The Library

It has been a very long journey for us to get the Wolverton House at a 'some-what' livable stage.  After all of our hard work, rooms are getting ripped apart, restored and decorated.  I am excited to say that the library is a well used and appreciated corner of this house.

At the onset, the library was the main floor bathroom.  It had a funny little hallway leading into it from the parlor and the ??office/computer room??  You will see from the first picture that there is an 'A' framed board that was the interior structure for the ceiling of the tub.

For the first couple of months, hubby and I stripped wallpaper from every room, including the library.  While in the Dining room, we discovered that there was a large built in china cupboard with open shelves on the top, large counter top, two huge drawers under the top and two more shelves under the drawers.  To this day, we are still trying to invision what they cabinet might have looked like. 

It was shortly after finding the outline of this cabinet when hubby announced that he found the cabinet.  I was horrified to discover that it was used to build the interior structure for the tub.  Downspouts were used for ductwork and wallpaper ontop of wallpaper and paint between layers.  Once the room was stripped of all excess materials, it was an interest history to be found on the walls.

To the left of the doorway was a clear outline of shelving with wooden blocks to attach a wall unit too.  There must have been a large, deep decorative header board to the cupboard which was obviously built before the plaster was put on the lath.  The top 18" of the wall showed no evidence of having any plaster on it at all.  The baseboards were painted mint green on that wall and only the original paint.  It was the original buttermilk paint as I could not remove it with my heat gun or paint stripper.  That didnt matter because, afterall, it was to be painted.

Hubby had to strip out several of the floor boards that were hacked from putting in the plumbing.   The original library (or study) had two entrance doors;  one came in from the main hall way and the other from the parlor.  Hubby and I made the executive decision to keep a main floor bathroom using half of the original library space and also add a doorway from washroom to library.  This way, the little room  10' x 9' would be used as a small bedroom if there became a need.  We had to drop the ceiling height by 12" as the plumbling for the master's ensuite is above.

At one stage of our restoration, while the room was stripped, we used it as the tool room.  It was quite convenient to store everything from drill to hammer, nuts,  bolts, screws and even ladders.  It was a catchall for everything including mounds of dust.  But that is all part of our life style these days.  And although the house is coming together, we are still tearing apart major rooms.

The day finally came when hubby picked the library as choice project.  Once the bathrooms were complete and there was a kitchen I could use, the library was the next construction zone.

Floor boards were replaced, floor sanded, calked, painted three times and ready for wallpaper.  The wallpaper came from California.  It was custom printed from the original printing machine, paints and paper.  The paper we chose was a strip designed in 1850 for the Netzley-Yender House, Lisle, Illinois.  The paper was printed 18 3/4" wide on a 29" wide paper.  That meant that I had to trim both edges of the paper before hanging.  I also had to make my own paste.  It was an original recipe of flour and water. 

That sounds really simple and basic, however there is quite the instructions to follow in order to make the right paste that is the right consistancy and without lumps.  I had to sterilize the water, flour, boil, strain, cool before using.  It had to be brushed on quickly and evenly and that was not as easy as it sounds.  The other inconvenience was that each length of paper took one batch of paste.  It took approximately five days to complete my task of hanging this paper.  But it looks great and I wouldnt have chosen any other paper for this project.

Once the room as dressed it was time to place in the furniture.  It is still a small room, but it works well with the computer, two chairs, and bookcase that replaced the built in bookcase.

The last item and most important is the drapery.  As this was the home that Asa built for himself, he cut corners and did not complete the trim details on all the windows.  In the Library, the window trim is nothing more than  1" round dowel.  So I concluded that there would have been a full formal drapery covering this window (or in the day, two windows).  However, this now being half the room, east window exposure with morning sun only, as well as shadowed by the roof line of the balcony, I decided to put up cranes and have a swing rod with simple embroidered linen panels.  This drapery is then able to open up and expose full window and allow full window exposure. 

I look forward to May, open windows and enjoy fresh smell of spring.  That is my favorite thing to do.

The Netzley-Yender House before/after pictures.  Painted in summer of 2007