When Janice and David Hunt purchased a 135-year-old Victorian on Kings Highway, the home was ideal–which didn’t mean it was perfect.

“When we bought the house, you had to walk through a closet to get through to the bedroom,” said David. “It was nuts.”

And the kitchen? “The kitchen was really small,” said Janice.

“We were living in a nice, big, beautiful house, and we’ve got a crummy kitchen,” recalled David.

Over the last few years, they have fixed these problems, and a number of others. Old homes need a good measure of care and, typically, updating.

They added a four-star master bath–complete with flat-screen TV, 35-square-foot steam room, soaking tub and heated floor—that no 19th-century homeowner could have envisioned. The kitchen now sports extra space and a double oven with six-burner stove.

Janice loved the yellow Victorian even before they bought it. Her grandfather was a clergyman at the nearby Methodist church on Warwick Road, and she remembered visiting the house as a girl for neighborhood get-togethers.

Then, David found out it was for sale.

“I knew this house and how alive it could be,” said Janice. “I said, ‘I have to see that house.’ I love the home. I love houses that have a lot of different rooms so you don’t have to decorate it all the same.”

Janice decided they needed a project, and this house would be it.

The couple loves that the house is perfect for entertaining and hosting everything from prom parties to a stop on the house and garden tour.

“I like the idea of giving back to the community,” said Janice. “I wanted to fix it up so people could enjoy it.”

Now, they are planning to sell the home and move, perhaps to a more urban, Philadelphia location. Their daughters are grown, and the three-story home rattles with room.

Neither is sorry they bought a very big house that is now just a bit too large.

“I have no regrets,” said David, who serves on the borough’s zoning board.

“I love this house,” said Janice, who calls her home “a peaceful place.”

David Hunt grasps the advantages of life in a grand Victorian.

“The plus is the character and the feel of the house,” he said. “I don’t want to be too philosophical. But you can almost hear the parties that were here 100 years ago.”

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