THE GOOD OLD DAYS:This old house made new

At long last, a for-sale sign hangs proudly in front of the 1903 Craftsman-style Huscroft House at 548 Bernard St.

Having invested years of work and nearly $500,000 into its restoration, John Morehart is ready for the 2,750-square-foot, three-bedroom home to change hands, with an asking price of $1.25 million.

“I’ve put so much into it without a way of getting any money back during the process,” he said. “I was excited coming here everyday to work on it, but it’s time to let it go and move on to something else.”

Originally built in Santa Ana in the early 1900s, the Huscroft House was relocated to Costa Mesa in the ‘50s and transferred to Morehart by the city in 2003, when he rescued it from imminent demolition by moving it to his Westside property.

Since then, he has put countless hours of research and construction into the structure — which he suspects may have been a Sears Catalog Home — preserving many of the house’s original qualities and filling in the gaps by looking to the work of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright and Greene & Greene, architects of Pasadena’s Arts and Crafts masterpiece, the Gamble House.

For example, when choosing the palette for the interior, Morehart selected shades of yellow, green and blue after finding similarly-colored paint remnants under multiple layers of plaster. He also found reproductions of the original bathroom hardware to accompany the antique bathtub in what was once the home’s only bathroom.

Considered by Morehart the first of the true American architectural movements, the Craftsman Style became popular in the latter years of the 19th century as a reaction to the opulence of Victorian architecture. It offered a cleaner, sturdier and more natural look.

Wandering through the house, Morehart is eager to comment on many of its distinctive features, including the exaggerated eaves, oak flooring, hidden rooms and Tiffany glass lamps, inspired by the stained-glass work of Louis Comfort Tiffany, son of the Tiffany & Co. founder.

The Costa Mesa resident anticipates that with a little more painting and some electrical work, the project will be complete within a month.

“We struggled to make sure every detail was right and we only used the finest materials,” he said. “I wanted to bring out the old character and charm of the house.”

Now on the market, many potential buyers have shown an interest in the old house, reports Lisa Morehart, his wife.

“Everyone is so enthusiastic. They think it’s really beautiful,” she said. “I think the quality of life living in that space would be so great — and a little magical.”