Rudeseal Feature

They began with a leaky roof, acoustic ceiling tiles, industrial carpet, and wood paneling emblazoned with images of pine trees and deer…the later of which Troy and Katherine Rudeseal tore down the first night they took possession of their new home. No, their historic dream home wasn’t a historic dream home from day one. It started as a duplex that had been sloppily renovated numerous times through the years. But it had good bones, and Troy and Kathy had a wealth of…

by Scott Czechlewski

Artistic

Photography by Matt Dols

Vision

I

It’s fitting that Troy and Katherine Rudeseal’s story sounds like the plotline of a Broadway play: the couple moved to Wilmington in 1995 without a lot of money but with big dreams. They fell in love with downtown immediately and would do whatever it took to live there in a home of their very own…even if it meant purchasing a rundown flophouse (well, that’s what they’d call it in a big Broadway play) on the wrong side of town, and then set about initiating a rebirth of both. Along the way they battled drug dealers and prostitutes, fought City Hall to make positive changes in the neighborhood, and accumulated so much garbage in their backyard from their renovations that they named it Mt. Rudeseal. A plotline that would fill seats, surely.

The analogy to a Broadway play is fitting because both are theater folk. Troy Rudeseal, who Katherine proclaims is the professional actor in the family, toured the country directing and performing for children with companies out of Montana and New Hampshire. He spent three years working with the acting company of The North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, has been the artistic director of local Big Dawg Productions, and still routinely directs shows. In 2003, he went back to school and obtained a Nursing degree. He’s been working at New Hanover Regional Medical Center since 2004 and is still involved with the theatre and some television and commercial work as time allows. Katherine grew up Annapolis, Maryland, where the lifestyle is very similar to Wilmington…just one of the reasons she loves it here. She received a B.A. in Studio Art from the University of Maryland, and, after graduating, relocated to Fayetteville where she was a K-8 Art Teacher. She met Troy, who got her very involved in performing, and they relocated to Wilmington together. “When we moved to Wilmington I got very lucky and started working at the largest advertising agency in

Scott Czechlewski

The Rudeseals as Rooster and Lilly in a local production of Annie.

Troy Rudeseal has traced his lineage to 1600 Switzerland, and proudly displays his family crest in stained glass in the dining room window.

town,” she told me. “It was hard work with long hours, but I learned so much! It paid off, because when the agency closed a few of us I decided to give it a try on our own… so we brushed ourselves off and opened Phoenix Rising Agency.” Even with her busy schedule as a business owner, Katherine had been acting in an average of four plays per year until the birth of her daughter, Sara. She’s taken a hiatus since her last large role—in Thalian Association’s CATS in 2006—to concentrate on family. It may have been that actor mentality of “the show must go on” that they drew upon when faced with the challenges of renovating the Chestnut Street home. It was certainly their artistic vision that allowed them to look past items like the ruined original hardwood floors downstairs (due to chipboard being placed on top with nails every six inches or so) and focus on details like the diamond-shaped windows in the upstairs bedrooms with snowflake glass. Or the quaint balcony between the bedrooms where they could easily picture themselves reading a book and having a cup of coffee on a lazy Saturday morning. The challenge became undoing the damage that tenants and “modernization” had wrought on the home built in 1910 by James H. Taylor, and doing it themselves. “It’s crazy I know, but we had a dream of the way we wanted the home to be and quite honestly we didn’t trust anyone else to help achieve that dream,” Katherine stated. “We tried to save as much of the original woodwork, walls and floors as possible and have tried to let all our renovations keep the feeling of the house as built. We have reproduced window trim and moldings to match the originals and painted the house the color it was when built.” The original lathe and plaster walls were in good shape, so they were able to keep most of them. In fact, they saved everything they could in regards to original floors and walls, doors and molding, etc. “Our one rule was trying to stay somewhat true to the character of the house,” she said. “[We even] renovated or recreated molding to match the original molding.”

With a limited budget, the Rudeseal’s weren’t always able to replace items with expensive originals or reproductions. But that doesn’t mean they had to sacrifice their vision. “There was a time that you could only find historic fixtures in specialty catalogues, but now there is a fondness for retro,” Katherine told me. “Lowe’s and Home Depot carry very nice kitchen and bath fixtures with a historic feel.”

“It’s crazy I know, but we had a dream of the way we wanted the home to be and quite honestly we didn’t trust anyone else to help achieve that dream,” Katherine stated.

Pre-renovation photos courtesy of the Rudeseals.

(Top left) The stairwell before renovations and (right) after. (Bottom left) The kitchen stripped to the studs. (Above) Troy plays peekaboo through the roof, one of the larger challenges of the restoration.

A unique feature of the Rudeseal’s Chestnut Street home is the private open air porch outside the upstairs master bedroom, framed with white curtains.

The guest bathroom downstairs.

