Virginia Sole-Smith and Dan Upham
1870 Victorian, approximately 1,400 square feet
Hudson Valley, New York

We started our house hunt in the fall of 2009, just a few months after getting married and moving from New York City up to the Hudson Valley as renters. We zeroed in on a sweet neighborhood that was train-stop-adjacent for Dan’s commute to the city, as well as close to great hiking, shop-ping, and yoga. Immediately, we fell hard for a Cape Cod-style house built in 1900 with amazing Hudson River views. But that deal fell through, which was discouraging—until we saw our present house listed with a major price drop two weeks later.

I knew I wanted to buy it as soon as I drove up and saw the vintage gingerbread front porch—I just hoped that the inside would be half as charming. I’d wanted to live in an old Victorian house since my grandparents built me a Victorian-style dollhouse when I was 9. And Dan and I both have a major aversion to the McMansion-style homes popping up all over the place in our area. As it turned out, the inside was as charming—vintage chandeliers, two fireplaces, a window seat, and the original staircase from when the house was built in 1870. We also loved that this two-bedroom, two-bathroom has a walk-up attic with a year-round river view. The attic is unfinished at the moment but holds great poten-tial to give us a three-bedroom house.

Of course, the place wasn’t perfect. The yard was over-grown with weeds, the bathrooms were outdated, and the previous owners had stained the floors almost black, the windows were covered in heavy velvet curtains, and wallpaper had been painted over in several rooms. But with so many original details, we could see that the place had huge potential. At the top of the to-do list: lightening the floors, fixing the walls, and opening up the floor plan. We’ve found that the historic details are much lovelier when set off with a clean, modern aesthetic.

Head to page 2 for tips on opening up an old floor plan.