Picking My Battles

Remodeling is often about prioritizing. What projects, to what extent, in what order. Sometimes (rather, oftentimes) what I thought was going to be simple becomes involved. Or a straightforward objective blossoms into an ever-growing endeavor. But I try to limit those things.

So it was with surprisingly little regret that I reeled in a moment of excitement. I came home last week to find that the workmen had finished up their first day of deconstruction on the laundry room. As I inspected the empty room, now with a few holes here and there, I spied something that made my heart quicken just a bit. Could it be!? I peered closer, and, yes in deed, there is beadboard under my paneled ceiling!

I immediately was filled with visions of a darling sun/laundry/mud/entry room with painted brick and charming beadboard. I already have plans for a beadboard ceiling in the adjoining kitchen, so what a perfect transition. But as Jeff and I reasoned together and investigated, we discovered several issues. All the trim would have to come down, all the paneling and batten boards, three sheets cut away, hundreds of tiny brads pulled, original tongue and grove beadboard patched, scraped, and painted, and the trim reinstalled. All to get me back to a functional ceiling like I have now (and this is assuming that there isn't a perfectly good reason why the beadboard is covered, like big rotten areas or something).

While Jeff was at Spokesman Club on Sunday, I had permission to experiment with a small panel. It took me about half an hour to remove an approximately one foot by three foot section due to the tiny-headed two inch brads, only to discover glue on the backside of the panel, and on my beadboard! This was a no-go. Some finish work is expected, but sanding off glue stuck to lead-based paint over my head in a 13 x 20 room is just a bit much, even for a preservationist like me.

So now you're in on our little secret. The beadboard actually looks better in these pictures than in real life, but it will always be there for us (or some future occupant) to uncover and restore down the road if desired. But I have a whole war to wage here, so this battle will not be fought today by me!