Flooring

A Surprise in the Vestibule

The other day I had our shop-vac out (P.S. shop-vacs are life-changing) and was cleaning up the common area in the main front door of the brownstone, which we share with our upstairs neighbors. There’s this really nasty, unfortunate commercial grade carpet everywhere in there and it’s dark blue-gray so it shows every spec of dust,…

The other day I had our shop-vac out (P.S. shop-vacs are life-changing) and was cleaning up the common area in the main front door of the brownstone, which we share with our upstairs neighbors. There’s this really nasty, unfortunate commercial grade carpet everywhere in there and it’s dark blue-gray so it shows every spec of dust, every sliver of newspaper. I pretty much hate it.

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Since my shopvac is so shockingly powerful, I kept accidentally sucking and pulling up the carpet piece on the vestibule floor. Suddenly I saw a flash of black and white tile under the carpet. 
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I felt like Charlie when he saw the little twinkle of the golden ticket so he ripped away the chocolate bar wrapper as fast as possible. That old carpet was up quicker than you can say “carrara marble with soapstone.”
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After vacuuming and wiping up decades of dirt, I couldn’t have been happier about my surprise discovery. It’s definitely not perfect, condition-wise, but I love this 106 year-old original floor. Such character!
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And isn’t this simple pattern a great design? Gracie says “It looks like chocolate chip ice cream or a Queen’s fur coat.” Love that girl and the way she sees the world.
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74 thoughts on “A Surprise in the Vestibule”

  4. Only you could find such a sweet surprise. I think baking soda and hydrogen peroxide with dawn with get anything out….mix the paste, let it sit and then wash.
    What a surprise.
    pve

    Reply

  7. Isn't just unbelievable what you can find under crappy carpet sometimes? I've had a similar entryway experience and numerous discoveries of luminous wood floors! Cheers to you!

    Reply

  17. The best kind of surprise!

    I peeled up linoleum once to find encaustic tile underneath and since then I expect/hope to find a treasure every time I pull up the corner of a carpet in a new apartment. What a treat!

    I checked out your shopvac link and now I'm intrigued. Do you only use that for dirty jobs or could you use it as your regular vacuum?

    Reply

  22. What an amazing find! Unbelievable. Side note: whenever I hear the word vestibule I always think of the Friends episode where Chandler gets stuck in one with a model when the power goes out–haha.

    Reply

  31. Amazing discovery! That pile of dirt that had been under the evil carpet makes me die a little.

    I love Gracie's observations. Tell her to stay awesome.

    Reply

  37. I know this is slightly off topic but your post about your upstairs neighbor confused me (because I see stairs in your photos). Is your brownstone split down the middle so you have half and they have half or is there a third floor apartment ? Here in San Francisco the victorian flats are almost universally split by level and not down the middle and were originally built that way. Your brownstone was probably originally built as a single family and usually aren't very wide, right? What's the deal, inquiring minds want to know!

    Reply

  41. Oh man! What a great find!

    And what a sweet girl for thinking that way. I just see beautiful tile, she sees something much more interesting.

    Reply

  49. Touch up any problem places on the black tile with a felt tip marker. I even touch up my car with one of those things. That tile is a great find. Ann

    Reply
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