Hello, my name is Kaleb. I have a deep love for old things and I recently bought a rather large old thing: a three-story, 1889, Second Empire home in need of many repairs.

After buying the home I started a Youtube channel to document the lifelong restoration process for my friends and family, and the channel has taken off in completely unexpected ways. Now I have a lotmorefriends and people who also love this house, and I am building new ways to get involved in restoring this old girl to her former beauty, amongst other things.

The building is around 80% intact with so many original features that it’s hard to list them all here, which is encouraging in our goal to take her back to a period correct Victorian home. We’re not renovating a modern home in a Victorian shell, so each piece of the process takes days and weeks of research to unearth the period-specific construction and repair processes, all of which I document on YouTube but will share in detail here on Patreon.

Our work is cut out for us, though. Decades of deferred maintenance have taken their toll. The upper floors show rot and mold. The mansard slate roof is rough with missing slate, crooked dormers, missing corbels, etc. The systems are shot, the electrical and plumbing need full replacement across the entire house. We have done a lot already, like replacing the flat roof, running new waterlines into the house, and tuck pointing areas of the building. While this seemed daunting when we began, I relish in the challenge and I know that we can save this home. I am no millionaire, but I believe that with hard work and a mission, I can afford to save this home if i take it slow and steady. My friends on YouTube, and now Patreon, are helping us to speed up the process by hiring experts in period-specific restoration, talented craftsman to return this beauty to her former glory, and unearthing pieces of the home’s history by sharing what we are doing far and wide to folks that have lived some part of her story over the centuries.

While this will be a place for my family to inhabit and maintain upon completion, I have a strong belief that this home must be shared, and we will offer tours, meet-ups and weddings, and create an opportunity for people to stay and live as a Victorian would have lived, even if for just a night. I want to end this by saying I do feel rather odd asking anyone for money for my own home, but I’ve had many requests to create a chance for just that, and I am grateful to Patreon for allowing creative ways for everyone here to be part of the process of restoring and enjoying this amazing home. I plan to introduce a variety of unique things that are only available here. Thank you all!!