HISTORIC HOME PRESERVED BY LIQUID SIDING

When Albert Shafsky started his department store in Placerville, California, in 1901, he quickly proved himself to be a progressive and savvy businessman. He was the first merchant to install glass showcase windows in his store and he employed a milliner to make hats on the premises. His weekly ads in the local newspaper promised the highest quality products at the lowest prices.

That attention to quality carried over to the construction, in 1902, of a pretty Queen Anne-style home for Albert, his wife, Dora, and their two little girls, Alberta and Verah. The young family would live there for the next eight years before they moved to the San Francisco Bay Area where they would have three more children.

Although the Shafsky's would spend only about ten years in Placerville, Albert would make his mark there. Starting in 1906, he served as the town's mayor for two years and continued on as a member of the City Council until 1910.

After the Shafsky family moved, the ensuing years saw the house used as a private home, a rental, and as a Bed & Breakfast. Today, the updated home, nestled among Placerville's magnificent trees and beautiful, old homes, is once again a Bed & Breakfast - an award-winning one - known as The Shafsky House. Inn-goers named it the Best Overall in the area in Arrington Publishing's 2005 issue of Inn Traveler.

A stately elm tree shelters the front of the house, its leaves caressing the angles of the gabled roof. Owner and Inn Keepers Rita Timewell and Stephanie Carlson, who also live in the home, have put their all into renovating the historic building and it shows. They have quickly proven themselves to be as progressive and savvy as the original owner. Where Albert was the first merchant to install glass showcase windows in his store, Rita and Stephanie are the first to install new energy efficient windows to showcase their Historic Home and place of business. In renovating this Historic Home they chose Custom Development of California and Pro Craft of California who offered the quality and attention to detail that Rita and Stephanie were looking for.

By selecting the LBL windows, which matched the original style of the home, Custom Development was able to obtain the approval from the city of Placerville to install these energy efficient windows in this Historic Home, making it more comfortable for the guests and reducing the utility bills at the same time.

Pro Craft of California applied "The Original Liquid Siding" to the exterior walls of the home. This beautiful and durable ceramic coating has preserved the appearance of the home and will lock it in time for the next 25 years and will also further increase the energy efficiency of the home.

When Rita and Stephanie first heard how Liquid Siding had been protecting and preserving Canadian lighthouses for the past 30 years they knew this was the product they had to have on their Historic Home in Placerville, California. Stephanie Carlson, following in the footsteps of Albert Shafsky, has again proven herself to be as progressive as the original owner. She contacted Pro Craft of California, the distributor of Liquid Siding for Northern California and negotiated a special contract to have this maintenance-free coating applied to the exterior of their home. The restored exterior beauty of the historic Shafsky House is featured on the cover of the Bed & Breakfast Directory.

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Their hard work has paid off. The Shafsky House is a popular destination, a place to relax and enjoy its vintage charm for a night or a weekend.

Inside, the The Shafsky House, features a comfortable living room, dining room and kitchen, and three guest bedrooms, each with its own private bath. The Vineyard Room is on the first floor, next to the living room. A king-size bed with beautifully carved headboard is the room's feature. In fact, all the house's beds have carved headboards.

On the second floor, the Lighthouse Suite offers a huge queen-sized poster bed completely enclosed in lace curtains, with old-fashioned bed steps next to the bed, and a private bathroom, complete with stained glass window. Also on the second floor, the Gandy Dancer, which features a queen-size bed, offers a whimsical look at the past and present of railroading.

While each bedrooms' décor is decidedly Victorian, the living area on the main floor is done up in contemporary fashion. Photographs of the Shafsky family accent tables and walls. A copy of the Shafsky family genealogy was donated by surviving members of the family and is available for reading in the living room, along with a variety of other interesting books.

Albert Shafsky, who was born on May 24, 1873 in Moldavia, died April 2, 1934 in Berkeley. His daughter Alberta died in 2002 at age 103.

Shafsky House Bed & Breakfast Inn is located at 2942 Coloma Street, within the Coloma & Spring Streets Historic Residential District.

By Joanne Burkett

For more information on liquid siding please contact us at http://ProCraftofCal.com