There were three layers of flooring--thankfully none of them were glued to the wood. First we had ugly purple carpeting with "rexoleum" underneath--circa 1956 as evidenced by the newspapers under it.
Under the newspapers was another layer of this retro linoleum (no trademark on the back of this one though). I have to say that this layer was in such good condition it looked like it had been waxed yesterday. And strangely enough in amongst the newspapers was a receipt for the rental of a floor polisher! (dated 1956).
The last layer was the (almost) pristine subfloor. I was so impressed by the great condition of the wood... until I got to the most travelled area. There are a few patches that are really rough. I'm hoping I can fix these areas well enough with calking and wood filler so I can paint it. I had to smile at the ingenuity of an early homeowner who had filled some of the cracks and splinters with parafin wax. I smiled until I realized I'd have to get that all off before I could paint. Yikes.
Here are some of the newspapers. The first two are dated 1956. The colours are so vibrant on this weekend magazine!This is the front page of the Toronto Star, April 13, 1940.
7 Comments:
Those newspapers are totally cool.
That's not to say that the pictures of your blank wall aren't interesting too... :-)
that was me btw not some stranger criticizing your blogging aesthetic
Pat
Props to you for actually getting the work done. I would have spent all afternoon reading the old newspapers.
Did you save any of that linoleum? Very cool...The newspapers are wonderful too...I get this image of the man of the house laying down those layers of newspapers in the 40's before installing his fancy new linolium...do you think he wondered who would find it in the future?
So, how DO you spell linoleum? im...?em? Help!
Maybe you should re-bury the fascinating 1940 newspaper along with a current Globe and Mail (see, I picked up on your lingo). Who knows who might find both in 50 years?!
I miss living in an old house and finding cool stuff like that. We found food stamps for bread and milk tucked away in an old, unused door on William street.
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