I stopped by the house this afternoon to drop off the building permit and plans with Rob, our project supervisor. New addition: storage pod on the front lawn (for all the doors, light fixtures, and other items we want to save and re-use). Missing: the entire interior of the right side of the house. They had already demolished the interior walls and ceilings of all three bedrooms and the bathroom. Here are some photos, starting with the front bedroom:
The middle bedroom, looking through what used to be my closet:
The bathroom. I was afraid to ask why they still had toilet paper and air freshener in there...
And what used to be my office. I think that's the original insulation on the floor. When we had spray foam insulation installed a few years ago, they couldn't reach the back part of the house with their equipment so they had to leave the old stuff in place.
They had also removed all the kitchen cabinets, exposing some old wallpaper. Dig that Parisian scene! Not so much the brown floral print...
But the coolest part was that the workmen had discovered a stash of 'treasures' hidden in one of the walls that dated back to circa 1950 (the house was built in 1925). It included 3 pair of aviator sunglasses, a whiskey bottle, a can of Impregnite shoe polish ("For the Hand Impregnation of Shoes"), a man's wallet and keys, a pipe, 4 packs of Kool/Kent cigarettes, a tie, and a book on military aviation that is extremely overdue from the Arlington Public Library.
I didn't have time to take a close look at all the stuff, but Rob promised to save it for me, along with any other artifacts they unearthed during the demolition or foundation work. When I have a chance to look through the wallet and find out who it belonged to (someone with the initials J.S. Jr), I'll ask my neighbor, Francine, about him. She's lived in the house next door for about 60 years, so she's bound to remember something about the previous occupants of our house.
The middle bedroom, looking through what used to be my closet:
The bathroom. I was afraid to ask why they still had toilet paper and air freshener in there...
And what used to be my office. I think that's the original insulation on the floor. When we had spray foam insulation installed a few years ago, they couldn't reach the back part of the house with their equipment so they had to leave the old stuff in place.
They had also removed all the kitchen cabinets, exposing some old wallpaper. Dig that Parisian scene! Not so much the brown floral print...
But the coolest part was that the workmen had discovered a stash of 'treasures' hidden in one of the walls that dated back to circa 1950 (the house was built in 1925). It included 3 pair of aviator sunglasses, a whiskey bottle, a can of Impregnite shoe polish ("For the Hand Impregnation of Shoes"), a man's wallet and keys, a pipe, 4 packs of Kool/Kent cigarettes, a tie, and a book on military aviation that is extremely overdue from the Arlington Public Library. 
I didn't have time to take a close look at all the stuff, but Rob promised to save it for me, along with any other artifacts they unearthed during the demolition or foundation work. When I have a chance to look through the wallet and find out who it belonged to (someone with the initials J.S. Jr), I'll ask my neighbor, Francine, about him. She's lived in the house next door for about 60 years, so she's bound to remember something about the previous occupants of our house.
Wow! On reading this I have a couple of thoughts. First: I can't believe I was walking through your house less than 48 hours ago. These guys do fast work! Second, I guess Josh is not the first pilot to live there. I am fascinated by the artifacts found in the walls! You have to wonder how the guy's wallet actually ended up in there?!? I can't wait to see what other buried treasures might lurk in the walls.
ReplyDeleteI really like that Parisian wallpaper. Really like it. The buried treasures are so Amelie-esque!
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