Tearing up the carpet

While sitting on our porch this morning, our neighbor, the former owner of the Odd Fellows House, mentioned in passing that he had the hardwood floor refinished before putting down the brown industrial carpet that afflicts most of our living areas. We knew there was hardwood underneath but we didn't know what condition it was in. 

We ran inside and started cutting the carpet up. Since this was on a whim, we didn't take out any of the furniture, instead we cut around the furniture, lifted it up and pulled out the pieces of carpet and padding. 

 

It was a bit tight with all of the furniture so we ended up blocking the front door and the door into the kitchen with items. That led to me climbing out of our front window and having Andrew pass me the carpet pieces through the window. Totally normal.

After that, we pried up the carpet tacks and pulled up the staples.

From what we can tell, this is the original hardwood from 1885. It looks like Douglas Fir or pine, and it is laid in flat planks that are top nailed. You can see it from the basement looking up through the floor joists, so there is no subfloor, which is typical of houses built in the late 19th century. The floors have instantly made our house feel more authentic. And all it took was an afternoon, a couple of razor blades and a really bad 90's playlist. 

Turning Our House Back Into a Home

Our home was previously used as an office, so there were some modifications made that we've started to undo. If you remember from the first floor tour video, there was a wall put in to separate the "kitchenette" from the dining room:

You can see from the first whack of Andrew's sledge hammer that taking this wall down is going to do wonders to open up the space in our kitchen:

I can't wait to show you how great the kitchen looks now!

Fact vs Fiction

Some facts about the Odd Fellows House and its inhabitants:

1. Andrew is a night owl and goes to sleep sometime between 1am and 3am.
2. Gina is a sleepyhead and likes to go to sleep around 10pm each day.
3. Andrew recently set up his desk in the bedroom, since every other room in the house is full of Gina's crap unpacked boxes and Christmas lawn figures. 
4. Andrew is really good at researching local history.
5. Gina has an overactive imagination.  

When you mix these facts together, you can understand how I came to believe that the woman who originally owned the house married two undertakers who both committed suicide, one by cutting his wrists and the other by shooting himself.  

The other night, Andrew was researching past deeds and census documents to learn about earlier owners of the house. Thinking I was awake, he told me about his findings around 12am. I spent the night tossing and turning. This is a house of death! There were bodies in the basement! She killed her husbands and made it look like suicides! The house drove her husbands crazy and they had to kill themselves! Andrew will be next! 

I worried that we had moved into a house known locally to ruin lives and kill husbands. I resolved that we would break the pattern. I spent the night analyzing all of Andrew's most recent actions to determine if he was going crazy. This would be a difficult project, but I could do it (thanks to my Bachelor's in Forensic Psychology!). 

Over coffee the next morning, Andrew was able to clarify that the woman lived here in the 1990s, not the 1890s, she indeed had two husbands, but neither one was an undertaker. Her second husband was related to Charles and William Reily, two local undertakers (father and son) who both took their lives. 

So unless this whole thing was crafted by Andrew and the house really is driving him crazy, I think we've pinpointed who the crazy one is.