No, not out along the roads, but in the ArchaeoBlog household. Thus beginneth a kitchen remodel, or at least a partial remodel. Specifically, the replacement of a countertop, sink, and various wall stuff. (Keep reading, there's archaeology to come)
The last time the place was re-done seems to have been the early-mid 1980s. The house was only purchased 3 years ago and the former owner is unavailable for comment. However, various neighborly informants have indicated that owner was here since around 1984 or so and that more or less jives with the decor, at least of the kitchen (the remainder was done in late-Hippy phase, complete with fugly macrame lamp shades). (No, I didn't make that up)
At any rate, this is a before shot:
The first phase that took place is removal of wallpaper applied two years ago, along with wallpaper glue that was not removed when that wallpaper was put up. The removal of those layers revealed this old paint:
Now for the archaeology part: A close-up of the paint reveals three layers of paint:
Which, in a sense, is a typical archaeological stratigraphy. The assumption that I've been going on is that the last layer of wallpaper was applied in the mid-1980s. The paint stratigraphy underneath seems to bear this out. The actual colors, in stratigraphic order seems to be (early ==> late):
-- Bright yellow
-- Overlain by a very light green
-- Both overlain by a peach/brown, which seems to be the last paint applied before the wallpaper
Obviously, this is only a relative chronology. Stylistically, all of these colors seem appropriate to the 1970s. Bright yellow, if memory serves, seems to have been perhaps a late 1960s or early 1970s sort of scheme (at least, my parents had bright yellow in the early 1970s). In fact, one of my strongest memories of youth is steaming off bright yellow paint from the kitchen in our ancestral home on July 4, 1976. I recall this rather vividly because it was the coolest thing to steam a wall and then pull paint off in big rubbery sheets, and because the Parade of Tall Ships was going on for the Bicentennial. Readers may want to contribute their ideas to establishing the possible stylistic correlations with the time period in question.
At any rate, the cat seemss to have approved of the work thus far:
(Yes, that's a Marshalltown on the windowsill)