House Tour Part 1

Here she is in all her glory.  I just snapped this photo yesterday afternoon so I had one for this post.  This is our dream home and we are so grateful to have found her.  Gary and I looked for a few years to find the perfect house and we literally stumbled upon this one unintentionally.  You see, this is not in a town we were looking at originally.  

Our home was built in 1902 and we were lucky enough to get great background information on it from the previous owners who loved her dearly and graced her presence for 20 years.

The house is on a corner lot in a beautiful neighborhood.  I've always wanted a corner lot.

The previous owners, he an oncologist and she a professor at Dartmouth who has her doctorate in Victorian Studies adored the home and had a difficult time letting the house go.  Once they bought their new (even bigger!)  home they held onto this one for 6 months before even putting it on the market.
Evidently it was a life long dream of hers to own horses and once their daughter graduated from college they decided to start a new chapter in their lives.  They now have an old farmhouse and 3 horses!

Side view on the yard side of the house.

This photo is of the side yard as well, the formal garden area which is segregated from the rest of the yard.  This was taken early spring.

We have a beautiful front porch.  It wraps around slightly on one side of the house.  We actually use this quite a bit when entertaining.  Otherwise we are on our back porch most of the time.

Unfortunately one of the wisteria did not survive the winter as you can see by the brown dead vines.  It has since been removed.  We do however have another one on the other side and it is thriving and being trained to trail the same path as the other one did.  

Guess I should have waited to click pics until AFTER the pollen and dirt was washed away.  I didn't know I would end up needing these for this post.

More early spring photos.  We have 2 beautiful cherry blossom trees that are spectacular.

Here the cherry blossoms are in full bloom.  My adorable nephew just happened to be skateboarding in the neighborhood when I was out that day taking photos. I coaxed him to come up for a photo.  Thanks Christian.

Here is the breathtaking wisteria.

Let's go inside shall we?  This is one of 4 functioning pocket doors that are usually fully open but I pulled this one 3/4 closed for the photo.  Behind this door is the piano room.  Originally it was the 'Lady's Parlor' where the lady of the house would meet with her female guests.

You can see the original leaded glass that is on the second front door to the main hall.  There is a vestibule with matching leaded windows on the outside of the house at the first front door.

Here is a peek into the piano room.  This room has quite a ways to go but we did manage to have the pastel blue walls and all the moulding repainted early on.  

So stumped with what to do with window treatments in this room and Pinterest has not helped!!  The way they are set in the room is a challenge along with the placement of the leaded glass.  I decided to put up sheers in the interim for a modest amount of privacy and some well needed light filtering.  I will post more on this room later but will say I am using West Elm linen sheers in many of my windows throughout the house because they are simply gorgeous and very affordable.  This pic was taken when they were first hung so they are still a little puffy.  I have found a wonderful seamstress who does all my window treatments and hem adjustments.  She lives just a few streets up and I kid her that she needs a drive through window for all the work I have given her.

Oh how beautiful....My love for fleur de lis was never ending before this house and has now skyrocketed! 

We purchased this wonderful original oil painting via Craigslist from a woman in Boston who just grew tired of it. I will show the entire painting when I feature this room in a future post. 

Continuing into the main hall you will see exquisite craftsmanship.  The entire main hall is mahogany.

The built in bench you see is one of 3 in the house.

A straight on view of the main hall.  You can glimpse a bit of the back stairwell that would have been for the servants and is gorgeous on it's own however it is far less ornate and it is all made of oak.

I mentioned the previous owner was an oncologist for a reason.  His attention to detail and his need for a creative outlet became very evident as we discovered the perfection in this home and as we got to know him.  He did all of the wallpapering in the house, pictures will never due his work justice.  Every single seam matches perfectly and he covered all switch plates and outlets exactly to match the wall pattern.  So much so that it took us a long time to even find all of them since they blended right in.  

I adore the main stairwell.  It is just breathtaking in person.  Beneath the midway landing is the quaintest bathroom you will ever see.

The photo is too bright to see the original 3 stain glass windows atop the 3 longer windows.  You can also see the second window.  We joke that it is there so one can take a break on the way to the second floor.  More on the Austrian sheers hanging in the window in another post.  For now let me just say they were mine and meant to be in this house.

Here we are at the top of the stairs in our second floor hall.  There is a door you can't see in the closest far right and that is a bedroom.   The other door diagonal to the right is the master, the door directly in front is Gary's office.  There are two more bedrooms to the left.  I also have an office of my own on the first floor.

Before we go all the way upstairs lets take a peek at the butler's pantry and the dining room.  I will be doing separate posts on all the rooms at a later time.  I will however hold back on kitchen photos in this post so I can do a before and after very soon.  Nothing earth shattering there, just aesthetic gorgeousness!


Now the butler's pantry....

This was originally the kitchen, hence the less ornate oak woodwork.   This room has so much storage, and so much counter space.  It is a dream when we entertain.  Instead of cluttering up the kitchen, I am able to utilize all of the counter space with food items.  It is a great place to put food for a buffet as well.



Below is one of my favorite pictures (we have since had a much more substantial crown moulding installed).  The light we had in storage for probably 4 years.  I fell in love with it at an antique shop and Gary later surprised me with it which was so sweet.   It is not very old, 1960's however it is unique and fits perfectly in this house and especially in this room.  The light in here before we switched it out was nondescript.

Below is the dining room you can see through the butler pantry doorway.  Looks busy to me but Gary loves the floral wallpaper and he has been so accommodating with my tastes through the years that I must respect his (right?).  I do love the wallpaper below which is original Anaglypta.  I'll also talk about that paper when this room is featured  We both agree the alien chandelier must go and we are always on the look out for that perfect one.  Many of the lights in the home are reproductions and crazy expensive so I do feel bad about that but they are just now our taste.  So far we have replaced 3 chandeliers.

More on this room in a later post....good stuff actually.

One of two stunning built in hutches.

Stunning.

Craftsmanship is beyond comprehension when you consider the time these were crafted.

I will leave you with a few shots from our living room...

I will soon do a part 2 post that features the upstairs and then occasionally feature a particular room.  I hope you enjoyed part 1 of the tour!

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Fondly-Lisa

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