Woman’s home reno leads to decades-old secret

A US woman made an unexpected discovery when she knocked down a wall in her historic house. 

The owner and her husband bought the 110-year-old house in Washington State last December. 

“A few weeks after moving in […] as I went down the basement stairs I looked up and saw the back of a set of stairs,” she wrote on Reddit. 

At first, she didn’t think anything of it. 

Months later, the couple were in the middle of renovations when they decided to knock down a linen closet in the hallway. 

They had noticed the stairs led to the closet, and wanted to work out the property’s floorplan. 

To their surprise, a secret staircase was hiding behind the wall.

It led to a small attic space filled with old light fixtures, wallpaper and even a 1950s newspaper clipping. 

“There are a LOT of mouse droppings up there,” the woman wrote. 

“We think it’s all very old, but there is a ridiculous amount of rolled out insulation and a bunch of bays, old spaces and nooks up there, so, we won’t know until we do all of that.” 

A number of other ancient finds were also hiding in the attic. 

“There was a ‘vintage’ pair of safety glasses on the stairs. I also found two very dead mice. Thankfully, I was wearing latex gloves and a respirator mask,” she said. 

She found a crumpled newspaper clipping from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer dated to October 8, 1950. 

The article invited local residents to attend a history lecture at the University of Washington. 

The woman plans to frame the newspaper clipping.

“I also have some pieces of the wallpaper that was in the living room from the 50s that I plan on framing,” she added. 

The couple are still deciding what to do with the extra unexpected space. 

“We already discussed with my brother and sister-in-law whether we could convert the attic space at the top of the stairs to fit a projector screen and bean bags,” she said. 

Commenters on the post chimed in with their suggestions for the space. 

“Stock it with food and security cams and make it a panic/safe room,” one user suggested. 

“A hidden library would be incredible!” another person wrote. 

The couple are not the first to uncover an unusual area in their home.

Last month, a family discovered a hidden room in the staircase of their California home.

In May, a Melbourne couple discovered an off the plan doorway in their new home.

The doorway was secreted away in one of the cupboards.