Congrats. What a fantastic home. I lived in a house built in 1852. I get preserving the old without looking stale and traditional. Glad you are respecting the roots. Prioritize .your budget because old homes can be expensive to maintain.

Here is a great quote from Jessica Warren, an interior designer who does great old homes with a mash up of eras, which sounds like what you might be in to:

"A space should not be a time capsule or stagnant. Building the story starts with a collection of objects, many of them vintage, which adds a soulfulness. While I appreciate iconic pieces, I use them sparingly. I look for unique pieces—the anomalies and also design pieces so that the furniture is not immediately identifiable. This helps to create a space that is personal rather than branded or contrived."

Not knowing what you want to spend and redo now, here are some thoughts:

1. Live here a while to you figure out your need for storage, what rooms for what purposes. Things I'd want to get rid of: half circle kitchen counter, everything in the skinny bathroom. The attic tub - check on the weight of it and where it is placed in relation to the structural support of the house. It could be a huge mistake to have that much weight there.

2. Have fun with lighting. None of yours is original anyway, and you need a lot of it in the fireplace room, dining table room, and probably elsewhere.

We used a mashup of vintage fixtures from different eras - art deco, 1960's, French 1940s and loved them so much we took them with us when we sold the house. We put up transitional Wayfair and Home Goods pieces in their place. While transitional is not my style, I think they worked in our 1852 house and were inexpensive.

3. Window treatments are tricky. You don't want to cover your wood with them, super modern ones are not going to look good, and Roman shades feel like a mismatch for the house and for your dislike of traditional style. Skip treatments in rooms where you don't need them, use roller blinds where you need some kind of light control or privacy. (See pics above behind our sofa for roller shades.)

4. Walls: The stark white is not doing any favors with your wood. For a homier look, go for warm undertones instead. Have fun with wallpaper in at least one room even if it is just the narrow bathroom.

5. Take references from Brooklyn and other NY townhouse style. There are tons of high end designers doing fabulous work on Brooklyn townhouses that respect the original wood while creating great moody and fun vibey rooms. Here are some links and pics:

These furnishings and lights are probably not your cup of tea, but the ceiling is like yours and looks great painted a color.

Counterintuitive for a sunroom, but I'd be temped to do yours in a dark color like a green-black, or inky blue-black. I'd paint the wood, ceiling, and walls the same color

Don't be afraid to try muddy purple toned browns.

Very 70s influenced furniture, velvet textures will add another layer of softness on top of your heavy woodwork.

Colorful Townhouse Meat Packing District

"Were quite adventurous style wise and except for traditional style were pretty much open to any suggestion :)"

Move in, get an interior designer. Do not begin a crowd source design here. You will have a thousand ideas, none comprehensive or coherent enough to embark on a design journey.

"Journey" . That is what a new home is. It's not a final destination or ending, it is a new beginning.

"Open to anything" Great! The universe is a wide one. Get online, google rooms you love by category. Save the images to a file. After a while a pattern will emerge. .......a common thread among those images.

What you do not do? Start a thread that will go on for five years or more.

Move in. do nothing but get comfortable enough to live: ) for six months. Get to KNOW that house. where the best light is, where you want to go and get cozy, all of it.

The house will still be there, as will y.o.u.

What a fabulous house! It deserves careful planning to make sure that the original details are enhanced, and that it not be remuddled. A designer with a respect and appreciation for the style of your old home will be your best friend.

"What you do not do? Start a thread that will go on for five years or more."

OMG, please heed this advice. You will go around in circles and never get anything done.

May I like the comment above, 1000 times, please.

Nobody wants to destroy the "fun" of ideas. Have fun in a one on one with someone whose style can suit yours. Someone you like. The money you spend on this person? Will SAVE you

FROM...........

Confusion

Stress

"Guessing"

The Heartbreak of Big Mistakes.

Thousands of Hours Attempting to Do Every Single Room at ONCE....and do not do that: )

Go to Barnes and Noble! Look at the tomes of coffee table books, by well published designers.

Google their portfolios....you will compile bunches

of images you love! For Me? That might be Victoria Hagan, masterful at the art of marrying old and new.

For you? Who knows?!!! Maybe it's Amber Lewis...renowned for moody textural spaces.

.

