Cracking Ceilings, Gromit!

We’re big fans of Wallace and Gromit around here, but what I’m about to share with you is no laughing matter.

Our ceilings are cracking:

Cracking Ceilings and a Huge Renovation Project / www.findingsilverpennies.comThere I said it.

Old homes are full of charm and character but also need maintenance now and again, especially when heavy machinery is digging up streets around you. The water main on our street was replaced, as well as a complete resurface of the road, all the vibrations and drilling, from the trucks and equipment, caused our ceilings to crack. Yay for new water 🙂 Ouch, for our poor ceilings ;( Literally, our house was shaking through the whole thing.

Here’s our living room all pretty with new pillows (click here if you missed that post).

Cracking Ceilings and a Huge Renovation Project / www.findingsilverpennies.com

Cracking Ceilings and a Huge Renovation Project / www.findingsilverpennies.com

Well, if I point my camera directly up at the ceiling, here’s the view:

Cracking Ceilings and a Huge Renovation Project / www.findingsilverpennies.com

Not as pretty as the chesterfield or the pillows, huh?

Over by my wingback chair, oh you guessed!

Cracking Ceilings and a Huge Renovation Project / www.findingsilverpennies.com

Large cracks.

Cracking Ceilings and a Huge Renovation Project / www.findingsilverpennies.com

One of Conor’s friends actually asked me, “Um, why are all your ceilings cracked?” To which I replied, “Well, it’s an old house!”

I feel like my ceilings have spider veins stretching across them – unsightly and displeasing. Who wants these???

There’s more cracking in our upstairs hallway and office.

Cracking Ceilings and a Huge Renovation Project / www.findingsilverpennies.com

The worst is in the boys’ rooms. You may remember that they have adjoining rooms through this faux wall.

Cracking Ceilings and a Huge Renovation Project / www.findingsilverpennies.comThe ceiling is completely bowing. This is a safety issue which we can no longer overlook.

Cracking Ceilings and a Huge Renovation Project / www.findingsilverpennies.com

Cracking Ceilings and a Huge Renovation Project / www.findingsilverpennies.com

Can you see it is bowing up there? It is hard to get good photos of ceilings… You should have seen me teetering on stools to take some of these. Great mental image, huh?

This is still my dream home but we need to give it a little TLC this spring and we also need some help doing this because this is WAY out of our DIY expertise. So what’s in store you ask? Well, Luke and I are getting the house ready this week. We have a Pod and we’re filling it up with furniture from the living room, dining room, office and boys’ rooms.

Cracking Ceilings and a Huge Renovation Project / www.findingsilverpennies.com

The ceilings need to come down and it’s going to be a messy, messy job.

You may remember when we did the guest room over, we discovered we had calcimine ceilings, click here to see how we painted them.  These ceilings are original to the house so they are lathe and horse hair plaster so dust and debris is going to go everywhere.

Andrew Fitzsimmons and his team over at Fitzsimmons Construction is helping us with this project. His team will start the demo next week. All the ceilings will come down. In the living room we plan on having some recessed lighting put in and I have a little makeover for the fireplace planned which is a DIY that I’ll be doing. The dining room will continue to have our beautiful chandelier 😉

Cracking Ceilings and a Huge Renovation Project / www.findingsilverpennies.com

The office ceiling is coming down and the mini chandelier will go back up in there and hopefully I can put the finishing touches on that room and do a big reveal.

I’m hoping they can blue board and plaster over the original ceiling in our hallway:

Cracking Ceilings and a Huge Renovation Project / www.findingsilverpennies.com

The big plans are happening in the boys’ room. They are going to get a WHOLE room makeover out of this deal. Conor is delighted, John not so much. My oldest likes things to stay as they are, he really doesn’t like change, but I feel like this is a good time to redecorate as they are growing up so quick. Can you believe they’re 10 and 6 now?

This was how John’s room was looking last year and it hasn’t changed much since then except for the state of the ceilings.

Cracking Ceilings and a Huge Renovation Project / www.findingsilverpennies.com

I intend to do a whole inspiration board for their room, but to give you a general idea – the faux wall is coming down. I think this will open the space up, offer more light and heat (as the heater is on Conor’s side) and be better for laying the room out – I may even do a desk area up here rather than the playroom. The ceiling is coming down completely (along with the attic insulation as it will just fall when they take the ceiling down) and we’re also going to patch up one of the doors on Conor’s side. The room is going to get new paint, a new ceiling, lights, bedding, maybe new headboards and I have a really cool idea for a wall, but I’m still in the planning stages with all of the design.

This is a really big project for us and I intend to share all the progress right here!

Have any of you at home gone through this before? If so, would love to hear!

Cracking Ceilings, Gromit!

 

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Judy
Judy
7 years ago

Wow! What an undertaking. We lived in a 100 year old house in Hudson, MA so we know the maintenance required on these old glories. Good luck! Looking forward to future posts.

Jaime Costiglio
7 years ago

Oh yes I can so relate! Our 1740 farmhouse has plaster ceilings, I took the dining room down 2 years ago to expose the beams and gain headroom and we just finished doing the same in the master bedroom. It’s a huge, huge mess for one small aspect but it makes a massive difference. Did you consider exposing any of your beams? They’re bound to be original and gorgeous!

liz
liz
7 years ago

Oh my gosh, I freak out when I have to move furniture and rugs just for painting, I can’t even begin to imagine what it is going to be like for you having all of the ceilings replaced! It all sounds so overwhelming – but I am sure it will be worth it because your home is simply beautiful!

Donna @ Modern on Monticello

Oh Danielle, I’m so sorry. We just went through something similar last year when a tree fell on our Master bedroom and bath and also damaged the basement bathroom ceiling. It is horrible – BUT so worth it when the repairs are done and the ceilings are smooth and pretty again. And we are currently dealing with rotten floors in the front living room that is leading to a whole room makeover for us as well. At least this is a room I can just shut the door to and not look at. It is true that old houses need… Read more »

Amy@MaisonDecor
7 years ago

Oh boy, that is going to be a huge undertaking and a mess, but I know you will handle it well and soon it will be all put back together looking better than ever!

Sheryl
Sheryl
7 years ago

When I was little we lived in an old post victorian cottage. One morning my sister was laying on the couch watching cartoons and hear a loud cracking sounds and just as she got up to look outside to see what it could be a large piece of plaster feel onto her pillow. The contractor who came to give us an estimate said that she would have been killed by the weight of the plaster. Please be very careful while you are still in the house!