Interior "Before" photos of a Colonial Mansion in Northern California

Let's start with the first floor.

"My husband and I both agreed it was way more acreage than we wanted, and that the total project would take years to renovate, but I couldn’t shake my fascination. I contacted our real estate agent to set up a visit. I think I started the conversation off by saying: “you’re going to think we’re nuts”, and that we didn’t want to waste her time on what would surely be out of our realm. However, at our first official visit to the property, I decided right then and there it must be destiny! This property needed saving, and I was the right person to do it."

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Once we removed the heavy drapery and cleared it of debris, this room became bathed in natural light - it's now one of the brightest rooms in the house.

This space is comprised of multiple compartmentalized rooms - including a mudroom/laundry room, kitchen, breakfast room, butlers pantry, and hall. The walls will be removed to create one large kitchen open to a TV/music room.

"Needless-to-say, the interior of the house was disgusting! Words really can’t describe what this place smelled like but I’ll try:

Pot smoking squatter, mixed with power outage at the morgue, combined with burnt coffee maker, to toilets haven’t been cleaned in years! I looked over at my husband who had a horrified look on his face that pretty much said “What are you getting me into? I want to run!!” But he didn’t, and now we are the proud owners of it ALL!"

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This room was originally a porch. The son of the original owner had it enclosed and used it as his winter room - it is South facing and is gloriously warm during the cold months.

Once we removed the debris and the smelly old carpet, we got our first peek of the original brick porch floor.

Moving on to the 2nd floor.

Remember the second floor windows I showed you from the exterior photos? Here they are blanketing the staircase in beautiful midday sun.

This is the original master suite, complete with 1950's pink tile. For a home built in 1951, it has tons of closet space - 2 closets in the bedroom, and a bank of closets in the dressing room.

This is the second bedroom suite. In this photo it looks dark and cave-like. However, just like downstairs, once we took down the window treatments, the room came alive with natural light and beautiful hillside views.

The third and final bedroom upstairs. I'm thinking of keeping the wallpaper, what do you think? Let me know.

"Voila! Light and bright looking through the stairwell and the tall windows and out to the rear courtyard. Problem solved - one room - two views - plenty of light."

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Well, there you have it, some of the rooms here on the farm. There are several more I'll be sharing as I go. Thanks for taking my tour. She may not look like much now, but at the end of this renovation story, she'll be an amazing, majestic, proper Southern lady perched on here ridge smothered in traditional design with a hint of modern rustic. She'll also have a brand new ground floor master suite; AND rumor has it, a dark modern rustic man will be joining her on her perch - the brand new "Taj Ma Barn" is coming to the farm! If you'd like to follow the transformation just simply "subscribe" below - and/or follow me on INSTAGRAM where I'll be sharing the day-to-day throughout the project.