Our Victorian Era

The Victorian belonged to our father, who purchased it as the “deal of the century” in the 1990s. It needed a lot of work, and he was excited for the challenge. He ripped out the warped and damaged metal Sears kitchen cabinets (and moved them to the farm where he created a “playhouse” for us in one of the old dairy buildings). He designed a new layout, sourced a vintage butcher block and rebuilt the kitchen from scratch. He lovingly removed the impractical original bath fixtures and stored them safely in the basement for another time. Dad, again, created a custom layout in the updated bath, built a wall to accommodate new plumbing and a shower. Throughout the house, he repaired plaster, changed out light fixtures, upgraded some electrical, and got it ready to offer as a long-term rental. 

The house chugged along with his updates until 2010 when the original tin shingle roof began to leak around the main chimney. Dad had the roof replaced with standing seam metal, and chalked up the interior damage to be mostly cosmetic. In 2013 his tenant moved out, and the house sat vacant (despite pleas to work on it together) until 2021 when Meredith asked if she could stay there during her spring break. She and I spent a week cleaning up the dust, debris, dead birds, and general filth a vacant home collects, and moved in some mattresses and thrifted furniture. Lucky that Meredith asked to stay there, because just a few weeks later, I convinced Dad to let me take him to the ER and we found out he had cancer all throughout his body. The house was now our home base while we cared for our dying father. 

Our first order of business was the main chimney where the roof had leaked so many years ago. We knew it was in rough shape, and that the ancient boiler vented its toxic fumes through it, so we had a chimney company come out and inspect it. They told us they couldn’t even get their camera down to the firebox on the first floor, let alone to the basement. The chimney had basically collapsed in on itself and was serpentining, barely contained by plaster and baseboards, all along the 3-story expanse. The whole thing had to come down. All 3+ stories of ancient brick had to be dismantled and rebuilt from the basement up.  One of Dad’s last signatures is on the building permits we pulled for that chimney rebuild. 

It had always been my dream to restore this Victorian home. And through a terrible and gut-wrenching course of events, I was given my wish. But the chimney was just the tip of the iceberg. We had failing and unsafe systems to deal with, crumbling plaster, broken window panes, termite damage, invasive trees, animal infestations (squirrels, starlings, and bats, oh my!), and an absolutely appalling carriage house collapse in the backyard. We set to work on the Victorian only to constantly be interrupted by the farm–who I can only assume was jealous of all the attention–with its water and septic issues and constant epidemic of downed trees. 

Just as we started to hit our stride on the Victorian, our rough-and-tumble giant teddy bear of a mason fell ill before he could complete our second chimney and the remaining repointing work. He became so desperate to save his business that he ended up requesting a large chunk of money from us, promising us he would send his crew to finish the job. He had done phenomenal work so far, and we so badly wanted to believe him and get him back on track, so we obliged his request. But we ultimately had to part ways, feeling equal parts violated and devastated. Just a few weeks later, still reeling from our mason betrayal, I discovered that thousands of dollars of equipment had been stolen out of our barn at the farm as well. We reported the theft, but were not able to recover any of the missing items. Luckily the farmer who makes hay on our land sprung into action and helped us put up gates and security equipment to at least help prevent another break-in.

Since these major setbacks, we have persevered and found some pretty awesome people to work with. (Though the skeptic still lingers in the back corners of my mind at all times.) 

We have successfully completed the following projects:

• New chimney with 2 new fire boxes

• Repointed 90% of the foundation

• New boiler + hot water heater

• Added AC to the entire house using mini-splits

• Updated all outlets and light fixtures

• Extensive carpentry and plaster repair

• Window repair and reglazing

• New, expanded deck

• New brick walk and Victorian Garden landscaping

• New porch structure and flooring

• Interior paint, millwork, and wallpaper

• Exterior paint and siding repair

• Repaired and re-plastered carriage house

And once again, all these projects were punctuated with emergency roof repairs, electrical work, plumbing disasters, and tree management out at the farm. Never a dull moment.

All we have left in our Victorian restoration is the kitchen, baths, and hardwood floors. We already have most of the materials for the kitchen and baths and I am doing most of that labor, with the occasional help of our trusted plumber. The one thing we didn’t realize when we got into all this was the state the hardwoods would be in after all the demolition and repairs we made throughout the house. They were in decent shape when we started, but we had no idea the extent of work that would need to be done to get the house back to her former glory. After a full chimney rebuild and endless days of plaster repair and carpentry, they are going to need a “scrub and recoat” as they call it in the biz. We don’t want to remove the character, but they are rough to the touch and extremely hard to clean in their current state.

We will be hosting a garage sale and open house event at the Victorian sometime this summer once everything is complete. We would love for you to come see the work we’ve done on the house, and snap a selfie with our new mural on the carriage house! Floors are scheduled for the end of April, but may get bumped to summer because things just never move as fast as I think they should. We are hoping through our Foundry Pop-Up sales, and the “Old Soul'' campaign, we will have enough to finish our restoration and share it with folks who want to visit Staunton and stay in a restored historic home. We are so thankful to be able to take some of these painful and unfortunate experiences and turn them into something beautiful. Every time I walk into the house I am amazed at how far we have come. Thank you for your support along the way!