San Francisco Victorian

(click the image above to see more pictures)

Seems like all we do around the house as of late is paint. Its incredible what 20 hours of work and two gallons of paint will do for a room. For this room we chose to Benjamin Moore’s “Light Blue” in satin for a formal victorian look. The blue really helps to bring out the colors of the original stained glass and makes the original glass chandelier pop.

Luckily this room was white before hand which made things easy except for the ceiling which needed to be primed. The moldings were also in great shape except for a few cracks here and there which we quickly fixed. We finished all the trim in Benjamin Moore’s “Atrium White” as we have for the rest of the house to match.

While we were in there we decided to upgrade the window hardware. Some of it was missing and some of it was broken. A quick online order through Restoration Hardware and we had period correct window matches that are almost identical to the original.

After a few weeks of dust, multiple different contractors, and some of our own elbow grease, the fireplaces are all done. I’d like to thank Joe from Warm Solutions and Paul Stefas from Plumbing Solutions for all their hard work. They all turned out great, look very period, and generate a lot of heat.

For those who are curious, the fireplaces are made by Valor. The two downstairs are pilotless systems that require no power to operate. The flame is ignited via battery. The remote on these can be set to sense the room temperature and adjust the flame accordingly. Very nice for energy savings by just heating one room. Perfect for a bedroom.

The one upstairs is your standard insert with a pilot light and a remote but if you have been following this project you’ll notice that the whole mantle is new as well. The old craftsman style brick was torn out and replaced with a more period Carrera marble unit.

Older posts regarding the fireplaces:

• Top Parlor Gets A New Fireplace
• Gas Inserts For The Old Fireplaces