I was glad to see this question. I am getting ready to move into a 1890 cross gable Folk Victorian (and I would consider it a farmhouse.) I live in a city in the very southwest of Calif. (almost to the border) In the late 1800s,, early 1900s, ten acre lots were sold to gentlemen farmers from the east and midwest to plant lemon groves. The agreement included that they had to live there and build a house that was worth at least $2,000, which was a lot in those days. Some have been destroyed, but the city is sprinkled with quite a few large, fancy, Queen Anne Victorians, many that are restored perfectly. They are called Orchard Houses, of course because they were built by the owners of the orchards . This house is an Orchard house, but not as big and fancy as others. I can get more info about it at our Historical Society Museum, but I have not gotten over there yet. Maybe they skimped on the $2,000 or maybe there was more to it before. Maybe it had a guest house, or horse stables. I know nothing about old houses but my family is all in Minnesota and this looks somewhat like the farmhouses and rural, in town houses that my aunts and uncles lived in. I had to search pictures and articles to determine that it is probably a Folk Victorian, but I think I am pretty close. I say "move in" because I will be renting it from my brother in law who has had it for 37 years, but it is a rental and he built 2 apartments behind it. He doesn't know much about it and hasn't had a lot of interest it it, other than to keep it rented, even though the Heritage Society has been out to see him a number of times. My brother in law spent his youth in rural Minnesota, so this is just a house to him. I have always liked the house. It is definitely "folk" and doesn't have any fancy Queen Anne style trim etc... It fact I thought it was a craftsman, until I found out when it was built. It is structurally very sound, but is sort of unkempt looking. I am a retired teacher, single and don't have experience in this, but he is happy that I want to make it look as close to how it was originally (but not for much money LOL!!) Just to have it clean and really well kept up will make him happy. The block has a couple more old houses, one Queen Anne Victorian that is not kept up at all. Otherwise it is a hodgepodge of 50s and 60s. This is the one very visible old home, so the neighbors are sort of hinting that they don't like it being such a mess. I especially want to get the bushes cut down in front of the enclosed porch so I can open the windows and use it for that. I saw the house 35 years ago, and now have only been able to do a quick walkthrough. The Craftsman question interested me because I have quite a bit of Craftsman style furniture that I already own, and I felt that it would match the farmhouse feel that this house has. Of course I am just talking about furniture, interior decorations, etc..., no permanent changes. Overall though, I don't think my brother haschanged much (except in the kitchen.) I believe he has maintained original moldings, possibly even lights and he hasn't done any dumb stuff like take out the built ins or put big modern closets. The bedrooms still have the tiny little closets (with the original doors) where you can hang a few things and I think tenants have made closet type spaces by putting rods and curtains at the corners of the gables, so that did not change anything structurally and can look cool with the right kind of material. He is a contractor and does most work himself, and if something can be fixed or maintained as is, that means he doesn't have to spend money, so the house is lucky in that respect. It has a basement with an inside door and an outside cellar door (so I will be prepared for tornadoes), and it has a mudroom, because in Southern California I need a place to put my parka and snow boots (we don't even have rain LOL) and those steep gables will keep the snow from collecting so my roof won't collapse. They built what they knew when they got here!! I think the combination Victorian Farmhouse/Craftsman will work because it has a farmhouse feel and we are only talking about furnishings, I do have one final question though, and I hope this picture comes through. It is odd looking because this house is flat in the front. It has an enclosed porch that is flush with the outside wall, a very small porch for the front door, otherwise, there is no other porch with posts and a covering like Victorian's (and usually farmhouses) seem to have. It looks like something is missing. Maybe something was removed over the years. Or is there a way that a larger porch could be added to make the front look more interesting, and to have a place to sit outside, but still in character with the style of the house? I might be able to talk my brother into it because he could build it himself. I am excited about the enclosed porch because those windows have hinges and open completely out but have not been opened in years. I suggested that it would be really nice if he could take down those dumb apartments, but he wouldn't go for that!! Lol!!

YEA!!! We're keeping the floors!!! I could have KISSED John, our floor guy!!!! He just took a walk through the gutted kitchen and neighboring rooms and decided that all of it (except for the living room, which is quartersawn oak on a diagonal) is southern yellow heartpine!! He said it's terribly hard to get these days without any knots--his best resource is a place down in Virginia that takes reclaimed wood like this out of old factories. Works out to be about $7 or $8 per square foot. We need a "new" section where one wall is being torn out of about 6' X 2', and he wants me to see what I can do about finding some. He said the stuff from the factories down south is good, but it does have more "character"--aka, knots--than what we currently have. Caroline--where did you say you got your reclaimed wood?? I don't need much in this case and would love to find some of this era that would "match" pretty well! I guess our dining room (second picture down) had been stained a darker color and then treated with some chemical varnish stuff back in the 70's or 80's--probably the previous owners DIY project, he suspects. That's why some of us were thinking it was fir--but he said it most definitely is not. I'm just excited because I finally know what everything is in the house and can have some continuity of color/appearance when these floors are done. We may (or may not, depending on price) have the dining room done at the same time as the kitchen, simply because they run into each other and there would be a really severe break where one stops and the other begins. Gotta go finish pulling my last two pieces of plywood with staples...I'm on the home stretch!! Now I'm just torn between finishes--originally I wanted tung oil, DH wants basketball-court like polyurethane, and now I'm leaning towards Waterlox as a compromise. John is willing to do any of the above, and actually thinks Waterlox would fit the house the best. Opinions?? I will absolutely post pictures throughout the whole process if anyone's interested. Thanks for everyone's help, suggestions, and support!!! :) Sarah

Thanks, marthavila, I sometimes have to look at it through someone else's eyes to appreciate it. We bought our house 11 years ago and it was badly in need of renovation THEN. Well, time went by, we had 4 kids, dh went through 3 internet start-ups, and the renovations never got done. Lauraella, there were times when I begged dh to sell our house and move us into a 1980's tract house - anything that was functional , warm in the winter and cool in the summer (lack of AC has been one of our biggest issues; we are taking care of that with the renovation as well.) Now, we are finally doing the renovation, but living through it (we can't afford to rent) has proved to be the biggest challenge yet. The GC had to build us a temporary kitchen and a new bathroom in the basement because they tore off our kitchen and 1 1/2 baths during the gut. The only way to access the basement is to go out onto the framing and down a set of temporary stairs. For about a week, the only way down was to go out the front door, around the back of the house and down the outside cellar stairs. IT WILL ALL BE WORTH IT. That is my mantra.

First off you have beautiful home and congratulation on your new home. I'd suggest going to the floor if you're going to go with curtains on these window and if you're okay with going above the picture rail i'd suggest that. Going above the rail will just add height to your room. 1/4'' is going to be too narrow to do an inside mount. If you like the idea of having some of your trim show you can always mount on your trim, but just don't cover it all. Honeycomb and roller shades would be good pairing options with curtains. A roller shade will project out farther than a honeycomb shade.... just something to consider. If you're open to suggestions on an alternative option consider an Illusion shade. They have a modern look and give you versatility with light and privacy. The illusion shades are beautiful on their own or look nice with panels as well.