WORK OF LOVE: SCHEARFS RECAPTURE QUEEN ANNE ELEGANCE

BEFORE AND AFTER: In the early stages of their restoration (above), the Schearfs' dining room looked anything but regal. Below, the dining room takes one back to the gilded age.

PARLOR: Opening into the dining room, the Scheafs' parlor is also a scene of Victorian elegance. They removed a modern fireplace in the room and replaced the original cherry mantle. Jackson USA Signal/Mark Evans

MUSIC ROOM: Kevin and Debbie Schearfs' music room complements the first floor restoration of their 1890 Queen Anne nicely. The couple's Victorian antiques take each room back to the era when Joseph and Mary Williams were raising their family in the old home. SCS/Mark Evans

In retrospect, Kevin and Debbie Schearf seemed destined to own the Joseph Williams House at 425 North High Street.

Long before Kevin, not yet married, bought the house at auction in 1995, the brick Queen Anne beauty had drawn both him and Debbie. Kevin had seen it advertised for sale by owner Virginia Seabaugh a year earlier. They were unable to agree on a price and the house continued going on and off the market. Still, the home captivated Kevin and the former Debbie Judd, as well, whom he was dating by then.

"We used to drive by and sit in the car and just look at the house," Debbie said. "I had always had a dream of restoring a big Victorian house."

When the house went up for auction in June, 1995, Kevin decided to bid for it - although his parents and Debbie's mother nearly talked him out of it.

"They weren't real impressed with the house," Debbie said. "They pointed out how much work would have to be done. I could see Kevin's enthusiasm start to wan."

Thanks to encouragement from John and Vicki Abernathy and Mrs. Seabaugh, though, he won a tight bidding war and agreed to terms with the owner. That, of course, was the beginning of the story, not the end.

The past five years have filled two large photo album/scrap books of Debbie's keeping, chronicling the loving restoration of the house and grounds.

Although still not completed, the restoration job has given the couple (They were married early in the project, in 1996.) a home thoroughly Victorian inside and out.

"We've redone about 50 percent of the plumbing and 90 percent of the wiring," Kevin said, noting that the roof was also replaced. "Besides the roof, we really haven't done much structurally to the house."

The main project has been removing decades of modernization and some of neglect and restoring the 19th century splendor to the 1890 jewel. This has included removing carpet to expose fine hardwood floors - which needed sanding and varnishing. The ornate staircase and a cherry mantle were also among the treasures found under layers of paint.

One of the couple's biggest sources of pride is the connecting parlor and dining room, just off the entrance hall. These two rooms have been carefully restored and filled with exquisite Victorian antiques. One recreation that may or may not be similar to what was originally there is an ornate divider the Schearfs had built. The wooden columns and Victorian-like fret work now mark the boundaries of the two rooms.

"Something had been there, but we can't tell what," Kevin said. "It may have been pocket doors, or it may have been similar to this."

To fill the space, he called Randy Carnell and showed him a rough sketch of what he envisioned. The final product was almost exactly what he had had in his mind.

"I think he was more picky than I was," Kevin said. "It came out exactly like the picture."

The Schearfs have kept two rooms in the house modern - in fact, those two rooms were where Kevin lived during the early stages of the restoration. All others have been taken back to the original period of the house's history.

The exterior also called for considerable work. Historic photos of the home showed a lovely circular Queen Anne porch that wrapped around the southeast corner of the house. It had been replaced by a small, modern porch. Much of 1996 was spent replicating the original porch. The swimming pool was also restored and fish ponds, a myriad of plants, landscaping, new sidewalk and wrought iron fence were all added.

Now the couple has a suitable Queen Anne jewel, in which to display their ever-growing antique collection.

A love of antiques - especially Victorian pieces - bonded Kevin, who grew up in Chaffee, and Debbie, a Jackson native.

"None of our family have any antiques at all," Kevin said. "They can't stand them. I've always liked it, ever since I was growing up."

Debbie's addiction started as a college student.

"One day I was driving to Cape and saw an auction going on, on the side of the road," she recalled. "I saw a beautiful old bedroom set. I wound up getting it and I've kind of had the fever ever since."

Among their prizes possessions is a dual comb regina from the 1860s or 1870s. An old-fashioned music box, the regina operated somewhat on the principle of a player piano. Discs with notes cut out are placed on a turntable and played. The Schearfs have punched several new discs for the original machine.

"We love to play music on it," Debbie said. "It has a wonderful tone."

Another vintage music box is the 1908 Edison phonograph, made much rarer by coming in its original wooden cabinet, along with dozens of Edison song cassettes.

One of the Schearfs' big loves are girandoles - Victorian candleholders, with glass orbs hanging below the holders. Every room has at least one. Hand-painted urns, opera glasses and tintype portraits are also in virtually every room of the house. They dabble in antique buying and selling in their spare time.

The young couple has had the last laugh over friends and loved ones who considered them off their rocker for tackling the project. "Now our parents are more proud of it than anything," Kevin said. "They thought we were crazy at the time."

But preservationists tend to win over their doubters in the end.

"Jackson has a lot of nicer, historic homes," Kevin said. "That's what we're into. Our goal was to leave it as much like it originally looked as we possibly could."

VICTORIAN CHARM: Its restoration nearly complete, Kevin and Debbie Schearf's circa 1890 brick Queen Anne home is once again resplendent in turn of the century elegance. Jackson USA Signal/Mark Evans

BEFORE AND AFTER: In the early stages of their restoration (above), the Schearfs' dining room looked anything but regal. Below, the dining room takes one back to the gilded age.

PARLOR: Opening into the dining room, the Scheafs' parlor is also a scene of Victorian elegance. They removed a modern fireplace in the room and replaced the original cherry mantle. Jackson USA Signal/Mark Evans

MUSIC ROOM: Kevin and Debbie Schearfs' music room complements the first floor restoration of their 1890 Queen Anne nicely. The couple's Victorian antiques take each room back to the era when Joseph and Mary Williams were raising their family in the old home. SCS/Mark Evans