A home renovation project tends to be full of surprises, but often not the good kind. You might learn that termites have been treating your basement like an all-you-can-eat buffet for decades, or that the plumbing hasn't been upgraded since the 17th century.
But when one couple tore down a wall in the bathroom of their California home as part of a recent renovation project, they were greeted with a different kind of surprise.
Alex and Jess Monney had decided to make their bathroom just a bit more spacious, so they hired a contractor to start the demolition process in early July. Their ambitious home improvement endeavor was chugging along as scheduled until the contractor found something hidden in the bathroom wall: Nestled among the insulation and plywood was a photo of the house's former owners attached to a mysterious, handwritten note…
Meet Alex and Jess.
They're a married couple who live in San Jose, according to the Today show.
They began remodeling their bathroom at the beginning of July.
The project kicked off "4 weeks before I’m due," tweeted Jess, who's pregnant with her and Alex's first child together.
The couple had decided to remodel the bathroom because its shower was far too small.
The project was going as planned until their contractor tore down a wall and found a 23-year-old note:
"Hi! We're the Shinseki's [sic]!" the note read. "We remodeled this bathroom [in] Summer 1995"
"If you're reading this, that means you're remodeling the bathroom again," the message continued. "What's wrong with the way we did it?!?!?"
If that wasn't hilarious enough, the Shinsekis' note included a second picture.
Of the Shinsekis' rabbit!
"Hi! I'm Cassie the Bunny Rabbit," read a second note, written next to the bunny's photo. "I lived here too! (I'm potty-trained!)"
Be still, my heart!
Alex posted a picture of the bathroom note on Twitter, where it went majorly viral before he eventually deleted it.
The post racked up more than 80,000 likes within 24 hours, according to BuzzFeed.
People thought the Shinsekis' prophetic trash-talking was SO clever and endearing — including the Monneys themselves.
“We thought it was hilarious!” Alex told BuzzFeed. “Totally unexpected so it gave us a good laugh throughout the day.”
A lot of people on Twitter hoped the Shinsekis would get in touch with the Monneys after their note went viral, comedian Sarah Silverman among them.
Alex and Jess haven't heard from them yet but want them to know that their "bathroom, and home, is lovely," the former told BuzzFeed.
"It has given us a lot of beautiful memories and we can't wait to raise our little baby girl here," Alex added. "Sorry we're changing the bathroom, but the shower is too small for me to fit in (I'm 6' and my wife is 5'). Thank you for the amazing surprise!"
Alex's viral tweet prompted other people on Twitter to share pictures of things they'd found during their own renovation projects.
Oh, my…
Aren't you curious to see what's hiding behind your own home's walls?
Happy renovating, Monneys!
