genesee, it was certainly a grand and decorative home, with many details that others didn't have the luxury of living with.