REMUDDLING

Under new siding, the same house.

This folk Queen Anne house is near Skaneateles, in the Finger Lakes region of New York. It’s a prosperous town, the Main Street lined with Victorian-era homes that are well maintained. Wood clapboards and stone prevail.

Our local correspondent says she always loved the old house painted in a soft, sagegreen color scheme (seen at right). Its longtime owners took care of it, maintaining the decorative cladding, gingerbread trim, original shutters, and the little porch with columns. It even has its old carriage house.

“I was worried when the house was sold,” she writes, “and my nightmare came true.”

The shutters were removed, and old wood windows (infinitely repairable) replaced with vinyl units. The whole place was covered in dark-blue vinyl siding. What a shame, since this house had survived the remodeling trends of generations past. “The history and character instantly vanished,” our reader says; “the house is just plain sad now.”

People need training to see the beauty and value of original details.

—Kristin Stankewicz