After owning three Victorians, Perkasie homeowner Leon Liss spent thirteen years adding old-world character and charm to the clean-slate 2005 Colonial he moved into with his wife and two daughters, writes Laura Hoover for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

“It was a dream of ours to move here,” said Liss, an Allentown native. “We were looking in Doylestown and couldn’t find anything in our price range. We expanded our search.”

The five-bedroom home they found in Perkasie had what they needed, but it was nothing like a Victorian.

“It was a big white box, but we had kids and wanted to be in a cul-de-sac,” said Liss. “So we decided to make a new house look old.”

Liss, always a fan of antiques, started in the front living room. He had the walls painted to resemble green-striped wallpaper, matched the ceiling with a lighter tone, and added plantation shutters to the windows. He then placed a huge French Gothic armoire at the center.

Over the years, he has filled many of the living spaces with many amazing antiques, including a large hunt-themed cabinet from France and a steel duck press in the dining room.

“I consider myself a maximalist,” said Liss.

To see photos of Leon Liss’s eclectic Perkasie home visit The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Gothic architecture explained