Some home renovations begin with a dramatic demolition day. Others begin with nine years of staring at a strange kitchen arrangement and quietly thinking, “Someday, this will make sense.” The TOH West Roxbury Victorian project belongs firmly in the second category.
Homeowners Derek Rubinoff and Robyn Marder purchased their Victorian-era house in Boston’s West Roxbury neighborhood in 2012. Derek, an architect, immediately recognized both the building’s potential and its problems. The couple loved its high ceilings, stained glass, original staircase, substantial woodwork, and unmistakable old-house personality. Unfortunately, the property had also accumulated decades of awkward alterations, including the lingering remains of a two-family conversion and a kitchen that seemed designed by someone carrying a personal grudge against cooking.
After years of planning, saving, raising a family, and living with the house as it was, the owners finally launched a major renovation documented during Season 43 of This Old House. The result demonstrates how a historic home can become more comfortable, efficient, and practical without being stripped of the details that made it special in the first place.
A Victorian House With More Than One Life
Built in 1894, the three-story wood-frame house was reportedly the first single-family residence constructed in its new subdivision, back when the surrounding West Roxbury landscape still included extensive farmland. Like many homes that have survived for more than a century, it did not remain frozen in its original configuration.
During the 1930s, the second floor was converted into living space for extended family, effectively creating two separate households. It returned to single-family use around 1990, but the physical evidence of the earlier arrangement remained. There was a second kitchen upstairs, unnecessary passageways between bedrooms, duplicate circulation routes, and a rear staircase consuming valuable floor area.
Downstairs, the situation was even more memorable. The kitchen sink sat in an adjoining pantry, while cabinets had been moved from the former upstairs kitchen and placed on the floor without being permanently installed. Preparing dinner meant transporting wet ingredients between rooms. It was less “chef’s kitchen” and more “culinary obstacle course.”
The exterior was also reaching the point where delay was no longer charming. Peeling paint led to the discovery of deteriorated clapboards, fascia, soffits, and weather barriers. Failing windows and water damage made it clear that the house needed more than decorative attention. It needed a coordinated renovation addressing structure, circulation, moisture control, comfort, and daily family life.
The Renovation Philosophy: Preserve the Story, Fix the Plot
The project’s central challenge was not deciding whether the house should change. Change was unavoidable. The more interesting question was how to modernize it without turning a recognizable 1894 Victorian into a generic new home wearing an antique front door.
Derek’s design treated the building’s history as an asset rather than an inconvenience. Original features worth preserving included the main staircase, gumwood casings and moldings, stained-glass foyer window, diamond-pane windows, paneled doors, substantial baseboards, and red oak floors. These elements gave the interior texture and continuity, even as walls moved and modern finishes arrived.
This approach closely resembles established preservation guidance: retain distinctive materials where practical, respect meaningful changes made over time, and design new work so it complements rather than impersonates the old. The goal is not to force every room to look like a Victorian museum display. It is to let historical craftsmanship remain legible while making the house useful to the people living there now.
Opening the First Floor Without Erasing It
At the beginning of the renovation, the first floor suffered from blocked sight lines and narrow circulation routes. The foyer and living room occupied the front, the dining room and kitchen sat in the center, and a guest bedroom was located toward the rear. The rooms were individually generous, but moving between them felt unnecessarily complicated.
The new plan created a visual connection from the front foyer toward the rear entrance. Achieving that openness required removing load-bearing walls and replacing them with substantial laminated veneer lumber, or LVL, beams. Two structural beams intersected above the redesigned kitchen and dining area, while an additional nonstructural header created visual balance.
This was an important design move. Open-concept remodeling can make an old house feel brighter and larger, but removing every visible boundary may flatten its character. Here, the beams, ceiling treatments, trim, and changes in color continue to define individual rooms. The spaces communicate with one another without becoming one enormous room where the sofa, dining table, and refrigerator appear to be attending the same meeting.
The opening between the living and dining rooms was widened, providing long views through the first floor. At the same time, original window casings, tall baseboards, hardwood floors, and the foyer’s woodwork ensured that the house still felt layered rather than newly manufactured.
A Kitchen Worth Waiting Nine Years For
The kitchen became the visual and functional center of the renovated home. Derek and Robyn selected a contemporary European-inspired design featuring sleek, frameless cabinetry and integrated appliances. Matte-black cabinets form a strong architectural frame around shallower natural-wood units positioned along the cooking and sink walls.
Black quartz countertops and backsplashes reinforce the dramatic palette, while a white quartz waterfall countertop brightens the approximately 7-by-3-foot island. The contrast is bold but controlled: dark cabinetry provides depth, natural wood adds warmth, and the white island keeps the room from resembling an extremely stylish cave.
Across from the sink, full-height cabinetry incorporates a large refrigerator-freezer and double wall ovens. Built-in appliances reduce visual clutter, and the island supplies additional preparation space, storage, and casual seating.
A mere 26-square-foot rear additiondescribed by the builder as an exceptionally small additionmade a surprisingly large difference. By enlarging and enclosing the rear vestibule, the team gained enough wall space to complete an L-shaped cabinet arrangement. The change also supported a new rear entrance and a sunny breakfast nook.
