Cracked walls, dirt-covered floors, and an electrical nightmare can be found around the west wing of the Capitol building.

But to find the beauty beneath the mess you just have to scratch the surface.

Statehouse architect Barry Greis took 49 News on a private tour of the statehouse to show us some formerly hidden treasures that are seeing new life.

Two different wall stencils designs, one from around 1917 and the other dating back to 1885, were hidden beneath paint.

"The architects will have to make a decision on which stencil to choose whether it's the old stencil or the older stenciling, and then in addition to that we've uncovered, additional marble flooring in the west wing and ceramic tile mosaic floors that were used in the state treasurer's office and that was a nice find," Greis said.

One area in the statehouse will eventually be converted to a conference room for the governor's staff. Many years ago it served as a two-story vault for the state treasurer's office. If the door is pushed back, you can find old bank boxes filled with deposit slips dating back to 1968.

"They had a large two-story vault connected to their offices where they would take in money, bonds, certificates, any type of document and store them in this vault," Greis said.

Although workers have made good progress, there is still a lot to be done before the dreary space is restored to its former glory.

Statehouse renovations are expected to be complete by 2010.