SANTA PAULA : 1910 Craftsman Home Built on History

For years, Santa Paula resident Becky Dabney collected old furnishings that included doors, hinges, lightings, couches, desks and bookshelves.

Today, her 1910 Craftsman home features many of the items that she found abandoned in alleys and barns in and around Santa Paula, and contained in about-to-be-demolished houses all over the county.

“I like old things,” Dabney said. “I think they have more character than something new, and I deeply appreciate the quality of products from years ago. They seem to work better than new ones.”

The leaded glass in her library’s built-in shelves and in her dining room’s china cabinet were rescued during a 1960s house demolition. The vintage desk in the family room was found in a barn, and a nearby bookshelf was discovered rotting in an alley in Camarillo.

There is not a room in the two-story house that does not display an antique item.

Dabney said she began salvaging items that were once destined to be destroyed 30 years ago while she and her husband owned a demolition company.

“It doesn’t happen as often today, but years ago people left old but valuable things in old houses,” Dabney said, as she showed a visitor the various engraved hinges and doorknobs throughout her home. “I got all of them from homes that were bound to be demolished.”

Although she had no training in refurbishing furniture, Dabney said she learned by trial and error. “It was fun to learn how to make old things look new,” she said.

Dabney’s house will be open to the public Sunday as part of a fund-raising house tour to generate funds for the Santa Paula Boys & Girls Club and for Isbell School students to pay for a trip to Washington, D.C., in May.

There are four other Santa Paula homes included on the tour, which is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. For information, call the Boys & Girls Club at 525-7910.