After ripping up the shag carpet the night we moved in, we had a pretty rough floor to deal with. Wherever there had been a stove pipe, the hole had just been covered with pieces of tin. We patched these with old tongue and groove wood we found in the shed. If you look closely, you can see the difference in the wood, but we can live with it.

This was the biggest hole in the baby's room. This room was actually carved out of the upper hall landing way back, but that's another story! Do, however, note the wall which was built directly on top of the orange shag carpet (lower right)...!

When we pulled up the tin, we found part of the original pipe...


with it's decorative grill still attached!! I was thrilled. This hole would have opened into the dining room below. At some time in the past the ceilings in our dining room and living room were lowered to accommodate plumbing. When they put up the new lower ceiling (curses!...) they just covered up this lovely thing! Anyway, we found it, cleaned it up and painted it, and installed it in another pipe hole....

This is in our oldest daughter's bedroom. She seems to be using it as a sort of time capsule, which is a very good idea. Anytime we've sealed off an area in the house, like behind the new tub, or when fixing a hole in the wall, we always put in some sort of souvenir for the next renovators to find!



I just cut a piece of Masonite to fit the hole, and I see I never did get around to staining it to match the floor! Maybe I'll get to that right now!