
We (Paige and Brandon) fell in love with the old Folk Victorian Farmhouse, built in 1905, when we first laid eyes on it. The house was a complete wreck where every little space in the house needed work from the foundation to the roof including everything in between like electrical, plumbing, siding, bathrooms, kitchen and all other interior. We decided to give the house all the love and affection it deserved.

It was the summer of 2017 that we found this truly amazing house and decided to buy it right away. It had everything we had been looking for. We realized the amount of work it would take to get it in shape again but we were confident and determined we could do it. Off course we knew there would be tears, sweat and exhaustion but we realized there would also be laughs, joy and pure happiness! In the end we reasoned, it would all be worth it!
We’re both engineers by training and planned to do 99% of the work ourselves. Framing, windows, plumbing, electrical, drywall, tile, you name it!
So, where did we start?
We pinpointed quickly a few things that we needed to do and consider first:
- Completely replace and upgrade all electrical work.
- Insulate both exterior and interior walls for warmth, sound and fireproofing.
- Save plaster, if reasonable.
Upstairs hallway
We started out with the hallway upstairs. The reason for this was because the hall was the simplest room to renovate and the most complicated room to actually have in the process of renovation.












So we finished the hallway upstairs for now and the only thing left is that we need to refinish the floor. We are completely thrilled that we have an “upstairs hall.” An actual hall that can hold furniture. What a project it’s been and what a great feeling it is to enjoy this space now. It really gave us confidence for the rest of the house.
Downstairs hall
Next space to fix is the downstairs hall!
From the beginning we realized all the beautiful details in the hall like the staircase with the carvings and the furnace closet door with original shellac. It was important to us to be careful in our preservation work so all the details would come forward in the best possible way.


The story of our chandeliers
I once bought a three-armed chandelier from France intending to put it in the downstairs hall. It was beautiful and perfect, but a smidge underwhelming. I moved it upstairs with a heavy heart, knowing I would never find its equal. I searched and searched until one day on a different website from a different seller in a different city in France…the same chandelier. But…WITH SIX ARMS!!! We quickly rearranged so the six-armed chandelier was put in the downstairs hall and the three-armed chandelier was put in the upstairs hall.





Next project – The Kitchen!
A mostly unfitted, historically inspired, Victorian kitchen for our 1905 farmhouse was our next restoration project to take on. How we had longed to begin this project.
First of all cabinet design can really make or break a kitchen. It was important for us to have just the right historic cabinets that would blend well in with the rest of the kitchen. Also we were looking for retro technology to give the Victorian kitchen just the right look and feel.
It took ten months to complete our Folk Victorian Kitchen! We are so happy and thrilled with the end result! See our work and the end result in the following pictures.







Bedrooms next!
The house came with several bedrooms, one which had a hidden fireplace. Here is a selection of a few of them just to give you a hint of the amount of work put in to each one of them.






Last but not least, the bathroom!
There was only one bathroom in the house and we planned to make the most of it! We had a vision from start when we had found just the right tile pattern, sink and lamps. First thing we did was to get rid of the carpet – there was no way we would leave it there!








Summary of our house journey so far
Over the last three years that we have been working on our house we’ve had highs, lows, and everything in between. If I could say so myself it has turned out pretty freaking spectacular and we are so happy that we did this.
Please visit my blog https://farmhousevernacular.com and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/farmhousevernacular/ to read about our entire journey and our continued projects.
Do you have a house restoration story or any other house or garden project to share? Please visit Share your story – Residence Journeys! We would love to hear from you.