Maybe you love COLOR!! Ala Melanie Turner....

The point to all above?

You see no Restoration Hardware Catalogue......no Pottery Barn.....

Your limit is your OWN only, in a vast design world.

I will reapet Jan and Dianes advice. I love the juxtaposition of contemporary furnishings in a very traditional home where the elements of the original home are respected. We had a 1905 home where we actually put back trim and even spent hours copying the ceiling texture in plaster but our style is very contemporary. Your home looks to me to be quite bright maybe right now just change the lighting to LED 4000K everywhere and nothing else at this stage. . I think I might be tempted to paint the bathroom cabinets to get that out out of my system.

Congratulations on your new home, its beautiful. I suggest you leave the interior, since it looks very nice already, and just get moved in. The landscaping outside, looks to be in need of a bit of care. I would spend my time, and money there for right now. I also agree, yes, these threads can go on forever, with a ton of different ideas. I would hire a designer that works with beautiful older homes like you have, and has respect for all that gorgeous wood, and little by little, get it the way you want it. I agree with Jan and Diana above. Heed their good advice.

Kendrah thank you for the fantastic ideas, dark paint in the sunroom idea is brilliant and I love the idea of skipping some window treatment all together for the living room. I love EVERYTHING that you did with your 1852 house. Thank you for pointing out the potential issue with the bath, that is the only bath in the house and I don't think there is another place where I could put one but I feel it would be best to remove it also. I love the lighting from the chandelier from the picture you sent. thank you thank you thank you

Please don't? It's not a hospital.....

"

Your home looks to me to be quite bright maybe right now just change the lighting to LED 4000K everywhere and nothing else at this stage. "

Thank you Jan Moyer very beautiful kitchen by Amber Lewis

It's a great house and I completely agree with the advice to live with it for a while. And collect lots of inspiration pictures.

I will also say to remember that you own the house, the house doesn't own you. It's great to preserve things but if a historical feature makes you unhappy, don't feel obligated to decorate your room around it. Remove it or change it.

You are welcome! I'm swooning over your landscape and the weeping willow by the pond. My god it is gorgeous.

Before getting a designer, or moving the tub, I'd get a structural engineer, familiar with homes in your neighborhood and the problems they most frequently encounter, to come visit and give you their opinion on the tub, and anything else they see. Think of your house like an elderly family member that you are trying to keep comfortable. A structural engineer may say the tub is fine where it is, or they may say it is like dangling a 50 lb. hoochie mama purse off of grandma's bad shoulder. (Multiple former owners of our house over time placed a roof deck, a new bathroom, and loads and loads of bookshelves in the worst place possible for the structure of the house. The damage was already done and we had to do a lot to repair it.)

The advice to hire an interior designer might be smart but is it practical? I have found that interior designers who have experience with historic homes want to do traditional design. It is rare to find ones with experience doing non-traditional style in a historic home and it takes *a lot* of skill to do it well. The few that did were well beyond my budget, with starting prices close to $1M. Yes, they were the ones good enough to be in coffee table books and command that price.

I did meet some designers who thought my style wishes were cool and were leaping at the chance to work with a client who didn't want cookie cutter, however, I didn't want to pay to be someone's first time experience doing eclectic design. I didn't even want to work for free being someone's learning curve. I shamelessly flirted with with one of the $1M designers who then offered to do color selection for me at $250/hr.- ten years ago. I leaped at the chance to work with her and it was money well spent. I thank my husband for indulging the flirtation!

When I move to a new place, I fine a room or two to go daring with dark paint, I pay for a high end color consultation and paint, but I tend to let other things evolve. I have always collected furniture I like and it turns out that I gravitate to the same kinds of pieces over and over which means that most all of my furniture works together. And when I get pieces upholstered, I almost always go with black or another neutral.

So instead of thinking I am going to decide in 6 months what rooms will be used for what purposes and creating a look for each room, I switch things up all the time. A dresser becomes the drop spot near the front door, a chemistry cabinet with glass doors becomes our china cabinet and our second set of dishes no longer lives in the basement. The kitchen table becomes my desk. End tables become bedside tables, we switch up where we watch TV. A kid comes into the house, moves out, my parents can't climb the stairs to the third floor anymore and our guest room moves. I like living my life with that kind of flexibility and having pieces that go together well enough from room to room because the common thread is I love them.

