Do a search on this site called "Victorian interiors". Lots of ways to use the bones of your home and still keep it current.

You can also just google "Victorian Interiors" or "Italianate Victorian Interiors" and click on Images at the top of the page.

Have a look at this: https://www.1stdibs.com/blogs/the-study/italian-interiors/

Thanks I Pinkmountain! We definitely want to celebrate the charm :)

Don't paint it.

To follow up on how adaptable Italianate is, when my folks first got the place it was decorated with Mom's furniture from her San Francisco bay side apartment, and a few things my folks got for their wedding, so very West Coast Asian influenced, silk, textures, real grasscloth wallpaper in the living room, MCM-ish and some plain unfinished wood pieces mom painted lacquer black (this was back in the days of oil-based paints, glorious finishes!). Not a lot of pattern, wood block print art. Then mom picked up some nice large antiques at auctions and inherited some things from grandma, (a mix of styles although nothing too ornate), which still blended, and then in the 80's she went all chintzy and lots of color and pattern--still looked great. The only thing that doesn't play well with this style is cheap, cheesy small stuff. I'd look for high quality, classic things, used if you can find them, and build the rooms piece by piece.

Library may have good resources for you. Easier than looking online. Your project sounds so interesting; hope you share progress pics in the future. :-)

This google images search might be useful: Italianate Victorian homes interiors. I just tried it and there seems to be a fair amount of inspiration there.

We renovated a 1905

house nothing as fancy as yours probably. We replaced all the moldings that had been removed and replaced with narror baseboards , no crown and i meticulously worked at copying the pretty ceiling when we removed a wall.Our style is definately contemporary but I felt that the house itself needed to stay true to its roots in the LR and DR the kitchen was another story we did that totally to suit our style since IMO the Victorians had dreadful kitchens.

Along the lines of "don't harm the charm," one issue of those huge rooms, high ceiling Italianate style homes is it costs a fortune to heat and cool them! That's why an easy fix to save money was to drop the ceilings. So along those lines, initially I'd spend my money on top of the line insulation where possible, and a good heating and cooling system. You can't beat radiant heat, IMHO, for comfort and efficiency. I moved from radiant to forced air and I hate the noise and dust of forced air, I don't care how many filters you apply. And it's inefficiency. So resist the urge to install forced air but make sure if you have radiant heat the radiators are in good working order and you can also install zone heating with them by either using existing valves or putting on valves. There are instructions for this online. Also, since your heat is going to rise in the winter way up there and away from where you are, installing ceiling fans is not a bad idea.

On the plus side, the high ceiling kept the house cool in the summer. Mom and dad used to say, "Our house is good to us in the summer." In urban MD the weather is different, but some of the issues still apply. Good quality insulated windows and insulating window coverings are also good initial investments.

All this stuff is pricey and not glamorous like new paint and furniture, but if you are lucky maybe you can re-purpose some used things. I am amazed at the high quality stuff people get rid of sometimes for no other reason than they are just tired of it and want the latest thing. I got a lot of stuff from older relatives and friends downsizing. I find great art sometimes at Goodwill too. I'll bet there are some great flea markets out in the rural burbs where you live.