Visiting a Galveston Victorian

Last weekend I went to a visit some dear friends in Galveston, TX. They actually live down the street from me in Houston, but bought an old 100+ year old Victorian about 5 years ago and have been working hard on re-furbishing it. They did such an awesome job that their fantastic house was on the Galveston Historic Home tour back in May 2006. They have a frame picture of the tour poster in their kitchen.

Isn't this a pretty front entrance. All the leaded glass and stained glass are original to the house. Not one piece has broken during any of the major hurricanes. The only damage they got during Ike was the water came in and was up to the bottom baseboards. It ruined the electrical outlets and the baseboards needed refinishing but that was about all the damage to the house.

This pretty little sitting area is in the foyer. Both homeowners have a great eye for the fun and unusual pieces. The tropical looking artwork behind the chairs is actually an old screen door that my friend had ogled for years as he drove through a ritzy part of Houston, River Oaks. As any good "junker" he noticed the house was for sale, knocked on the door and cut a deal right then! I think it's a wonderful and unusual piece, don't you?

This is a short of the front living room. Most of the fireplaces were boarded up and had been unused for years, but James and Jody (Homeowners) were successful in making this look like it would have been in days gone by. Also, check out the cool curved walls and high ceilings.

Here's a cute little window looking out onto the front yard. I'll post more on the yard, but it's obvious that they have a green thumb too!

The reason we all got together was a Wildtree Party. Have you heard of it????http://www.wildtreeherbs.com/Products/AboutProducts.aspx My friend Rebecca has become a distributor for Wildtree Products which includes a wide array of very tasty, organic and natural seasonings, oils, mixes, etc. This is a sampling of the products we got to taste And check out the HUGE gourd used as a centerpiece.

This is one of the four bedrooms in the house. I love the beachy, cool colors they have used in the house.

When they bought the house, it was pretty much FULL of stuff from the previous owner. Isn't that cool....very "IF WALLS COULD TALK", right? All these little clocks were found in the house to create a really great collection.

And how about this for a great way to display old post cards?

At one time this house was subdivided into several small apartments. This would have been my favorite. It's a bright sunny space at the front of the house. A little bedroom was off to the left, along with a good sized bath. There was a large community kitchen, but they all has small hotplates in their room too.

This is another one of the re-worked fireplaces (In the dining room).

And another sitting area, right off the dining room and looking out the beautiful big front windows.

Sorry, these pics are out of order...but here's a shot of another pretty blue bedroom. Isn't that a relaxing color.

One more view............I'll be back in a few days for more of this beautiful house and some pictures of the kitchen, yard and carriage house.