Five Things About the First Stages of Home Improvement

1. I found that my husband is truly a homeowner at heart. One of the first things that the old man did at the new house:

He was so happy.

2. Everything that the previous owners did frustrates me to no end. I spent the evening tearing this insulation off of the beautiful original windows of this 1927 homestead:


They put this on their walls:


Why do people put wood paneling on beautiful plaster walls? Once we started tearing it off, it was like cardboard under there. Do people want to see what it's like to live in a cardboard box? Is homelessness the new black?

3. Lead is dangerous. I started to scrape off the paint and wallpaper in the downstairs hallway (pictures to come) and after doing a little interneting, I decided that it might be a little dangerous. Could there be lead paint under the ancient wallpaper? We're investigating and will post the results here. We're almost positive that what was revealed under the wood paneling was lead paint:


Turns out homelessness is not the new black -- they were probably just covering up the lead paint in a way that would most frustrate the next owners. We're pausing downstairs paint and wall related operations until we can try to get the city or the county to pay for some lead testing.

4. I carried around a pair of pliers in my back pocket all evening. Carrying around tools makes me feel like I'm really serious about this whole DIY stuff .

5. Even though drinking beer (or consuming any food or drink) around lead paint dust is a dangerous proposition, I found that like carrying tools in backpockets, drinking beer and DIY go hand and hand. Maybe PBR will sponsor our renovation.