Another existing doorway was closed to create uninterrupted kitchen storage. Access to the rear guest bedroom was relocated and cleverly concealed within the cabinetry wall. Meanwhile, the old pantry became a full bathroom serving the first floor and overnight visitors. Every square foot received a job, and unlike the previous cabinets, those jobs were permanently attached to the building.
Old Woodwork Meets Modern Finishes
The dining room offers one of the clearest examples of the project’s old-meets-new strategy. Its original gumwood trim and diamond-pane windows preserve the atmosphere of the historic interior. New window trim was stained to blend with the existing woodwork rather than being painted bright white.
Matching aged wood is rarely as simple as selecting a stain color from a sample card. The finishing team used a diluted stain mixture, worked it with brushes, lightly sanded the dried surface, and completed the treatment with wax. The goal was not flawless sameness. It was a convincing relationship between old and new materials.
New crown molding was also made to match the original profile. Installing it required the familiar old-house realization that corners described as 90 degrees on paper may have developed other opinions over the previous 128 years. Mitering, coping, test fitting, and patient adjustment produced a finish that looked native to the room.
Dark gray walls and a matching dark ceiling give the dining area definition within the open layout. Elsewhere, cooler grays and whites create a calmer background for original wood, contemporary furniture, and changing family tastes.
Reclaiming the Second Floor
Upstairs, the obsolete rear staircase was the key piece of the puzzle. It had been useful when the property contained separate living units, but in a single-family home it occupied prime real estate while duplicating the main staircase.
Removing it allowed the owners to create a proper primary suite with a walk-in closet and private bathroom. The bath includes a soaking tub, double vanity, open curbless shower, wave-textured tile, and streamlined black fixtures. The closet occupies space once claimed by the back stairs and uses an accessible storage system that Derek helped install with the project team.
Other adjustments improved the teenagers’ bedrooms. Space borrowed from the hall bathroom created a needed closet in one bedroom. An old connecting doorway between the primary bedroom and the daughter’s room was closed, finally providing the privacy most teenagers consider a constitutional right.
The first-floor guest room was retained and designed to double as a home office. This flexible use makes the house more adaptable for remote work, visitors, and future changes without requiring another major construction campaign.
Building a Better Exterior Envelope
The exterior work was driven by water damage rather than fashion. Crews removed decayed cedar clapboards, repaired and renailed sheathing, and replaced failing rosin paper with modern house wrap. New fiber-cement clapboards and rot-resistant PVC trim replicated the home’s straightforward Victorian proportions while providing improved resistance to moisture and maintenance demands.
Most windows were replaced with dual-pane fiberglass units, while distinctive original diamond-pane windows were retained. Aluminum gutters were shaped to resemble traditional wood gutters, combining a familiar profile with more durable construction.
The front porch required extensive rebuilding. An ipe floor and ceiling provide a durable, richly colored surface, while stainless steel cable rails replace the former wood balustrade. The railing is unmistakably contemporary, yet its light visual profile allows the porch columns and overall Victorian form to remain dominant.
That decision captures the project’s larger philosophy. New work does not always need decorative brackets and imitation antique hardware to respect an old house. Sometimes honest modern materials create a clearer and more appealing conversation with historic architecture.
Comfort Upgrades Without Throwing Everything Away
Older homes frequently inspire an all-or-nothing approach to mechanical systems. The West Roxbury project took a more budget-conscious route by retaining equipment that still performed adequately and adding targeted upgrades.
The existing gas furnace serving the first and second floors remained in use. A heat-pump coil connected to a cold-weather inverter condenser added supplemental heating and whole-house air conditioning. A separate heat pump conditioned the previously unserved third floor, turning it into a usable teen hangout rather than a seasonal storage zone with excellent views and terrible temperatures.
This hybrid strategy illustrates a practical lesson for historic home renovation: efficiency improvements do not always require discarding functional equipment on day one. A carefully designed system can combine old and new components, provided loads, airflow, insulation, controls, and equipment compatibility are properly evaluated.
Renovating a house built before 1978 also requires appropriate precautions around painted surfaces. Professional contractors disturbing old paint generally need to follow lead-safe work practices, control dust, contain debris, and clean the work area thoroughly. Old-house charm is delightful; airborne renovation dust is considerably less charming.
Making the Urban Lot Work Harder
The improvements continued outside. A herringbone brick patio created a more useful backyard gathering area, while a rebuilt front walkway and wider granite-tread steps replaced failing masonry.
Instead of allocating money to an entirely new landscape, the team reused mature plants already growing on the property. Large rhododendrons were moved from the front to the backyard, where they provide privacy. A red Japanese maple traveled in the opposite direction, becoming a colorful focal point near the newly opened front façade.
This plant-swapping strategy saved money, preserved mature landscaping, and demonstrated that a refreshed yard does not need to arrive on a fleet of nursery trucks. Sometimes the most economical landscape supplier is the other side of your own house.
What Makes the West Roxbury Victorian Project Successful?
