things to come AND GO

[15_the_circle]

previous owners of this cottage laid down beige carpet.  lots of it. 

I've never cared for it, but haven't been ready to do much about it on the grounds that most of the ground floor rooms in which it can be found are a mix of old and new construction.  in the older parts of the house it might well be concealing some interesting old floorboards but in the newer areas what's under it is probably nothing but cheap subflooring:  plywood or chipboard or the like. 

only recently has it occurred to me that upstairs in front it's unlikely that any of the flooring is new.  curiosity finally got the better of me this afternoon and a small amount of exploratory surgery seems to have borne this out, at least in the small area exposed for inspection. 

underneath that beige carpet ... old floorboards

the first thing I noted on pulling back the carpet was that it was installed before the posts for the loft railing.  it's also clear that when this area was painted the anticipation of carpet was a deterrent to the use of drop cloths.  but the old floorboards are certainly there, waiting for their chance to be restored.  I won't be able to take that on just yet, but now it's going to eat away at my mind until I get started on it. 

watch this space.