During our trip down to the Bay Area for the VPA 30th anniversary party, we stayed at the home of Miranda and Dianna. I met Miranda several years ago when she worked for the Rengstorff House and I did their web site. Lori and I actually saw their house the first time when the previous owners were having an estate sale in the home and some smart VPA members said we should go just to look at the interior and when we arrived at the home for the sale we both wondered if we had the right house, because the outside was a mess. But once we stepped inside we found one of the most high-end and intact Victorian interiors we’ve seen in San Jose.

A couple years later Miranda emailed to say they bought a house, and as she described it, I knew exactly what house she was refering to. I was glad the home found new owners that would treat it with the respect it deserves.

When Miranda offered to house us for our weekend stay, we jumped at the chance to see the house again. It looks much better under their care, even though there is still much more to do. While Miranda was giving us a tour of the rooms we hadn’t seen before, we noticed the ceiling medallion in their bedroom. It is an original, and is almost an exact duplicate of the replica that we installed in our parlor. Ceiling medallions were designed to be expandable so that a bigger room could have a larger medallion. Obviously their house deserved the grander version than what we purchased. But it was very weird to come across an original of the same design. Their home was built in 1893, and ours was 1888, so it’s not too far off from being the right period.