I decided to post more about the dining room. Just a little heads up...a lot of this work won't be done for a while. I've seen a lot of people on here say they're on a "dime" budget, well were on a penny budget.
This is not the dining room. This is a corner in the living room. Every room has these spindles. Every single corner in every room has them. Except the dining room. In the PO's remudling they removed all of these from that room. I'm just glad they stopped there and didn't do the whole house.

This is one of 3 windows. Its the worst, by far. The paneling is buckling and it looks like there's water damage, but the plaster underneath (what I can see of it) appears to be in great shape. The previous owners chose to staple cardboard over plastic to insulate the windows. We ripped out the plastic to put the AC in. That little unit is all that we have for the entire house.
Does any one know what this is? I have no idea. It looks like it has a phone line running to it, but it doesn't look like any phone jack I've ever seen. We gotta find out what it is before removing it. And if it has a historical significance I don't want to remove it...although I would really just like to know what it is.

At some point the transom window and door were removed to the kitchen. And the tacky paneling was put up. And the drop ceiling with fluorescent lighting...very 70's vibe in here.
I feel sad about this. This is the only damaged door in the whole house. I guess one out of 10 isn't so bad. It looks like some one kicked through it. It was probably the same person that put the cracks in the formica walls in the bathroom, and the blood on the floor, and the Southern Comfort bottle in the back of the kitchen cabinet...I think its starting to come together. And I'm betting its from the short time period when this house was rented out, because the Yochums are so sweet I just don't see any one in that family doing any of that.

The plan is to remove the drop ceiling, paneling, and plastic on the windows. Strip all the paint off the woodwork, fix the damaged panel in the door, and I've already started on the carpet (see last post). If the plaster is in good shape we're going to keep it. If not, we're going to drywall. And reglaze the windows. The panes rattle like crazy so I think if we do this we might not need the plastic anymore. But like I said, we really don't have much of a budget so it's going to be a long work in progress. Unless we win the lottery. I just don't see that happening though!