" But the last major renovation was in 1906 when these rooms, which were once two separate rooms, were made into one large room by an architect named Duncan Lee."

" So there was a wall in the middle here that got taken out."

" There was a wall in the middle there that was taken out, and at the same time here, that these columns and the archways, and turned it into what we now call The Ballroom."

" Right, and it's the full width of the mansion--"

" It is."

" which is a good 80 feet or so?"

" Right."

" And the floors again are beautiful throughout here."

" They are, all throughout, and again, this was part of the Duncan Lee Edition in 1906."

" Yes, yes."

" And the piano here is a piano that belonged to Governor James Barbour's family, actually his daughter, and James Barbour was the first governor that lived in the mansion."

" So this is an original piece of furniture that wants to be restored and brought back here?"

" Well, exactly."

" Great."

" Yes."

" What about these enormous chandeliers?"

" Those are beautiful. They were donated to the mansion a, a few years ago. They were made in 1815, they're regency style made in England."

" Yes."

" We're very happy about those. All of the chandeliers are gonna be removed. Each of the prisms and all of the glass is gonna be cleaned individually."

" Right."

" And one of the exciting things is when they come back, the fire alarm system is actually going to be fed down through the chandelier and what they technically call a sniffer is what, where the smoke alarm will be."

" That's exciting so they'll be able to------"

" It is."

" marry a little bit of absolute late 20th century technology fire alarms safety------"

" Yes."

" with this beautiful early 19th century chandelier."

" Exactly."

" And of course in that background, we can see that the other one is already being dismantled."

" They're being removed, exactly."

" Great."

" And then also, we're excited that some other things that are, are gonna be hidden, you've seen our ugly air handlers. Well, part of the HFAC system will be carried through these hollow beams on top of the columns, so they will all be disguised there."

" What about the private quarters?"

" Well, we live upstairs primarily and it's interesting being up at the ahead of the steps. What we have is, it serves as our living room is really a landing at the top of the stairs."

" Uh huh."

" We eat there. We do homework there. Our kids, we have two children and a dog and so we spend a great deal of time there."

" On the landing at the top of the stairs?"

" Well, essentially."

" Isn't there a private living room?"

" There's no private living room."

" What about a private dining room? "

" And there is no dining room. We eat and watch television and do homework all at the same table with the landing at the top of the stairs."

" And you have a mini kitchen up there?"

" We have a two-burner stove that has no hood, and so it's pretty inadequate if you wanna fix a real meal up there."

" Yes."

" The governor has a private office. One end of it though is where our children's Playstation is housed, so again, that serves double duty up there."

" So part of the, the overall scope of work here involves redesigning that second floor so that there's proper quarters for the first family?"

" Exactly. There are a number of very small rooms------"

" Yes."

" that I compare to a rabbit warren that are sometimes misplaced. In fact, we have a very beautiful library, but in order to get to it, you have to go through a dressing room or through the master bedroom. So it really takes what could be a very beautiful public room and it's, its pretty inaccessible."

" It's gonna be fun to rework it."

" It will be."

" Now, what about this grand dining room that was added in 1906?"

" Duncan Lee Edition?"

" Yes."

" He designed this oval space that is really quite elegant, I believe, and it's reflected not only in our table but normally, there is a large oval dining room rug that was added by the, by a previous administration. It's a gorgeous rug that incorporates all of the symbols of Virginia, the Dogwood and the State Seal, the State Shell as well as a tobacco braid."

" Great."

" And so, we're proud of that."

" So when you're having a state dinner here, how many can you seat?"

" This table opens up. The full length of the room and we can seat up to 32 people."

" The window treatments in here look like they were done yesterday."

" They were, again, that's part of the Allen administration's work that they did and we're going to take these down and clean them and store them properly so that they can come back and take their place at the window."

" Good. So, the room won't change that much?"

" No, the appearance of this room will be pretty similar to what it was."

" This is a beautiful piece, the serpentine front sideboard."

" It is. Again, it came in to the mansion in 1978 when we acquired a number of pieces."

" Yes. The bellflower here would indicate to me that it might be a Baltimore piece."

" That's quite possible. It actually came from the estate of a woman that lived in Washington."

" Excellent, and then off in the other direction, I see there is another smaller dining room? "

" We have a small breakfast room on the side corner of the house where we, from time to time, have lunch and the four of us in our family------"

" Yes."

" will have, have meals in there."

" Now, tell me about the kitchen, the working kitchen where you're having 32 for dinner."

" Right."

" What kind of a kitchen does the mansion have?"

" I think you'll be very surprised to see our kitchen. It's very archaic. We have one portable gas burner there. The rest of the stove is electric. There are exposed pipes and the ceilings are very low and it's, it's really quite inadequate. We have a marvelous chef that is able to do wonderful things done in a, in a really inadequate space, so we are going to pay attention to all of that in the renovation as well."

" Indeed, the basement probably will be one of the heaviest parts of the house to the, to the, to do the demolition------ "

" It will."

" and, and, and to really put in all these new mechanical system as well as a proper kitchen."

" That's right and that floor will not look at all the same when we finish"

" Right."

" in November."