Kurt and Greta Meyer’s 140-year-old Noblesville home is testimony to the adage, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

The renovated Victorian-style home beckons visitors with its expansive front porch and warm exterior colors. Inside, rich wood paneling and oak floors complement the family’s antique pieces and other comfortable furnishings. The home’s character and high-quality workmanship earned it a spot on the Noblesville Preservation Alliance’s home tour in September.

It’s easy to assume that the Meyers dug deep into their pockets to purchase the quartersawed oak lining the updated den or the vintage hardware on the home’s windows. But Kurt will be the first to say that many of the home’s treasures came from the trash. He literally dug through Dumpsters to secure some of the materials in the two-story home, pulling out old wood, doorknobs and window hardware destined for the landfill.

The couple built a patio in the backyard using old bricks that once lined Tipton sidewalks. Kurt’s been known to approach homeowners and construction workers in the neighborhood who were throwing things away and ask if he could take a look at what was being discarded.

“I’ve gotten woodwork all over town, always in cases where people were throwing it away,” Kurt said.

The house is the culmination of nearly 14 years’ work by the Meyers and their three children, Cal, 21, Jack, 18, and Sally, 14. Kurt and the boys tore off three layers of siding and re-covered the home in sturdy concrete board siding. Greta refinished the upstairs floors and some of the home’s woodwork.

Kurt, a real- estate agent with F.C. Tucker, wasn’t afraid to take on the work himself. He drew from his experience working in a cabinet shop after high school and during college.

“A lot of people I learned from were older fellows who had been doing this for years,” Kurt said. “Also, I just grew up in a household where, if something needed to be done, my dad just did it.”

Salvaged pieces fit in seamlessly with the home’s old style. Kurt renovated the home’s den and added a picturesque bay window, built from the quartersawed oak that he salvaged from other historic homes.

The family found an old stained-glass window in the home’s attic and installed it in the front living room. New windows are topped with old hardware in patterns that were characteristic of 19th-century dwellings. Kurt removed them from old windows that were headed for the trash.

“When you find that stuff and clean it up, you feel a little bit like an archaeologist,” he said.

The couple purchased the home in 1996. They were living in the neighborhood, in another historic home they had renovated, but they were outgrowing their space. With three children ranging in age from 1 to 8 at the time, they needed a bigger home. They heard the homeowner might be interested in selling, so they approached her with an offer. The timing was perfect, and the homeowner accepted the offer.

“When we bought this house, it was not appealing at all,” said Greta, an eighth-grade English teacher with Hamilton Southeastern Schools. “But we knew from walking past that it could be.”

Still, the home needed a lot of work. The upstairs bedrooms had dated paneling, drop ceilings and shag carpets. The downstairs floors were covered in new white carpeting, which wasn’t a good match for a family with three children. The couple pulled up the carpeting and revealed the gorgeous oak floors. The bedrooms were completely gutted and renovated.

Through research, the couple discovered that the home was built in 1870 in a Gothic Revival style. The timber-frame, 11/2-story structure was customary for the time. In 1896, the house was purchased and renovated by John Kraft, who added a western wing and second story. A front porch was added, although it appeared to have been removed in the 1950s.

As the Meyers renovated the home, they unearthed evidence of the home’s storied history. Kurt and his sons, who are now Ball State University students, pulled off the home’s aluminum and concrete siding to reveal the original wood clapboards.

While digging the foundation for the porch, they came across the foundation for the original porch.

The couple’s furnishings are a combination of antique pieces and modern furniture in classic styles. Again, the salvage mind-set comes into play. A mission-style desk in the dining room area was found in someone’s trash. A lodge-style chair in the front living room was purchased for $15.

The home’s artwork reflects the family’s style and passion as well. Kurt and Greta are big fans of local artists, and they’ve purchased pieces as their budget allows. An impressionist-style landscape by Randall Scott Harden sits above the $15 chair. The central living room features a painting of the house by local artist Dale Kercheval. The den displays prints of a pre- Raphaelite painting that illustrate famous moments in literature.

Give Kurt a chance, and he’ll tell you everything you need to know about renovating an old home. He’s also willing to share his collection of salvaged hardware and pieces that haven’t yet found a home.

“Quite frankly, I have boxes of stuff in my garage that I don’t have any use for, but I can’t bear to see it thrown away. Friends and neighbors know it’s there and will come to me and ask if I have something. For the most part, I just give away stuff that I salvage.”