Perhaps this house is going on a journey for this is how one of 'my' houses was raised prior to being moved to Pender Island from Victoria. It was after I had owned her, thus the punctuated adjective.
But the stripped -to-bare-wood state of this house likely means it is being lifted so an addition can be put beneath it and the expanded structure freshly clothed.
I like the look of the exposed wood and wonder when it last was free of covering. Perhaps it reminds me of being in countries where construction can stop at this point because the climate requires only summer clothes, houses included. Maybe the joy is in being able to see that trees were involved.
There is so much beauty inside the walls of a house. Once, while taking off paneling in a kitchen to see what was behind it, the sight of the nearly century old upright beams and the lath and plaster which was the back of the dining room walls caught and held my attention. And my admiration.
I did not replace the paneling but put equally aged two by fours between the beams as shallow shelves after flattening off the large lumps of the plaster between the lath. A couple coats of oil brought out the patina on the wood.
Between taking down the paneling and putting in the shelves the thought of some sort of opening in this wall to let more light into the kitchen from the dining room occurred. At the same time I discovered that such a thing as hole saws that attached to my drill existed. A large flower made of different size holes for stem and leaves and petals was the result. When I realized, the first night after doing this, that not only did it allow light to flow through in the day and brighten the kitchen, at night there was a jack o'lantern effect from both rooms depending on which lights were on.
I then wanted many holes of varying sizes across the entire wall! Balls and bubbles. Bouncing and floating. My drill was not capable of making them. It is an interesting experience to call up handymen from newspaper ads and the phone book and explain that you want someone to drill holes in a wall. Lots of them. From three to six inches in diameter.
I found someone (finally!) and he got quite taken with the whole thing. Even to the extent of cutting two porthole-sized openings in another wall in the kitchen to let light into the dim hall and adjoining bathroom. The portholes went through two layers of wall and the edges were finished with copper flashing strips which glowed in evening light.
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