The 1915 home, built in the American Foursquare architectural style, goes period.
N.J. home makeover is a regular feature on NJ.com that showcases designer, contractor and DIY renovations, large and small. To submit your renovation for consideration, email home@starledger.com with your full name, email address, phone number and town/city. Attach "before" and "after" photos of what you renovated.
When Patricia Papovitch and her husband, Steve, learned a house in Spring Lake was going to be demolished, they wanted to preserve a piece of of it.
"It was of the same period as our house, so my husband went over and asked if he could buy the floor before they tore it down. We had a company bring it over plank by plank and mill it in the backyard," she said.
The couple had just started a renovation, and the salvaged floor would be installed in the kitchen and breakfast area of their 1915 home, built in the American Foursquare architectural style.
"We wanted the same wood floors that were used throughout the house," Papovitch said. "The wood is red pine in widths that are no longer standard, so it was a good find."
Over the nine years they've owned their home, the couple has worked to restore it with authentic or period-appropriate materials and decorative effects.
The three-story house, with its basement finished to replicate an old-time movie theater, is one of five houses on the Spring Lake Historical Society's annual house tour on June 7.
Historic tour stops, including seaside resorts (one of which is now a condominium complex), a 19th-century carriage house and the borough's oldest church, will be open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for the self-guided tour.
Tickets are $35 in advance and $40 on tour day when they will be sold at Spring Lake train station from 10 to 11:30 a.m. For advance purchase information, see springlakehistoricalsociety.org or call (732) 974-1476.
Every level of the Papovitch residence will be open for the tour, and visitors will find rooms elaborately dressed in velvet, silk and lace, with some of the window and bed draperies made by Papovitch's own hands.
"I do my best work with push pins and a staple gun," she says with a laugh, describing how she assembled the soft canopy of pale purple fabric that hangs above their bed from a crown-like valance. "I bought it online, and I painted it to be the same color as the bed."
For the master bathroom, she needed eight shower curtains. Two were hung in front of the shower - "I wanted it to be thick and plush" - and the others were cut to the appropriate length and hand-hemmed for each of the bathroom's four windows. What she couldn't make herself, she had made to replicate images from period photographs. She would shop Manhattan's garment district for fabrics and trims and then hire a professional to execute her designs. The couple divides their time between Spring Lake and Manhattan, where they own a law enforcement-related business.
The third-floor master suite of their Spring Lake home, which includes a laundry room, is within a footprint that had originally been five small bedrooms.
"All the walls between what had been the bedrooms came down," Papovitch said. A structural support beam was installed in the ceiling, along with columns that help support the roof's weight.
Papovitch says their contractor, Mastapeter Building Contractors, worked with them to renovate every part of the house and a free-standing, three-car garage that they remodeled with carriage doors, stained glass and dormers to match the house. The driveway leading to the garage features reclaimed cobblestones that Papovitch says once paved the early streets of Manhattan.
Over the years, they have repaired the plaster and restored all the home's wooden molding.
"Most woodwork throughout the house is original, and great care was taken when doing repairs to make sure to match the existing woodwork," Papovitch said.
Every room in the four-bedroom, four-bathroom house was upgraded and remodeled to reflect how it might have looked 100 years ago.
"All repairs and upgrades were carried out with an eye toward recreating the original style," she said.
Their remodeling efforts also had the goal of concealing modern appliances. Televisions and microwaves are hidden within cabinetry, and the refrigerator is surrounded by an enclosure that resembles an ice box. Papovitch says their kitchen has three dishwashers to support the washing required by their frequent entertaining. The dishwasher doors are covered by cabinet fronts so they blend into the kitchen.
"Unless someone told you, you wouldn't know they are dishwashers," she said. "I didn't want to see a big microwave or TV because they wouldn't have been in a house in the early 1900s."
Papovitch says she adores period light fixtures, and there are at least 20 chandeliers in the house.
"I have a chandelier in every single nook and cranny, including the laundry room and closets," she said.
As with other elements in the house, some are antiques and some replicate antiques. When the couple upgraded wiring for the home's lighting, they had all the flip switches converted to a push-button type that would have been used in the years after the house was built.
In the finished basement, there is a poker room and a home theater with blue velvet curtains on a sliding track. The ticket booth at the theater's entrance is "staffed" by a costumed mannequin named Maxine.
"We had a friend make her outfit from some pictures of an old-fashioned movie theater matron," Papovitch said. "I bought her wig online."
The remodeled house has carefully reconstructed features and improvements too numerous to mention.
"We've worked hard on it," Papovitch said. "It's a labor of love that never seems to end, but we're enjoying the process. I'm excited to show it off."
What they renovated
A 3,000 square-foot Spring Lake house and grounds. The property was renovated and remodeled top to bottom, inside and out.
Who did the work?
Mastapeter Building Contractors did all work in and around the house; landscaping was done by Always Shore Landscaping of Spring Lake.
How long it took
"Nine years and still going."
How much it cost
"Please don't ask," Patricia Papovitch says, "but over a million dollars so far."
Where they splurged
Everywhere
What they did themselves
Papovitch took on several DIY projects in a house-as-hobby decorating pursuit. She also conceived the home's interior based on historic photographs.
"We wrote a lot of checks, which is the hardest work," she says.
What they like most
"We are pleased with so many things about the house that it would be hard to pick a favorite."
What they'd have done differently
"We took our time to make sure everything was just as we wanted it, so there's really nothing that we would do differently."
Kimberly L. Jackson may be reached at home@starledger.com. Find NJ.com Entertainment on Facebook.
