Introduction

in exterior
Welcome to a little site about our Victorian home in the Denver Highlands, and our efforts to renovate this gem. This photo is what the house looks like after some extensive exterior renovations, including fantastic brickwork by John and his team over at Cornerstone Restoration, and carpentry and painting by an amazing team as part of the late Jim Dowd.

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Some background on us

in exterior
Generous zoning laws have meant that any Denver Highland lot of reasonable size is being sold & scraped, and, shortly thereafter, is home to a new modern duplex with a few square centimeters of yard. That route wasn’t for us. We’ve lived in the Highland neighborhood of Denver for nearly a decade, but we recenly decided we needed more space for our growing family. We wanted the house and the yard, and we didn’t really want to compromise on location.

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A new mirror

in interior
While not worthy of much fanfare, we're really happy with a decorating upgrade to the 1st floor bathroom. While the previous owners had taken some mirror from this spot, we've been doing without. The empty space was obvious, but we hadn't found the right period-appropriate mirror. That changed today. We got a beautiful solid cherry-wood mirror from KentwoodMirrors. Without mirror New cherry mirror

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Built-in wardrobe

in interior
Our previous house had a walk-in closet, and as a result, we had nearly no storage for clothing. The master bedroom had sufficient space, but we didn't want to just pile a dresser (or two) in to fit our clothes. Instead, we designed, built, and installed a warddrobe system, and to my eye, it looks like it fits in quite nicely.

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Smart Thermostats

in interior
What do you do in an old house, the day after Christmas? We tackle some DIY project that's over our head…this year that being the installation a smart thermostat. This house technically has 4 distinct HVAC systems, although for the purpose of this post, I'll focus on the first two. Gas-fired boiler powering steam heat for the main house Forced-air AC for the main house Radiant floor heating in the 2nd floor bathroom - powered by hot water and a Taco water pump Forced-air heating & cooling for the kitchen Distinct systems for heating & cooling What made this project such an endeavor, was the fact that the two main systems were controlled by different thermostats, and those t-stats were in different rooms.

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DIY interior paint

in interior
Before Another task that's far easier before furniture, is interior paint. Obviously color is simply a matter of personal preference, but it's the first of (what I expect will be many) DIY projects that I'm woefully unprepared for. The previous owners had different tastes; favoring yellows and deep reds. After We favor more earth-toned colors, and went with a scheme of greens, blues, greys, and creamy whites.

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highlandvictorian.com

Restoring an 1886 victorian

Denver Colorado