Beer, anyone...?

We weren't sure if we'd take down the wood paneling in the den, which is adjacent to the living room... It was in decent shape, and we thought maybe we'd just simplify our tasks a bit and paint over it. HF had taken the ceiling down (three layers' worth!) in that room during his first four January days in the house while he was pulling up the 2nd floor shag carpet, before the kids and I arrived. Maybe that was enough...?

He ended up pulling the paneling down though - I know you're surprised - because hey, now's the time. And he was very glad he did, because several of the load-bearing beams were completely rotted through with termite damage. They are probably 100 years old - the oldest sections of the house - and it's a good thing we found them to replace them, since they're helping support the second floor.

Guess what else he found, while he was in there? An old beer can that some constructor worker enclosed into the dry wall before putting up the drywall and wood paneling. See?

We figure it's been sitting in there around 40 years, which is about when this particular bit of construction on this portion of the house appears to have been done. Fun little time capsule.

So at this moment both the living room and the adjacent den (which will be our TV room and playroom) are in construction mode and without electricity while these improvements are made. I'm so thankful we have our kitchen all nice and finished, with a nice living space we can use while the construction is underway in those rooms!