Home Magazine: A renovated Victorian in downtown SLO

Ann Marie and Richard Greene spent five years painstakingly restoring their 1884 Victorian house in San Luis Obispo, a labor of love for a couple who enjoy living with history

New things hold little allure for Ann Marie Greene.

Growing up in Massachusetts in a family of antique collectors, she learned at a young age to appreciate the beauty of items with a history.

So when she and husband Richard were living in Phoenix and looking for a home to retire in, they couldn’t resist taking a closer look at an 1884 Victorian they had discovered in downtown San Luis Obispo.

The house had sat on the market for months because buyers were intimidated by the amount of work it needed. But the Greenes were handy and resourceful and, most importantly, willing to take on a long-term project. They purchased the house in 1996, moved in and spent the next five years renovating it almost entirely on their own.

For the first four years, Richard was finishing out his employment as an AT&T technician. When he wasn’t working with phone lines, he was rewiring and re-plumbing the house.

Aside from structural repairs, the Greenes wanted to renovate the interior of the house while preserving its historic character. “We didn’t want anything we added to stand out or look new,” said Ann Marie.

Using library books and magazines as guides, they selected era-appropriate wallpapers, draperies and paint colors. They equipped the kitchen with a 1920s stove, an antique icebox (used as a pantry), and vintage-style cabinets. As a finishing touch, they inset those cabinets with windows from the rear of the house that were removed when they enclosed a porch.

Once finished, the house became a showcase for a lifetime of acquired collectibles. However, most of their furniture had to go. “Our former house was mostly New England primitive so it didn’t fit in,” Ann Marie explained.

She began to rebuild the collection, piece by piece. Because she has no qualms about mixing items of different eras and origins, finding furniture that worked was not a problem. “Typically, a house in the early 1900s would have had an eclectic mix of furniture,” she said. “I keep in mind what will go with the house, but I really buy whatever appeals to me.”

And so along with Victorian antiques like her dining room étagère, a late 1800s piece purchased at Rich Man Poor Man Antiques Mall in Cayucos, she also has vintage furnishings from the 1920s and ’30s, like a French art deco armoire in the master bedroom.

Many of Ann Marie’s favorite collectibles pay homage to her family. Her Flow Blue china and Royal Doulton figurines were originally given to her by her late aunt. Ann Marie, who plays the cello and comes from a family of music lovers, collects vintage instruments, old radios and phonographs, now displayed throughout the house.

Some collectibles were acquired especially to enhance the historic ambience of the home. “I wanted you to walk in and feel like you were stepping back in time. Like the people here had just stepped out the door and left all their things,” she said.

She keeps old medicine bottles in the bathroom cabinet, vintage hats on an old hall stand near the entryway, and a vintage dress on a dress form in the master bedroom. In fact, aside from the flat panel television in the family room, you’d be hard-pressed to find anything modern in the Greenes’ house.

Displaying collections is an intrinsic element of Victorian design, but Ann Marie is careful not to take it too far. She realizes clutter would quickly overwhelm the home’s 1,090 square feet. “I decided the house was more Edwardian, when people were starting to scale down,” she said. “Among Victorians, I’m probably a minimalist.”

Still, Ann Marie enjoys living surrounded by history. “It’s comforting, and it keeps me connected with my family,” she said. “It’s how a house should be.”