Better light fixtures would add character. Do you plan to live here and rent the other floor?

This is a helpful old house web site:

http://www.oldhouseonline.com

This site features old houses for sale. Some are in need of a lot of TLC and some are beautiful. It might provide some inspiration. Sometimes some "old house experts" comment in the comment section after the pictures of the home. They are often helpful to others and once someone asked if he could contact a particular knowledgeable commenter who kindly agreed and he gave his contact info. I think one expert has his own site about restoring his home. You can also use the search to look up homes of a similar build and era of yours.

http://www.oldhousedreams.com

If you have a larger budget, yellow would be more original and fix up a white trim. the

As someone who owns an historical home with the majority of the charm ripped out of it (including the curved staircases on both the first and second floors) there was no proper way for us to start over. The cost to recreate just those staircases, handrails, and newel posts is astronomical today. The best way to find out original details is to find an elderly person who once lived in the house. That's how we learned about the two stair cases in our home. She told us where walls and doors were originally, which we could generally tell, and what rooms were previously used for. Finding such a person (perhaps in census records) will tell you much more than any building professional could.

Paint idea: use various colours to accentuate trims and detail

First off - WOW! What a magnificent home! There should be resources such as photos in old newspapers, historical society photos, etc. that should show you what the house was like it earlier periods. I would do as much sleuthing as possible to find photos, construction documents, etc. before making any decisions. You could also research online for old floor plan and elevation drawings as many houses were built from kits or from plan books that were available in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Good luck and, once again, it's a beautiful home!

The original post is from 2016 folks….

He’s, it’s old, but maybe the OP will post a pic of the results?

I meant “yes, it’s old”….oops

beautiful house; cute dog.