Victorian Houses
Beautiful updated Victorian
When the Goffs purchased the house, the woodwork, ceilings and walls were dark colored. “It was all a bit funerary,” Gale says. “With the deep porch, there is really no direct sunlight on the first floor.” Choosing to paint the cherrywood was a difficult decision, but Gale says she doesn’t regret it. “I wanted a lighter home,” she says. “Once we started painting the woodwork white, we started seeing details you couldn’t see in the shadows.” She left the stair rail the natural color of the cherrywood, and feels its details stand out better against a white backdrop. The bronze radiator screen (it looks like an elaborately carved wooden chest to the right of the stairs) was also left untouched. “This was one of the first houses to be heated by radiator. The system is nearly 130 years old, but it works like a charm,” Gale says. She worked on the interiors with her daughter, interior designer Kirby Goff. The color scheme was taken from the trio of stained glass windows found in the entry.
Victorian With a Modern Outlook
Layout, crown molding, and paint
Molding. The quality of woodwork and molding traditionally was directly related to the status of the house. Molding gives form and shape to a room and is an important element in Victorian interior design. Grander homes have much more elaborate molding with decorative details, including ornate coving and ceiling medallions, designed to catch the smoke rising from gaslights. “You can have different grades of fireplace, different levels of cornicing — different levels of embellishment across the board,” says Clarke.
Oak floors stained darker wood color
White walls dark trim
Dark wood stairs and white trim
The original Victorian design was fairly lackluster, with dark colors that distracted from the true essence of the house. Lock simplified the color palette and flow, breathing fresh life into the space while still emphasizing the architectural details. She preserved many of the home's original features, such as the kitchen chandelier and this iron door.
The sliding wood doors, original to the home, allow the family to section off the two rooms when needed. Lock says, "It's great when we are entertaining and the kids want to watch television; we can have the adults in one room and the children in the other."
Black doors
Modernize older kitchens
Trim color
The designers of this gorgeous interior allowed the classical architectural details of the room to set the stage for the few well-selected modern treasures. A good rule of thumb when working with more than one style in a room is to pick a dominant style and a complementary accent style.
Mixing old with new
Drapes
Vestibules
Light crown molding/trim with bright dark walls
Love the bright white walls and black door
Victorian homes, especially the grander ones, often used dark wood paneling. Dark wood doesn't work that well with more contemporary designs, but wood can look fabulous painted white and paired with a bolder color on the walls. Here, the painted paneling used with the white and wood stairs adds width and interest to plain walls in a narrow hall, which is typical of the era. If you're installing paneling from scratch, keep true to Victorian style and make sure it is elegantly beveled.
Dark floors and staircase
Dark wood trim
White walls and fireplace with dark floors
Light crown molding
Four Square House
Carrara Marble
Dark window trim crown molding and light ceiling molding
biege Kitchen cabinets with white trim
Dark woodwork dated issues
Rug
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