Adding Character
An old, wooden pie cabinet with the tin panels, a beautiful brick building from over a hundred years ago, a tool box that proudly wears it’s scars from years of use, these are the things that I love. They are not pristine, they may have a wobble, they may have a few chips and dents, and they certainly aren’t perfect in the usual usage of the word, but to me, they are treasures. I love those dents and chips. To me, it’s character, it is the item’s history, it is someone’s story.
Our house was built in 1958 so it doesn’t have those charming characteristics that homes built before 1940 had. In the 2 1/2 year that we’ve lived here, I have done a lot of redecorating to make it my style and to add that character that I adore. I can’t explain why, but one of those character elements that I love is an old, wooden beam going across the ceiling. In our laundry room/back entry/office/dog diner, there is an exposed support beam. I had covered it up with wood after we moved in but it just wasn’t what I really had in mind. And then yesterday happened.
Last week, a friend messaged me saying she had some old wood from some demo they were doing and asked if I was interested in it. Interested? Of course, I am! I brought home these pressure treated boards that had paint falling off and were worn from being exposed to the rain and blazing sun. They looked like trash, but you know what they say, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
Skip forward to yesterday afternoon and I’m standing in my laundry room looking at the space above the doorway that used to be the outside entrance to the house, thinking, “Hmmm…those old boards would look good up there.” Then I turned my head slightly and shifted my gaze, and, BAM! Brilliant idea struck me- wrap that beam in the old boards. Oh, what character!
I immediately got to work. I had to piece the boards since they were shorter and narrower than my support beam, but, hey, I like it when things don’t look perfect. Can you honestly look at that picture of the beam and not tell me it’s fantastic?!? Well, some can because we have different tastes, but I think it’s wonderful. I finally have my old, battered, wood ceiling beam that I’ve envied on home improvement shows. The things that make a girl happy.