Hiding Things
In the carriage house, first floor, SW corner, is what I call the Secret Room. There was a door from it to the dining room and, when I purchased the property in 2014, was told that this entry was not original. Thus, I always knew that I would remove it, making the room only accessible by its second entry, tucked under the staircase. Hence, the name Secret Room. Today, I began the process of closing up the other entry.
And….drum roll, please…entry be gone.
After removing the trim, I discovered (to my utter astonishment and great delight) original wallpaper to the room. A faux grasscloth!
As it proved, the entry WAS original to the circa-1921 conversion.
But, I much prefer making the room a secret.
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Original to the conversion but not original to the carriage house, right? So you can basically do whatever you want. You’re not restoring it as a carriage house. Is there any rule that says you have to restore it to the conversion? Perhaps they had a reason for the room having a door into the dining room but there isn’t one now. It makes no sense to have a door from the bedroom into the dining room so every reason to get rid of it.
Now, do you have the trim moulding for the floor that will allow an uninterrupted trim around the floor. The 1949 hallway and bedroom addition did not have the same trim as the rest of the house and with the finishing on the plaster I couldn’t really add it around the windows and doors but I could add it to the wall at the floor. So I had some milled for the bedroom and hallway with a bit left over. Then when I had builtins built and installed where they would have been originally, I saved the baseboard that was removed for installation. I added picture molding around the bedroom ceiling too but it’s not true picture molding with the rounded top but it works well enough to match the other rooms.
I saved everything. Even the screws from hinges and curtain rods.
The only thing I have not done is wallpaper except for one room and a border in another. I rather like paint and have used ragged on or off texturing. Since the library was the only wallpapered room I removed it, then prepared the walls properly before installing new paper. I put just a border in the living room right underneath the picture molding. I bought it before I even moved into the house, overbuying to make sure I had enough. Same with some architectural prints. I loved them and bought them figuring someday I would have a house to hang them. And now I do.
Ha! I misread and thought you were closing up BOTH entrances! Now that would be a secret room!
I would think the opposite- if the trim was over the original wallpaper, that would mean the entrance was added after the paper (the trim would be installed before wallpaper) so this would suggest in my mind that it wasn’t original to 1921, but installed before the next decorating scheme was added.
Hi, Sean!
It was not uncommon to hang wallpaper before trim and mantels were installed. The work would have been vastly easier and, thus, also cheaper!
Faux grasscloth wallpaper?
Maybe some leis and coconut drinks showed up here too?