An upstairs closet had last been painted sometime in the Eisenhower administration. Note the tell tale turquoise hue. Time to pull out every garment, box and bit of miscellany and repaint it. In the process I discovered that the pole holding up a bunch of hangers was in fact nothing more than the handle of a presumably 1950's broom.
It looks a little better, and at the same time also worse, with all the stuff out of it.
I'm saying 1950's but honestly there was some wiring in there that might go back even farther. With an old house like ours you don't dare start yanking stuff out, it might still be live!
Now the odd thing about all this is that the project was started when it was 30 degrees below zero (F). With oil based paint a bit of ventilation is desirable but I was not about to open windows and let in the Arctic blast. I admit to feeling more than a bit loopy while applying the primer coat.
The project was finished a couple of days later when it was 70 degrees warmer. But with more snow on the way.
No wonder people used to go insane when cooped up in ice bound, pre-Netflix cabins; their neighbors arriving in the Spring to find them gibbering madly, huddled in the corner of an upstairs closet.
But in our case such a nicely painted one.
A 1950's era broom handle is probably a better piece of lumber than you can buy at any high class lumber yard today.
ReplyDeleteJay, you are so right.
ReplyDeleteTW
As for the broom handle, a older, retired carpenter told me "never throw round stock away, you will need it".
ReplyDeleteSo, in the corner of my garage there is a bucket with various lengths and diameters of round stock that I do use every now and then. That bucket has saved me several trips the the lumber yard.