It solved problems instead of chasing trends
The renovation addressed circulation, privacy, structural support, weather protection, mechanical comfort, kitchen functionality, storage, and outdoor access. Its dramatic finishes receive attention, but the project succeeds because the underlying plan works better.
It preserved features that could not be casually replaced
The staircase, stained glass, gumwood trim, diamond-pane windows, hardwood floors, paneled doors, and substantial moldings provide authentic age. Reproducing all of that craftsmanship from scratch would be expensive and might still feel less convincing.
It allowed modern design to look modern
The black kitchen, waterfall island, cable railing, curbless shower, and contemporary lighting are not disguised as 19th-century features. Their clean design makes the preserved details appear more intentional, not less.
It respected the budget
The project reused a functional furnace, relocated existing plants, preserved sound materials, and expanded the footprint by only about 26 square feet. Smart planning delivered substantial change without relying on an enormous addition.
It accepted that renovation is a team activity
The homeowners supplied long-term vision and intimate knowledge of the house. Builder Deliandro Dias and his crew managed the realities hidden behind walls. The This Old House team contributed expertise in carpentry, plumbing, heating, painting, masonry, and landscaping. Supply-chain difficulties complicated the schedule, but coordination kept the many parts moving toward one coherent result.
Practical Experiences and Lessons for Renovating a Victorian Home
The most relatable part of the West Roxbury story may be the delay. Many owners live in an older house for years before beginning a major remodel. At first, waiting can feel like failure. In practice, it often becomes an extended research period. You discover which rooms the family actually uses, where morning traffic jams develop, how sunlight moves through the house, and which “temporary” storage solution has quietly celebrated its seventh birthday.
Living with a flawed layout can reveal priorities that would be invisible during a quick pre-purchase walkthrough. A kitchen may look spacious on a floor plan but prove frustrating because the sink, stove, refrigerator, and pantry sit along competing traffic routes. A spare staircase may appear historically important until everyone realizes it is rarely used and occupies enough space for a bathroom and closet. The West Roxbury project benefited from years of observation, even though the owners would probably have preferred those observations to involve fewer dripping trips between the pantry sink and stove.
Another common experience is scope expansion. Owners may begin with peeling paint and discover damaged siding, failing building paper, deteriorated trim, or leaking windows. Exterior problems rarely respect the boundaries of a simple painting estimate. Once moisture reaches sheathing and framing, cosmetic work becomes building-envelope work. A realistic contingency fund is therefore not pessimism; it is an old-house admission ticket.
Decision fatigue can also become a serious challenge. Renovating a Victorian requires choices about what to preserve, reproduce, relocate, replace, or reinterpret. The easiest way to stay consistent is to establish priorities early. Preserve defining architectural features. Correct structural and moisture problems before decorating. Improve circulation where it causes daily frustration. Allow new materials to be recognizably modern, but keep their proportions compatible with the original house.
Matching old finishes deserves extra patience. Historic woodwork changes color through oxidation, sunlight, cleaning products, wax, and ordinary wear. A newly stained board may match the old trim under showroom lighting and look completely different beside an afternoon window. Large samples, layered finishing tests, and evaluation at different times of day can prevent expensive disappointment.
Homeowners should also prepare for the emotional rhythm of construction. Demolition is exciting for approximately twelve minutes. Then the house becomes louder, dustier, colder, and filled with conversations about ducts, headers, flashing, and delayed appliances. Progress may appear slow because the most important work is hidden inside walls. Photographs taken before drywall closes can document wiring, plumbing, blocking, and structural changes for future repairs.
Finally, successful renovation requires knowing when to stop. Not every uneven floor needs to become perfectly level, and not every aged surface needs to become new. Small irregularities often give an old house its visual depth. The objective is a safe, durable, comfortable homenot a life-size furniture showroom in which nobody is allowed to put down a coffee mug.
The West Roxbury Victorian shows that patience, preservation, and modern design can share the same address. The project did not erase the building’s complicated history. It reorganized that history into a home that serves the present while keeping the best parts of the past visible.
Conclusion: An Old House Ready for Its Next Century
The completed West Roxbury Victorian feels open, contemporary, and family-friendly, yet its identity remains rooted in 1894. Original stained glass still welcomes visitors. Gumwood trim and red oak floors continue to provide warmth. The restored staircase anchors the foyer, while the black kitchen, heat-pump technology, modern bathrooms, cable railing, and improved outdoor spaces clearly belong to a newer chapter.
That balance is what makes the project valuable beyond television. It offers a realistic model for Victorian home renovation: understand how the building evolved, repair the systems that protect it, save irreplaceable craftsmanship, and introduce modern conveniences with confidence rather than camouflage.
Derek and Robyn waited years to complete their forever home. In the end, the delay helped produce a thoughtful design grounded in daily experience instead of quick assumptions. The renovation was indeed a long time comingbut for a house expected to serve another generation, taking the long view was exactly the point.
Research note: This independent article synthesizes documented project information and established renovation guidance from reputable American broadcasting, preservation, architectural, government, and home-improvement publications.
