VICTORIA FORD says buying her current home was a complete accident. “We were looking for a beach home but couldn’t find anything,” says Ford. “We had zero intention of buying anything locally. Our previous home fit us perfectly; it was a small, saltbox Cape Cod cottage and over time we infused it with our personality. But when we saw this home, our gut told us to buy it.”
The Dutch Colonial home in Cary was an impulse purchase for Ford and her husband, Marcus, and they fully embraced it. The property oozed with personality and character, and despite having very few updates since its construction almost fifty years prior, the couple was smitten. “With a little bit of paint and wallpaper, we knew we could clean it up,” she says.
Linoleum floors, nondescript kitchen cabinetry, brass lighting, and layers upon layers of wallpaper—much of it an eyesore—did not deter the designer. In fact, Ford was even more drawn to the home after seeing its bones. “I’m a bit of a traditionalist,” she says. “I like to honor the home as it is.” That included preserving the home’s original footprint and existing 1970s kitchen. “It’s a rare day that I rip out a wall.” But even Ford could see that not every original aspect of the home would work for modern twenty-first-century living.
The couple, self-described DIYers, moved the laundry room from the kitchen to the upstairs guest bedroom and created a pantry instead. That guest bedroom was split in half—one side for the laundry room and the other for Ford’s home office. “The original laundry room made perfect sense in the 1970s,” says Ford. “But for the way we live our lives today, it was ridiculous.”
Then the real work began: a complete gut renovation of the kitchen. “We wanted it to feel very much true to the house,” says Ford. She removed the original peninsula island, which instantly opened up the space, and in its place, installed a freestanding butcher block–topped table that she found on Facebook Marketplace.
By the window, a built-in bench with extra storage created a cozy dining nook. In keeping with an aesthetic that aligned with the home’s original architecture, Ford added a shiplap ceiling painted in a traditional Southern haint blue and used beadboard for the backsplash. Two walls of Shaker-front custom cabinets by StarMark Cabinetry coupled with an unlacquered bridge faucet with a fluted apron-front sink instantly updated the kitchen while also giving it character.
The rest of the home, though, remained much the same with very few architectural changes. “I wanted the home mostly to feel lived in,” she explains. “You don’t want a home to always feel photo ready. You want someone to come over and feel comfortable here. We wanted it to feel like that for ourselves, too.” For Ford, that meant infusing the home with warm, Colonial-inspired colors and furnishings. The couple’s go-to carpenter, Joenate, Inc., gave the family room’s existing bold blue wall and red-brick fireplace a modern makeover with a wood surround and built-in shelves painted in soothing Endless Sea by Sherwin-Williams in a semi-gloss finish.
Staying true to the home’s character, the couple kept the original popcorn ceiling detail but painted it with a fresh coat of white paint to brighten the room. “Rugs instantly warm up a space,” says Ford, who layered one atop a jute rug for extra interest in the space.
The Fords love to scour the area for vintage finds and antiques that—like their home—boast inherent character. Their most coveted find is the living room’s perfectly worn leather Chesterfield sofa, which she found on Facebook Marketplace. In fact, much of the home is a curated collection of vintage and found objects and accessories, all of which, says Ford, add to the personality of their home. The console sink in the powder room was a score from a visit to Delaware and the dining room chairs were found on Craigslist. To balance the old with the new, Ford seamlessly weaves modern touches throughout the home, as she did in the dining room with the grasscloth wallcovering by Rifle Paper Co.
The couple has been through several renovations and makeovers with other homes and projects, each one fulfilling in its own way. And their personal home is no different—a work in progress over the last two years as they slowly infuse their own style and personality while preserving the home’s innate charm and character. “It’s been a long process, but it’s been completely worth it,” says Ford. “We love this home.”