Check out Heidi Caillier, your home might go well with her aesthetic:

https://heidicaillierdesign.com/

Also, Kendrah, why are "stale and traditional" inextricably linked? I see lots of homes, especially on Houzz, that are stale and anything BUT traditional. And further, "traditional" is not a style, which is evident from any study of home decor styles.

Following.

.....while joyfully going to the internet now to absorb these new-to-me designers' work.....

Gorgeous house and congratulations.

I first read this 7 hours ago and didn't have time to respond. I am thankful for all the valuable advice given you. Great ideas but especially advice about how to keep the history of your home while allowing you a bit of freedom to make it your own.

If you have a local historical society in your city or town, Reach out to them for recommendations of decorators, designers, architecture teachers and historians who can help you keep the integrity of your home while still making a place you love.

Looking forward to seeing how you design and use your new space.

Thank you all so so much ! I absolutely love Rita Konig she is such an inspiration but I didnt knew about Heidi Caillier and Jessica Helgerson. Thank you for the link to their sites and videos, every pictures I saw made my heart beat faster, their work is breathtaking and I feel our new house have the right bones and vibes for this. I cannot thank you enough you made my day. I will definitely keep in touch to show you the evolution. Until we move I feel my evening will be dedicated to watch and study everything available on Heidi and Jessica. Thank you for all the positive energy and compliments on the house she's an old lady and our friends think were a bit crazy to embark on this adventure but I needed a project and this one called me (heart and soul) you may call me romantic but when we first visited and I watch the backyard it felt like falling in love. Thank you so much again.

Just a few thoughts. At that age it’s a Victorian not a Georgian. I suspect in the 80’s someone added some of this detail to make it look more Georgian- Victorian was out of fashion and federal / Georgian/ colonial was in fashion. The ‘paneling’ over the fireplace looks all wrong as does the beamed ceiling. It could be 100% period but just in the photos and from my experience it looks new. The old woodwork- casings, base, staircase look wonderful and rich and something I’d work with. The sunroom being new is an opportunity to be completely different if you wanted.

Wow! What a house. I took the liberty of looking at the entire listing....landscaping and water view are spectacular. Is the river an estuary of the St Lawrence River?

Yes, it is Victorian and not a Georgian Colonial.

You might find this link interesting and inspirational.

https://followtheyellowbrickhome.com/pin-away-wednesdays-dark-trim-and-woodwork/

To my eye, the white walls contrast too much with the wood. Would you consider some subued colors for the walls? To me, they call out for greyed blues, greens, or rose--at least a cream/beige color. Then you might be less willing to paint the wood.

when we first visited and I watch the backyard it felt like falling in love.

Yep, you are crazy in love! It might be a fraught relationship at times, but I hope you and your house have many wonderful years together. Congrats.

I visited my current neighborhood while on vacation in NYC. A neighborhood park brought me to tears. I said if we can afford to live within walking distance of this park, I'll move to NYC. My husband leapt at the chance. Going on year three here.

Off to watch more Rita! I knew of her but these videos are a new find for me too.

I like the idea of handling a room or two at a time. I'd also consider refinishing some aspects (like the ceiling beams) to a lighter wood tone rather than painting. Your light pine floors will support a range of tones.

also, did this. :)

Live in it for a year. Collect ideas, photos, whatever. Learn how,to take care of your old precious house.

A designer with your aesthetic AND has old house experience will be hard to find, but worth your time as you’re learning your “new” place. What a treasure! Old houses are special and you have a beauty.

Thank you again for all the answers and suggestions. I am amazed by the knowledge, ideas and kindness in all your replies. I know very little about the history of the house so thank you for correcting me on the specific period/architecture, the documents available list the year of construction between 1864 and 1880.

elcieg to answer your questions the house is located in the township of Melbourne and the river in the backyard is the Saint-François River which is a right tributary of the St. Lawrence River.

HALLETT & Co. you have an amazing eye for details the 2 inspectors that visited did indeed pointed out that the ‘paneling’ over the fireplace and coffered ceiling were well made but not original to the house. I am not particularly fond of the fireplace paneling but day one I may use a bigger mirror and wait until I find a giant piece of art :)

Thank you again

Beautiful home on a beautiful setting!