Well, the wife is back from her cruise and came home to an empty living room.
I was able to get the drywall, strapping, plaster and lath boards down from the ceiling by wednsday. By Saturday, the walls were bare to the studs. What a dirty, dirty dirty job - horsehair plaster from the late 1800's, thank goodness for the Shop-Vac!
Below I have pictures of Before & After and some "treasures" found in the ceiling and walls. One item, in my opinion, is a real treasure - a late payment statement dated Jan. 16, 1899 to the original man who built this house around 1886-1888 William H. Thompson for $6.00 which was a good chunk of change back then. I tracked down at teh town office that we are the 5th owners of this property.
Notice the mailing address (or lack of) on the envelope!
I will be checking in periodically with updates.