The House that Eric and Alison Remodeled

This is the house that Eric and Alison remodeled, and the view from their front door. The house is located on the edge of the "Fan" district, the historical residential area of Richmond, VA. They acquired it when a friend and neighbor, Brian Spencer, bought it in order to evict bad neighbors, and sold it to Eric and Alison for a good price.  It had been used as a crack house and was divided willy-nilly into many small apartments with a shared bathroom part way up the stairs to the upper stories. During remodeling, a federal probation officer approached, looking for a former tenant. (They invited him in to check for himself, but he declined.) They learned that the house had been designed by an architect in the 1920s, and they were able to find his plans in the archives of a local library. They tore out the strange interior walls to restore the original traffic pattern, and lo! Now the fireplace was centered in the living room, and not crammed up next to a wall any more. The house had a good structure, but they needed to update HVAC, plumbing and wiring. They found oak flooring in the living room, and prized (and these days, rare) pine heartwood throughout the rest of the house. They sacrificed a butler's pantry in order to enlarge the kitchen, where Eric presides over an Aga range that would make any commercial cook proud. They  installed a powder room on the first floor, because there was none--but now that they've read "The Help," they understand that the toilet room in the basement was probably intended for the hired help. Now it serves Eric's "Man cave."And they removed the bath on the stairway and opened both the front, and steeper, narrower back stairwells to the upper floors.  The steeper staircase is no longer up to code, but they were permitted to restore it, and because they have restored a historical house, the State is giving them a nice tax credit.
     Eric recounts one misadventure with the remodeling. When it was all done and they had moved in,  they opened the living room windows to allow a  breeze to blow through. Suddenly,  the draperies crashed to the floor. The rods had been installed into drywall without molly bolts or other secure installation. 
  The home is nicely furnished with antiques from Alison's side of the family, some western folk art that Eric rescued from my collection when I retired and had to downsize, and with their collection of original art pieces. They have shown the house several times for local charity events, which seems to horrify Eric's west coast family and friends. "Count the silver!" they all say.