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San Jose Homeowners Remodeling Bathroom Find Hidden Message From Past Owners

SAN JOSE (KPIX 5) – Think of it as a message in a bottle although, in this case, it was a message inside a bathroom wall. A San Jose family made the surprise discovery as they were remodeling.

"We're trying to get this bathroom renovation done within four weeks because my wife is pregnant and we're expecting our first child," said Alex Monney.

Usually when you're in a hurry to finish your construction project, the last thing you want is a surprise. But that's exactly what Alex and his wife found.

"We thought it was hilarious," Monney told KPIX 5.

Bathroom Hidden Message
Alex Monnay of San Jose shows off a message that was posted by the home's previous owners on hidden behind a bathroom wall. (CBS)

"There was a message from a previous owner that was in the wall, that outlines some funny anecdotes of them having a bunny who wants to be the Cadbury egg bunny," the current homeowner said. "As well as why were we deciding to change their bathroom didn't we know good work when we saw it."

At first, the construction project surprise was just something fun to post on social media. But after it blew up the Monney's realized there was something else going on.

This connection between current owner and past has played out on social media. Alex's original post now has more than 100,000 likes.

"It kind of brought a little bit of wholesome joy, I guess you could say, during the day because it was just very unexpected, but really funny. We thought they had a great sense of humor," Monney said.

The previous family is the Shinseki's. They remodeled the bathroom 23 years ago.

"We didn't really understand who had been here before. And so the comparison that we made was that as we opened up this wall and as we saw these stories we kind of uncovered the house's family tree," Monney said.

Before the construction is completed, the Monney's plan to help the tree grow a new branch.

"I think we do need to integrate, obviously, the baby, and we have two dogs and a previous cat that used to live with us. So try to build up this family tree a little bit more and maybe hopefully leave a surprise and smile for someone later on down the road," Monney said.

Monney has reached out to the previous owners, but so far has not heard back.

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