Weeks 5-8 of Home Renovation: Old Wallpaper Behind Walls & Pipes Moved

October was a lot of behind the scenes progress after the demo phase. Seems to be the phase where things look a lot worse before they can look better. Which has been a bit discouraging as the homeowner, but the logical "construction side" of my brain knows better.

Check out these two photos of this old wallpaper we found behind the walls after the pipe was moved. Photos of where it was hiding are after the jump...

The geometric wallpaper was hiding behind the wall frame out to the right of the medicine cabinet. Once the pipe was moved, the wood (in photo 3) was taken down and viola, there it was! It's incredibly thin. Almost like tissue paper.

The other section of paper (above right) was found to the right of the doorway you see in photo 2 below. Chris said there had to have been a different doorway location there based on the way the materials were done.  If I understand correctly, the doorway to the bathroom was moved over at some point.

From what I understand, the house had a major renovation some time around 1984-87. Which can be confirmed by the style of beer cans found in the walls. Ha!

But I have no idea what condition the home was in when those owners purchased the house.  I only know that the owners we purchased it from bought it already renovated when they purchased it in 1994. Maybe it's safe to assume the paper is from the 1960s or 70s?

Photo below:

Master bath pipes routed around the floor joists means the ceiling will drop in the guest bathroom to accommodate them. But it has tall ceilings that can handle it.

But man, all those pipes in the walls are really a pain.  We won't be able to have a niche in the shower to hold soaps & shampoos because there is already something behind every single section of wall in the shower.  Think about that.  Crazy how many pipes are snaked around the walls of this old house.

 Photo below, mantel had to be popped off in order to remove the old cement board from the previous (not original tile). We tried to select a somewhat period appropriate marble to replace the tile.

Also accomplished earlier this month:

• Master closet organizer was finalized and ordered.
• Ordered brass task lighting for basement & office (gorgeous!)
• Selected and ordered washer dryer again after first set was deemed too over sized.

Next Few Weeks:

• Finding someone available to do the plaster work has been a challenge for Chris.  Which means things are slowing down since they are having to do the skim coats themselves (super time consuming work). 
• After walls are skimmed, I have to finalize wall paint colors.
• Research and buy a smaller car (ugh)
• Sell/Donate Some Furniture