Crowned and Moldering

“If there are still any bulbs in the fixtures,” Wade said.

Mac gri

Wade flicked the nearest light switch and the foyer lit up nicely, thanks to the old-fashioned chandelier hanging from the twelve-foot-high ceiling. “Oh, man. This place is awesome. Look at all that mahogany paneling.”

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” I ran my hand over the rich wood surface of the stairwell. Unlike some Victorian entryways that were dark and narrow and barely had room to hold an umbrella stand, this one was a large square, well-lit room. On one side of the foyer was a double doorway leading into a paneled living room, and on the other was an arched doorway that led to a formal dining room.

The broad staircase hugged the wall from the second landing down, until it curved and widened to meet the parquet flooring of the foyer. Roomy staircases always made me think of my father, who specialized in them because the old-fashioned, steep, ski

The ceilings of all the first-floor rooms were twelve feet tall with ten-inch-wide crown molding, a picture rail below that, and carved plaster medallions in the centers of the ceilings that created a base for hanging chandeliers. In addition, the dining room had twelve-inch-high baseboards and a chair rail. Even though some of the crown molding, the leaf-patterned cornices, and the stone corbels were crumbling with age, the rooms had maintained their elegance. And we could easily replicate and replace the damaged embellishments.

Sean walked over to the living-room fireplace and studied the mantel. “Holy moly,” he muttered, ru

Mac joined him. “From what I was told, it was taken off the ship that went down in Lighthouse Cove Bay.”

Sean’s eyes bugged out. “Seriously? This is from the Glorious Maiden?”

“That’s what the guy from the Historical Society told me. It was part of the ship’s bow. Apparently the Coast Guard members stationed here would occasionally find pieces of the ship washed up on the rocks and were able to put some of them to good use.”

“Cool,” Sean whispered. “The fireplace is great, too.”

I agreed. Beneath the wood mantel, the chimneypiece was made of black marble and the fender was cast iron. Whimsically painted tiles lined the jambs. The i

“Let’s see what condition it’s in,” Wade said. He got down on one knee and bent over to get a look at the flue. “Looks clear.” He reached in and fiddled with the damper. “Seems to move well. I’ll make sure everything’s working once we’ve started the job.”

“Thanks,” Mac said. “I appreciate it.”

“Part of the service,” Wade said, standing and slapping his hands together to get rid of the soot he’d gotten on him.

I wandered over to the floor-to-ceiling bay window at the opposite end of the room from the foyer. It was one of my favorite features of the house and it faced north, giving Mac a fantastic view of the coastline. The windows looked to be in good condition, but, given their age, I suspected we’d have to replace the sashes and hardware and, in some cases, the glass itself.

Wade went out to the porch and carried a card table into the house. He set it up in the living room and I spread the blueprints out, rolling them backward a few times to get them to lie flat. Now I’d be able to refer to the new prints anytime I needed to.

I pulled out my tablet again. “If you’re ready, I thought we could start at the top with the third-floor attic and work our way down. The only room I’ve really seen is this one, plus the kitchen, although I didn’t stick around in there long enough to make many notes. We’ll take another look before we leave.”

“Yeah, we’ve all heard about your adventures in the kitchen.” Sean snickered.

I groaned out loud. “Okay, fine. So I was freaked-out by a rat.”

Joh

“It was a rat,” I said through clenched teeth. It had indeed been tiny, but I wasn’t going to mention that.

Joh

As we climbed the stairs, Mac talked about turning the attic space into another bedroom. I thought that was a smart idea, even though the house already had six bedrooms. I assumed the attic was a finished room since it had probably been used as a dormitory bedroom during World War II, when the mansion was famously occupied by a group of coastguardsmen charged with safeguarding the Northern California coastline from Japanese submarines.

The stairs leading from the second floor to the attic were a bit steeper and narrower than the main staircase. Back in the day, the attic might have been where the lowliest servicemen bunked, or it may have been used as servants’ quarters. As a rule, no one was very concerned over the help having to carefully maneuver down a scary staircase.

At the top of the stairs was a short hallway that ended abruptly. There was only one door and it was locked. Mac used his key to unlock the door and jiggled the handle a few times when he couldn’t get it open.

“I got it unlocked, but it’s stuck.”

“Let me try,” Sean said with a grin. “I’m younger and in better shape than you.”

Everyone laughed. Mac was in fabulous shape and only a few years older than Sean, but Sean was the biggest, strongest guy on my crew. That was saying a lot, because the men who worked for me were plenty sturdy. But Sean was my expert when it came to demolishing a room with a single sledgehammer.

Mac stepped aside and Sean grabbed the doorknob with both hands, pulling as hard as he could. He gave it a few more tugs before admitting defeat. “That door is stuck.”

Mac patted him on the back. “You gave it a good try.”

Sean stared at the door, scratching his head, unwilling to give up the fight.

I looked at Mac. “Do you mind if we break it down and replace it later? It’s probably swollen shut from years of water damage so you’ll probably want to get a new one, anyway.”

“Yeah,” he said with a shrug. “Might as well.”

“You’ll need a sledgehammer,” I said.

“I’ll get one from the truck,” Joh

“Everyone safe?” Sean asked.

“Yeah,” Joh

Sean lifted the ax and brought it down, splintering through the center of the door. After three more strikes, the door was hanging off its hinges with wood shards everywhere. He used the haft or handle of the tool to break up and push the remaining splinters and shards of wood out of the way. Then he gripped what was left of the door and ripped it away from the jamb, hinges and all.

“Okay, guess you’re a pretty strong guy,” Mac acknowledged.

Sean gri

Mac, Wade, and I scrambled up the stairs to join them, but before we could make it to the attic door, Sean said, “You guys should check this out. Looks like someone was living in here.”

“What the heck?” Mac was there in an instant, and Wade and I were right behind him. “Oh, man. That’s funky.”

“Ick,” I said. We all stared at the dirty old mattress spread out on the floor by the window. The thing sagged in the middle and there were unspeakable stains scattered across the top. I didn’t want to think about all the bugs and bacteria crawling around inside it.