This Old House

As we head into winter, we are spending more time working on the house. One project is getting a wood burning stove up and running in the den, the room next to the kitchen. Those two rooms are at the back of the house and are currently not heated. We’ll have to get the chimney lined and then Bob can install the stove.  (The house actually has a heating system but we’ve never run it as it would be pretty inefficient. We put in a few gas logs last year as a temporary measure.)

The den is an interesting room: completely wood paneled on all walls and the ceiling. It has a built in china closet and looks out on the back porch and the sun porch. We are thinking it would become our hang out room so the library could become a more formal room.

The carpet in the den was a disaster and we covered it with an oriental carpet. But, as part of the wood stove installation, we decided we would pull up the carpet and paint the linoleum that we knew was underneath.  We even bought the paint and that was going to be my weekend job in preparation for Thanksgiving.

Oh, the best laid plans…the first section of carpet revealed serious water damage to the floor including a few big holes. Bob’s foot went through a particularly soft spot. Needless to say, we won’t be painting this weekend.

Aah, the joys of an old house! You never know what you’ll find. This isn’t horrible but it does add a few days and at least one trip to Lowe’s to the project.