The only professional help they recruited was for structural issues, such as rebuilding the side porch to support the weight of a walk-in closet off the master bedroom. It turned out to be a great project since they are now able to use the side porch as a mud/laundry room. Because they have completed the renovations in stages, interior design has been an on-going process, being worked on hand in hand. “We have done all the design work ourselves with a lot of help from our family,” Katherine said. “We are both artists and took this on as our canvas. Our work of art that has taken a fourth of our lives and is still unfinished!” “It is very colorful, very us,” Troy

added. “We like to think of the house as another part of the family. We have spent so many years making it home and hope the house approves of what we have done and loves us as much as we love her.” The interior design resonates their theater background as well. “I think that because theater sets and lights are so colorful it makes you less afraid of living with color,” Katherine explained. “Paint and light can change the whole mood of a room. We don’t have a single white wall in our home. And we aren’t afraid to change the colors every few years. It’s only paint! I think people take decorating too seriously, instead of following their instincts and just sitting back and enjoying the way color makes you feel.” Troy describes their home as playful, and it’s easy to feel the life within the walls as one explores room to room. It is an intermingling of formal and eclectic, with a spice of history around every corner. The home is filled almost entirely with antique family furniture and heirlooms, and everything has a story, I soon learn. An old claw foot tub and Seth Thomas clock survived a fire in Troy’s grandmother’s pre civil-war home in Missouri. An 1810 Flintlock rifle that hangs above the dining room table belonged “I think that because theater to Katherine’s great, sets and lights are so colorful it great grandfather. Above her mothers’ makes you less afraid of living piano hangs her great with color,” Katherine explained. uncle’s lithograph of Beethoven, and curio “Paint and light can change the cabinets are filled whole mood of a room. We don’t with items reminishave a single white wall in our cent of both families history. home....I think people take decoBoth Troy and rating too seriously, instead of Katherine have interesting family lineages following their instincts and just from which to draw sitting back and enjoying the way the items that adorn their home. Troy color makes you feel.”

(Above) Family heirlooms add a strong feeling of home in the dining room. (Below) The Rudeseals celebrate their roots with family photos throughout their home. Shown here are ________ and ________ in their younger and older years.

“We like to think of the house as another part of the family,” Troy said. “We have spent so many years making it home and hope the house approves of what we have done and loves us as much as we love her.”

Katherine and Troy with baby Sara.

Troy’s family has been farmers for centuries, while Katherine’s family—the Haley’s—on the other hand, were the financial backers of the Jamestown settlement. She took delight in reminding her husband that he married up. Not surprisingly, one of Troy’s favorite places in the house is the stairwell, which is filled from top to bottom with famFamily photos dating back as much ily photos dating back as 130 years hang by wires along the a hundred and thirty plaster walls of the stairwell. years. Katherine agrees, but for a different reason: “The stairs are pretty treacherous in the dark, the way they wind around, but has spent years tracing his Rudeseal line the acoustics are incredible. I sit there directly back to 1600 Switzerland. The Rudisills landed in Philadelphia in 1738 and sing quite often. It just echoes thru the whole house.” and made their way to North Carolina The backyard and accompanying art in 1750. studio space is also high on the list of “I am fascinated by pioneer living gleaming attributes. “It is rare in downand what it must have been like to have town Wilmington to have a nice outdoor carved a life out of the wilderness,” Troy stated. “I believe there is something very space, and ours is like a little oasis,” she continued. “We have neighbors on both powerful in knowing where you came sides, and yet it feels very private. We from.”

(Below) The art studio space in the backyard is separate from the main house.

(Right) Vibrant red walls provide a perfect contrast for the white fireplace in the living room.

have a large eight-foot movie screen that hangs over the spa at the edge of the deck, and we love to have movie parties outside.” Another favorite area for the couple is their living room, where a painting of the old Masonic Theatre (now City Stage at Level 5) by Wilmington artist and architect Bruce Bowman hangs, a focal point for the entire room. They have always been big fans of Bowman’s work and found the painting particularly fitting since they are both performers. “Katherine is a huge fan of the movie Moulin Rouge…she is fond of saying that she wished her life was a musical… and so we hung Bruce’s work, painted the walls bright red with gold valances and curtains and some antique touches,” Troy said. “It is very rich looking. We jokingly call it our brothel room.”

In addition to the artistic vision derived from their theater background, there are some other more tangible reminders. Working for various theatre companies over the years, stage props often ended up adorning mantles or walls in the house. Likewise, many of their items have ended up on stage as part of productions. “We like the wallpaper in our hallway so much that when I designed and built the set for The Miracle Worker, the same wall covering was used in Helen Keller’s dining room,” Troy said. “I have often reproduced moldings from our house to use on theatre sets…it’s like sharing your house with others.” Unfortunately, sharing their house— or at least the neighborhood—with others was one of the biggest challenges they have faced since purchasing the home. They endured many years of drug dealers and prostitutes on the corner and waking to gunshots. “We have fought very hard over the years writing letters, contacting the police, City Council and the media to

An antique phonograph provides an interesting focal point in the upstairs hallway.

(Left) Antique furniture adds to the ambience in the dining room. (Below) Troy, Katherine and Sara Rudeseal (front row) all had a hand in the recent production of The Wizard of Oz. Troy directed the Thalian Association play, Katherine played the role of ________, and baby Sara was a _______.

Photo courtesy of _____________________.

The master bedroom.

(Top left) A stained glass floor lamp adds to the warmth in the living room. (Above) The nursery is complete with an antique rocker. (Left) One of the many period details found throughout the house is a ________ phone in the kitchen. (Below) Katherine relaxes on the front steps leading up to their home.

get results, to little avail,” she said. “We have hired private police, tried to pursue nuisance abatement laws and code violations. For the most part, the only reason our neighborhood has improved is that the real estate market caused some of the problem homes to be sold out from under the dealers. We are happy to report that there are more homeowners on our street and less rentals, and it has improved immensely. We still have drug dealers that try to creep back in from time to time and we and our neighbors have to

band together to drive them back out.” Despite the challenges of the seemingly never-ending renovations and the unsavory characters that occasionally pop up, Katherine and Troy are still in love with downtown and their unfinished masterpiece. “We can’t believe we actually live here,” she stated boldly, happily. “But I have to say that we were naive when we moved to this house…never buy a house without seeing it at night first.”

Scott Czechlewski

Theater posters line the wall of the guest bedroom upstairs.