Southampton - A dozen community members gathered inside Roger's Mansion in Southampton last Saturday afternoon, for a lecture and slide talk entitled "How To Do What's Right For Your Restoration," led by architect, author, architectural preservationist and historic home owner Anne Surchin.

Anne Surchin during the lecture. (Nicole A. Flotteron)

The attendees were residents of old homes, builders, trades people, and regular folk with an appreciation for home restoration and sustainable building methods. "People get very worked up over being green and sustainable," explained Surchin, "They also get very worked up over preservation and saving everything, and just because something is old, doesn't mean it's worth saving."

Surchin used stories of her own trials and tribulations in restoring her home as a way to illustrate the do's and do not's of home restoration and preservation. "When it comes to preservation, there is no greener building than an old house. The reason for that is because of the embodied energy in the building," said Surchin.

Surchin warns that on the East End, a person interested in old home renovation must beware of "the green expert," or "carpetbaggers" whose claim to fame is their own home renovation, which they turn into a career of buying, flipping, and selling houses, and becoming consultants. "While they may have boned up on their energy efficiency and building science, it doesn't mean that they're not boneheads about design," she said of these types of consultants.

Instead, Surchin suggests that it is architects who are best suited for green building practices: "Architects do not need to bill themselves as green experts because it is already a part of an architect's training and it has been since the beginning," she explains, "It is a redundant term because to build without being wasteful, to build to last, and to build smartly is what good architects do. It is what they're trained to do."

During a home restoration, many homeowners are struck by how expensive certain aspects of the restoration can be. While there are often corner-cutting, cost effect alternatives, Surchin offers a simple response, "It's only expensive once, if you do it the right way."

The exterior of the home prior to renovation. (Anne Surchin)

While Surchin has redesigned old homes for over 30 years, it was her odyssey of restoration on her own home, a 1891 farmhouse with Queen Anne era massing built by carpenter Benjamin Lawrence Prince, and renovated in the 1950s, that gave her a new perspective on home renovation. "I was kind of like a doctor becoming a patient," she said. After purchasing the home in the fall of 2006, restorations on the first floor began.

In the parlor, she removed 1950s era clamshell molding and added built up molding on the floor. Walls were insulated, doors were replaced, closets were expanded, but perhaps the most exciting aspect of a restoration, is unearthing treasures from owners past. In the attic, Surchin found about 100 picture postcards from the early 1900s. Each card featured the stunning image of a historic landmark ranging from the Coliseum to the Basilica in Florence, and each featured beautiful script handwriting telling tales of voyages across Europe. "This is what happens when you unearth an old house! Part of the fun of doing this was finding out that the walls did talk to me," she said of her discoveries. Surchin also found a ladies hatbox with a Victorian woman stenciled on the top of the box, and a glasscutter from the 1890s.

The second floor of the house featured 1950s green carpeting across the rooms, hallways, and even the bathroom, however upon their removal Surchin found beautiful old growth oak floors in some of the rooms, which were in pristine condition.

One pearl of wisdom that Surchin learned during her restoration and hopes that others will realize, is that you have to stop at a certain point so you can live in the house and let the house tell you what to do. Once the initial construction was complete, Surchin lived in the house, and after several years, she decided to tackle the exterior.

The front facing facade after renovations. (Elizabeth Glasgow)

The outside of the house when she bought it was a sea of white on white with green trim and 1950s wrought iron railings. There were scallop shingles and clip edge shingles and wooden columns on the front porch. Surchin knew when she looked at it that it was going to need a significant paint job, but the question remained, should she paint? Or should she replace all the siding on the outside of the house?

In the end, the most important thing for Surchin was assuring that the materials and appearance of the house were historically accurate. "I don't like these houses that have replaced shingles. It's just too perfect. The old shingles had dings, dangs, and 118 years of history. I couldn't fathom having it look too good so that it didn't look authentic anymore, so I made the decision to have it painted" she said.

Attendees of the event applauded Surchin's decision with comments like "that's so wonderful," and "you made the right decision." Six workers spent six weeks stripping titanium white lead paint from, and power washing the shingles. Like the wood floors, the shingles were made of old growth wood, a quality that is not replicable with today's lumber.

After scraping down layer upon layer of paint from the shingles, the original exterior paint color was revealed; a light, sage green color. Surchin chose a cream color called Antiquity as an accent, as well as a shade of blue for the trim. "Suddenly this very bland façade was brought back to life, and all of these beautiful details were exposed," she expressed of the exterior once it was painted.

Nearly five years since her renovations began, Surchin is pleased with the results of her journey. Though she is still making updates such as replacing windows, and insulating walls, she is content to live in the house and let it speak to her, while maintaining the house's original integrity. She holds an iconic stance among East End preservationists, and much can be learned from her career experience as well as her personal odyssey into the world of home preservation and restoration.