When Jim purchased the house, a thick layer of varnish covered almost every surface of the house’s woodwork. In the foyer, Jim restored all the woodwork himself. Everything in the foyer was carved from old-growth, quarter-sawn white oak — a wood no longer available today.
Hillary Levin, Post-Dispatch
The woodwork in the foyer and on the main staircase in the Tower Grove home of Tracy and Jim Miles is particularly detailed; it features bows and fleur-de-lis.
Natural light filters into the Mileses’ guest bedroom. The room is one of five bedrooms throughout the house. Tracy went with a blue theme for the room. To the right of the bed, Jim placed an antique chair from his parents.
Hillary Levin, Post-Dispatch
The butler’s pantry veering off the kitchen maintained all its original cabinetry since the house was built in 1897.
Hillary Levin, Post-Dispatch
A 5-foot stained glass window off the second-floor stairs features a wreath and pink bow. Similar bows and wreaths were mimicked in the stair’s newel posts.
Hillary Levin, Post-Dispatch
The entire home of Tracy and Jim Miles is furnished in the Craftsman style, as seen in the living room of their Tower Grove house, Friday, March 5, 2021. Photo by Hillary Levin, [email protected]
Tracy furnished the home with over 70 pieces of Arts and Crafts style furniture from Stickley Furniture. In the dining room, antique lounge chairs from 1905 match with a Stickley dining table.
Tracy worked with a palette of light sage greens and subtle reds when decorating the house to complement the woodwork. In the living room off the foyer, she placed an Arts and Crafts style sofa from Stickley Furniture and covered the walls with vintage Bradbury and Bradbury wallpaper.
Hillary Levin, Post-Dispatch
In the backyard, the Mileses built a deck where they entertain in warmer months.
Hillary Levin, Post-Dispatch
Renovating a 120-year-old house is no easy feat. Renovating a 120-year-old house with absolutely no experience definitely isn’t any easier. Yet, that is exactly what Jim and Tracy Miles did with their home in Tower Grove East.
Jim bought the house in 1992 with a plan to bring it back to its former glory. The house had all its original quarter sawn oak and pine woodwork that previous owners layered with thick varnish that then cracked and peeled. This was the first house he ever owned, but as a salesman by trade, he had no experience with restoration.
“If I had known how hard it would be, I never would have done it,” Jim says.
The house boasts intricate wood designs in nearly every room. Pine mantels frame each of the house’s four fireplaces. Two newel posts on the ground-floor stairs include intricate leaf and fleur-de-lis carvings.
It took two years for Jim and his father to strip, sand and refinish everything.
“We used 30 gallons of stripper on all the woodwork,” Jim says. “I lost my fingerprints for six months.”
Tracy owns her own interior decorating business, Tracy Miles Interior Design. She and Jim first met when he tried to buy furniture from her for the house.
Tracy moved in in 1999 and furnished the home with a cohesive mix of Arts and Crafts style pieces. The house boasts over 70 pieces from Stickley Furniture, a brand that headed the Arts and Crafts movement, Tracy says. She placed several re-issues of Stickley pieces throughout their home that are identical to what the company made 100 years ago.
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