Incorporating Personal Style Into A Victorian Home

Does personal expression have a place in the dcor of a staid Victorian home

? Linda Jennings thinks so, and she didnt hesitate a bit to add her own creative touches to her historic Orange County home.

While some new homeowners might be intimidated to change much in the way of interior design when faced with a Victorians typically dark or muted interior color scheme and period architecture, Jennings was undaunted to put her stamp on her new home, always respectful of its unique style. After all, that was what attracted her to it in the first place.

I drove by this house every day on my way to work and always wanted to see what it was like inside, she recalls. After our children were grown, my husband and I put our former house with its large deck, pool and huge yard on the market to move into something smaller. A few days later, a for sale sign appeared in front of this house, and that was it! Thus Linda and her husband Steve abandoned their plan to downsize in favor of the Victorian.

The Hewes House, as the Jennings home is known, is named for David Hewes, who had it built for himself and his wife, Matilda, in 1881. It was originally a Queen Anne/Italianate Victorian with steep roof pitches, balconies, tall windows and wide porches. Between 1919 and 1945, a later owner added bedrooms and a bath to the second story to create much-needed accommodations for local schoolteachers, thereby raising the walls and flattening the original steep roof line. The renovated house now has fourteen rooms.

Linda and Steve Jennings bought the house in 1995 and moved into it the following year after preliminary renovations, of which color was an integral part, and a way for Linda to express her personal style. The most fun was the paint! she says. The house had been all light gray inside. I spent a lot of time on the colors for the different rooms. It was so exciting as the painter applied the red to the living room, deep periwinkle blue to the dining room and pumpkin to the family roomand it all worked.

Jennings spent a great deal of time and effort selecting the exterior color scheme as well. The house was yellow with white trim when we bought it. I spent three years working with a paint specialist in San Francisco, via mail, until we found the right color scheme for the exterior, she says. Its probably not what the original was, but it shows off all the wonderful architectural features of the house.

by: Atul Kumar

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