In the 1920's, Victorian fell out of favor and so the owners of this house decided to dismantle the original porch and install a bungalow style porch with Craftsman columns and brick piers. We removed the these incongruent elements and rebuilt the porch using recycled antique bricks and salvaged Victorian house parts. Click for a close-up of the new porch and detail of the gingerbread detail.

To complete the Victorian porch restoration, we installed a Queen Anne style stained-glass door.

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The ceilings throughout the entire interior of the house had been lowered to seven feet. Many platforms were installed and used as elevated preaching spots. Fortunately, the original (at least to the 1920's) oak floors were still underneath and they refinished beautifully.

The original windows had been replaced with tiny metal windows. We replaced all of them with historic wood windows to fit the original 7' frame. We recreated the living room fireplace with a reproduction gas coal basket insert with Victorian fire screen and a tiger oak mantel salvaged from a Philadelphia mansion. Years later, the homeowner hired us to install custom built-in bookshelves and a window seat.

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When we found the room that became the dining room, its original triple bay had morphed to a more Craftsman look. During demolition, we discovered the original lines and returned them, replacing missing wood siding with solid cypress clapboards. We found a stunning stained glass window from upstate New York and installed it in the center of the bay, with flanking 7' windows on the sides of the bay. Since the front parlor of the house had an octagonal theme, we installed double built-ins that made the lines of the rooms octagonal as well.

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To transition from the dining room to the kitchen, we installed a set of late 1800's pine pocket doors with stained glass windows to slide back into the walls. The new owners choose blue cabinets with black granite, recessed lighting, and stainless appliances. This room is large enough to function as a combination kitchen and den area, and ends with French doors that lead out to a large deck.

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The bedroom located behind the octagonal study (on left) may have originally been the dining room. A fancy Victorian mantel was one of the few architectural features still in place in the home. We tiled the surround with pure white Greek Thassos marble.

The other two bedrooms are quiet and private–the rear bedroom looks out on the enormous back yard. The middle bedroom is also bright and sunny with a six paneled door and huge window.

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The new home-owner had fun with the half bath, choosing a funky vessel sink perched on a maple table, with modern faucet. This floor was left in oak.

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The downstairs full bathroom was beautifully done in historic black and white octagonal tiles. Complementing the tiles is a full sized clawfoot tub with chrome telephone faucets, antique medicine cabinet, pedestal sink, beaded board and plate rail. In this bath is one of four matching stained glass antique windows that we added to the house and used as transoms.

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The wide eight foot center hall was recreated based on popular Victorian plans where the public rooms were located on the left and private rooms were separated on the right. When we bought the house, most of the original walls were missing. To create an upstairs, we installed a dramatic staircase that shoots up 12' to a landing, turns and goes up another flight. The stair parts were a combination of new parts and architectural antiques.

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The only rooms upstairs are all part of the master suite, lending the space complete privacy and leisure. Though essentially new construction, we wanted to keep this portion of the house in the same Victorian ambience as the downstairs. On the top landing, we installed two complete sets of antique casement windows with their original hardware.

The large master bedroom (left) has a barn style roofline, double French doors, and a Juliet balcony overlooking the deep backyard. There is a spacious hallway that leads from the master bedroom to the enormous walk-in closet and bathroom.