My wife and I tonight signed an offer letter on a turn-of-the-century Victorian home in central Loudoun County, Virginia.
Our existing house is 10 months old. It's large and nice -- but just not what we want out of life. We're hoping to sell it in favor of the dust, drafts and charms of old-house living. And we plan to chronicle the whole process of restoration here on the Old House Web.
I'll go into as much gory detail as you all can stand:
- Our reasons for doing what we've decided (including mistakes!!);
- Costs, choices of materials, choices of suppliers and so forth;
- Victories and setbacks;
- Oh, and we'll include lots and lots of photos of the work in progress.
About Us
By day, I'm a Unix / C++ programmer with America Online. During the nights and weekends, I enjoy working on my house. I'm not formally trained in the trades, but I do enjoy projects, and have even done some on-the-side contract work for small to medium jobs such as putting in kitchens and refinishing basements.
Designing and building decks and playsets are fairly straightforward for me -- and about my usual ability level. I have a basic understanding of plumbing, electric and some of the more specialized trades but as a rule I don't touch those, leaving them to the experts. I simply don't have the experience that years of doing the work might provide.
So my role -- and that of my wife -- might best be described as part producer, part stagehand. We'll make the big decisions and provide manual labor on those portions of the project for which we're qualified. But we won't hesitate to call in pros when we need them.
As a wise man once said, "A man's gotta know his limitations..."
The Dream
Credit my wife with the dream. Living in tract housing for the past decade and a half heightened her desire to live in an authentic Victorian home. As for me, it took less work on her part than she might have imagined to persuade me to buy into her dream.
The faceless, convenant-shackled anonymity of suburbia -- where everyone has more or less the same floor plan -- just isn't my idea paradise.
One of the final pieces fell into place a few months back, after a neighbor painted his pressure treated board-on-board fence. The fence was already one of the prettiest in the neighborhood. With a fresh coat of white paint, it was now spectacular. Alas, our neighborhood's convenants specifically prohibited anything but bare wood pressure treated fences.
And wouldn't you know it: One of the other homeowners complained! How can you make a house your home if you can't even paint your fence? My wife had an answer. And her unorthodox solution slowly grew on me. She yearned for old-house living, small-town living.
And as luck would have it, just such a home was already on the market, within easy commuting distance of both of our jobs, and nestled in a small town with good schools and wonderful surroundings. At that point, the decision almost made itself.
The Plan
Our intentions in rebuilding the home are best described as 'modernized authentic.' We'll correct obvious deficiencies in the construction, such as adding fireblocks in the walls.
We'll provide ourselves with modern conveniences, masking their appearance where possible. For example, as we work on the house, we'll add in-wall wiring for a network for the computers, wiring for an alarm system and plumbing for heat-activated sprinklers. We'll also install small-diameter, unobtrusive central air conditioning. Our goal is to make such things difficult to spot.
Wherever possible or practical, we'll maintain original trim and use original construction methods, materials and designs. This will include reconstruction of the wraparound porch -- and possibly sleeping porches. It will include reinstallation of windows removed in 1973 when the house we're buying was converted into a four-unit apartment building.
Additionally, furnishings, appliance appearance, floor treatments, wall treatments and construction (plaster veneer over drywall) will be as authentic as practical, even down to the wire-to-hook/molding method of hanging pictures.
We'll replace the low profile hot water baseboards with old cast iron radiators. And modern wooden siding will be remilled to match the turn of the century German clapboard no longer produced.
I hope you all can can follow along. Our current time frame for taking possession of our 'new' Victorian house is around or about mid-November, with renovations starting very shortly after that.
