Chris & Roger’s Vivacious 160-Year-Old Victorian

Name: Roger and Chris Stout-Hazard and dog Buck
Location: Sharon Springs, New York
Size: 1800 square feet
Years lived in: Owned 2.5 years

Roger and Chris’ style is the kind of laid-back, eclectic look that would look great anywhere. But combine it with the great architectural bones of an 160-year-old Italianate Victorian in the overwhelmingly charming small town of Sharon Springs, New York, and you’ve got a bold and modern mix that makes for one seriously enviable home.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen and loved Chris and Roger’s style; we toured their Austin, Texas home a few years ago. You can definitely see their same tailored but comfortable style in their Austin abode as you can in this one, but you can also tell they went a little further in this space.

Tour these two floors and you see bright colors, exciting patterns in unexpected places, and eclectic combinations of vintage finds and their own designs — yes Roger and Chris don’t just know how to combine furnishings to create a beautiful home, they’re helping others create beautiful homes with their line of American-made furniture, lamps, art, accessories and more.

If a few of these rooms look familiar, it’s because we showed off their makeovers from boring rooms to colorful spaces in a handful of posts before (find the links below in the resources list). Be sure to read through those posts for more information on how they transformed those rooms.

Our Style: It’s equal parts American industrial and cheeky British hotel, with a few splashes of Mid-Century Modern.

Inspiration: The homes of artists are always the most fascinating to us — eclectic, playful, not concerned with following the rules, and very personal.

Favorite Element: Roger: Sunlight streaming through the wavy original glass. Chris: I smile every time I turn onto our street and see that crazy black house with all the flowers.

Biggest Challenge: It’s a 160-year old house — cold in the winter, no A/C in the summer. We use the house very differently in the summer than the winter — living in different rooms, different furniture, different lighting — so our design had to enable that flexibility. We change up our furniture layouts more often than most folks.

What Friends Say: It definitely comes across as fun. Since it isn’t constrained to any specific style or period, everyone finds something they like about it.

Biggest Embarrassment: Please don’t look in our garage.

Proudest DIY: Roger: The rustic planks that we applied to the living room walls transformed it from something empty and charmless into a distinctive, detailed space. Chris: It was far from the biggest DIY project, but I love the big mirror in the pantry adorned with lyrics from one of my favorite Pixies songs.

Biggest Indulgence: Spending more on high quality furniture seems indulgent at first, but it makes such a huge difference in the long run. We also use a lot of lighting, but the control over mood that it affords makes a huge difference.

Best Advice: Don’t be afraid to change course if your design ideas aren’t working out.

Dream Sources: We find some amazing stuff in Iowa. We’re not going to tell you exactly where, though, because it’s just that good.

The most important role of paint on this house was to unify and simplify. With 160 years of settling, wear, and renovations, consistent paint colors helped created a cleaner, more modern look. We wanted a dramatic transformation, so the exterior went Sherwin-Williams’ Inkwell. Instead of a traditional multi-color Victorian paint scheme, we used semigloss on the trim and corbels. It’s enough contrast that many people think it’s a different color. Inside, we made use of whites to create bright and happy spaces, mixing in dramatic charcoals, neutral and cleanable grey floors, and pops of color in the bathrooms, guest bed, and study.

• Custom hand-printed wallpaper – Adelphi
• Inexpensive jute runners nailed onto the stair treads
• Power brake advertisement from the ’50s – Plan59
• Pendant lamp – Roger + Chris
• Vintage motel sign – Austin thrift shop

• Paneling – DIY
• Metal army machinist’s cabinet – vintage from Austin
• Antique camera collection – vintage from New York, Texas, Nebraska, Iowa
• 107” Higgins Chesterfield sofa in natural finish caramel leather – Roger + Chris
• Thonet bentwood chair in cyan – Design Within Reach
• Oak farmhouse table – vintage barn find from Iowa, pedestal cut down by Chris to coffee table height
• 6×8 mirror – DIY project built using cheap bathroom mirrors, plywood, and wood trim
• White armchairs – IKEA
• Alligator hide – vintage from Uncommon Objects, Austin, TX

• Lincoln tufted loveseat in lapis blue velvet with nail head trim – Roger + Chris
• Photograph of empty airport – Original by Chris
• WPA mural – consignment shop
• Grasscloth wallpaper in brick pattern
• Heywood Wakefield table painted green
• Dining chairs – IKEA
• Indoor/outdoor rug – Overstock

• Lab table – The dump
• Chairs / stools – Modernica, DWR, vintage
• Cabinet – Barn in Iowa
• Dresser – Barn in Iowa
• Artwork – Original by Chris
• Box pendant – DIY
• Pantry table – DIY
• Wall of Paint By Numbers – junk shops and eBay
• Mirror – From an old hotel; DIY vinyl decal
• Cabinets and counters – Repurposed with new wood counters

• Board and batten – DIY
• Bedframe – IKEA, painted and upholstered
• Loveseat and chair – Old pieces with custom slipcovers
• Bug artwork – Originals by Chris
• Bedside pendants – Roger + Chris
• Stools – Vintage
• Tripod lamp – Wedding gift from Lee!

• Paneling – DIY
• Vanity – Vintage dresser, painted by Roger, altered by Chris, with Kohler sink and faucet
• Tub – “The world’s heaviest cast iron tub”
• Towel racks – DIY, Painted galvanized pipe

• Custom wallpaper hand-printed by Adelphi Paper Hangings
• DIY paneling to the lower half of the walls to create a shiplap look
• A black and white Hardoy butterfly chair
• Crow art — a photo from a stock photography site that we enlarged by combining eight inexpensive picture frames to create a window pane effect

See how boring this guest bedroom was before the new look → The “Never Bore a Guest Again” Guestroom Makeover

• Mixed black and white vinyl peel-and-stick tiles
• 1/2-inch pre-threaded galvanized pipe for towel bar and drapes
• Polka dot print sink skirt —DIY
• Black toilet seat
• Oil portrait – Vintage
• Black Shaker ladder-back chair – Vintage

See this guest bathroom BEFORE Chris & Roger worked their magic! → Chris & Roger’s Bold Blue Bathroom Makeover

• Benjamin Moore Peony wall color
• DIY board-and-batten effect using inexpensive lattice strips
• Opaque roller shades
• Black-and-white abandoned hotel photographs – originals by Chris
• Ashley sofa in Sunbrella fabric – Roger + Chris
• Atticus armchair in Holstein hair-on-hide – Roger + Chris
• Takeout Tables – Roger + Chris
• Rustic X Bookshelf based off of Ana White plans

See how gloomy the office looked before the cheery makeover → The “Combat the Gloom” Home Office Makeover

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*Re-edited from a tour previously published