Our curiousity got the best of us last night; Teague casually mentioned wanting to see inside the cupola, so I told him if he brought me a ladder and a light I’d climb up there.
Ten minutes later, I was balancing precariously on the ceiling beams with a spotlight in my hand. I’d planned on doing this during a nice sunny summer day, because it’s just plain scary getting up there… here’s what the access hatch looks like:
SCARY.
Once inside, I was surprised by how spacious it was up there. There’s a good 2 feet of crawlspace, and the cupola itself is very large. The windows are all intact and have nice arched frames. A few broken panes of glass need replacing, but otherwise they look pretty good. The ceiling is covered in nice beadboard. The floor was taken out, and everything is covered in blown-in insulation. If I hadn’t been afraid to fall through the ceiling, or if I’d had a better light source, I would have gotten better photos – but here’s what the windows look like:
The closet we climbed through must have been a stairwell at some point. Here’s a really neat find – this is the wallpaper from the old stairwell:
It’s gorgeous, although strangely matched. The top border is a mix of maroon and teal, and the bottom is a creamy gold with pink and teal. The ceiling has wallpaper too – a third pattern, with pink/teal and metallic gold. If they decorated their stairwell like that, imagine what the parlor looked like!
Comments, Thoughts, and Feedback
I am so jealous! What a cool adventure! *pouting* I want a cupola.
So any plans for this li’l room?
That wallpaper is so cool! What a find!
Kristin,
No plans for many years, I’m afraid; we’d have to turn our closet into a stairwell, and we’re not ready to give up a closet OR build a stairwell!
Would be a neat place to sit and think though. Maybe a stable floor would be a good place to start ;)
Beth – I love finding the old wallpaper; we found some from our downstairs bathroom in that ceiling as well. I’ll have to start a gallery with good samples. They’re so unique and fancy, I love it.
Mindy,
WOW! You win first prize for the COOLEST house excavation this year! It’s like that little cupola is a time machine.
Is there enough room up there to put a floor down, and set up an armchair to read in? Sounds like a perfect little nook.
Hella Sweet!
Well, it’s about time you went up there :) Good work! I’m jealous too…
Jess – definitely enough room for a reading nook, but we’d have to climb up through the closet to get to it, so I have a feeling we wouldn’t use it much. Plus at the moment it’s super creepy and drafty. Someday, though – I think it would make the perfect little art studio.
Nick – Your comments the other day got me excited about it again, so this post’s for you :)
dude. that just freakin rocks! do you have any kind of views from up there? love, love, LOVE the wallpaper find
Growing up, a friend’s dad and my dad built a cupola on their house — and never used it. To this day I think it’s sad!
Anyhow, they had a spiral staircase leading up. I bet this would be easier than building a whole staircase.
If it were me (ahem…), I’d have a ladder, and a firepole. Oh that would be cool!
Haha – a firepole, yes! I have always wanted one of those in my house. That would be awesome.
I was telling Teague we should build a bunch of secret passageways throughout the house, just for shits and giggles. How cool would that be??
i think the cupola is enchanting, and i’d be interested to see an eyedrop color range of this wallpaper, too, as you have for the hall wall.
secret passageways, yay!
i can’t see pictures!
Maybe you could use the cupola for a “safe” room….
We love to hear from you, dear readers.