a diamond in the rough...

I fell in love. Seriously. You all *might* think I am crazy and all you see is a dilapidated old house... but I can see past the plaster repair, the peeling wallpaper, etc... and see great bones, huge rooms, gorgeous woodwork. (The exterior of this house I will post later... it is the area of concern). I wish I won the lottery because this would me mine, all mine.

Yesterday, Steven and I were houseshopping for his mother, when we came across this 3 story Victorian built in the 1860s... here are a few interior shots...

With the level of craftsmanship in this fireplace, I am betting it was created in a big city like Chicago and shipped here. The wood is in perfect condition. The tiles just need a good scrubbing (The relief is still gorgeous). And the ornate insert is so much more ornate than the Humphrey I found in my basement.

A slightly blurry shot of the tiles and Humphrey.

The fireplace room, perhaps at one time a cozy parlor, has 3 sets of amazing pocket doors. Note the millwork above this one. Gorgeous!

Here is the main stairway. This house has stained glass windows everywhere, but this is the largest one. I wish the sun wasn't blazing through it. This entire window is stained glass. The glass panels were perfect and just needed to be releaded.

The leather pads on the stairs were in perfect condition! Many of the stairs still had the original brass corner dust guards! (See the middle step - to the left... that triangle is the dirty brass plate.)

Looking down the stairs. All the spindles are there, which is nice.

Every door had a transom and the hardware is all in perfect working condition!

This was likely the master bedroom. (All the bedrooms, except for servant quarters, are on the second floor). It has a little sitting area you can see to the left. Oh, most of the shutters are in the house. I recall maybe one or two missing. And that is a lot of windows!

Here is the dumb waiter on the second floor. Also note, the outside corners all have this beautiful trimwork to keep the plaster from being damaged.

Here are the servants' stairs. Not a bad stairway for the help at all. The pads on these stairs are also perfect.

The attic is the entire 3rd floor... jsut massive. And beautiful. The light was streaming in, illuminating a few hidden treaures. This space could easily be finished as a child's play room.

A little silver pitcher in the attic.

A pile of brass crown molding. Just needs to be matched back up and reinstalled.

A little suitcase I was brave enough to open. I imagined a big mouse popping out! It had the owners name and address on the label. What a darling little case!