Zach Carson and Elliott Stuart dealt with layers of flooring, strange paint colors, very old wallpaper, walls that didn’t belong and one fairly friendly ghost in the year and a half they’ve lived in and renovated their historic home in Galveston.

Their grand, old home on Avenue P is one of nine on the Galveston Historical Foundation’s 2018 Historic Home Tour set for two weekends, May 5-6 and 12-13. The homes that will open to the public range from big homes once owned by the island’s most prominent residents to smaller bungalows and tenant homes.

Carson and Stuart first came to Galveston as vacation home owners in 2011 after searching the country for a place on or near water. Stuart is from Miami and missed having a beach nearby after 13 years living in Colorado.

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In their cross-country search they never imagined they’d end up in Texas, but they’re glad they did.

“We’ve been everywhere, and there is not a nicer group of people anywhere. Everywhere we go we have conversations with someone — at the grocery store, at the gas station, waking down the street. We invite people in off of the street for a glass of wine,” said Carson, capturing the spirit of the island’s historic home community, always willing to show off or visit another person’s home.

More Information 2018 Galveston Historic Home Tour When: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. May 5-6 and May 12-13 Homes: 1318 Sealy; 1121 33rd St.; 2424 Avenue L; 2123 Avenue K; 3528 Avenue P; 3608 Avenue O; 3018 Avenue O ½; 1723 Mechanic; 1503 Church Parking: on street near each home; no shuttle service provided Tickets: $30 in advance; $35 May 4 and after Information: www.galvestonhistory.org

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A few years later, it was their careers that called for a move. Stuart, a flight attendant for United Airlines, wanted to work international flights, and Carson, a registered nurse, wanted to get involved in more serious cancer care treatments. Since they already owned a place in Galveston, the Houston area seemed a great place to land.

So their tiny 1,100-square-foot vacation home with two bedrooms, a Jack-and-Jill bathroom and tiny kitchen became their full-time residence when they moved from the Denver area. That home was also historic, built in 1893 by German immigrant Henry Henke — and it stayed in the Henke family until 1976.

After a few years, the small space they truly loved just didn’t jibe with their party-throwing spirit.

They considered buying other homes, even one on the beach, but a trip to Padre Island convinced Carson, 41, he was more of a pool guy than a beach guy when he was “visciously attacked” by a crab in the surf.

“He thought it was a shark,” said the good-humored Stuart, who is 52. “In his defense, he was bleeding.”

“So we bought a house with a pool,” Carson said, putting a hasty end to the story of how they ended up where they are.

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Carson immediately loved their home on Avenue P — in Galveston historical circles it’s known as the 1893 Thomas and Lillie League House — but Stuart, who saw the home once before it went on the market, took some convincing. Not only did he really love their smaller home, it was hard for him to visualize what the League House could become.

First, they learned that the League House came with a big slice of Texas history. It was built by the Leagues 115 years ago on land given them by Lillie League’s grandfather, Samuel May Williams, according to the Historical Foundation. Williams was a prominent figure in early Texas history, settling in the Austin Colony in 1822; he founded the Texas Navy and served as secretary to Stephen F. Austin during the battle for independence. After Texas became a republic, Williams settled in Galveston and helped found that city.

The League House was damaged in the Great Storm of 1900 and sat vacant for about a decade, Carson and Stuart said. When it was updated in 1910, the Victorian home took on some Craftsman characteristics in porch columns and balusters to appeal to changing consumer taste.

A local judge owned the home for many years and died in it. For some 30 years, a couple owned the home and had at least one encounter with a ghost who terrified a relative who was visiting. He awoke late one morning to find an older man in a military uniform hovering over him. He bolted out of bed and ran down to ask who they’d let into his room.

No one, of course. From then on, the story of the ghost judge has lingered.

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For a year and a half, Carson and Stuart lived amid repairs and disarray. A good deal of construction was done at the back of the home, and cosmetic changes were made in every room.

When the men bought the home, its foyer had mint chocolate chip green paint with brown stenciling. The kitchen and and upstairs bath were Pepto-Bismol pink. A guest bedroom was bright melon, and a study had embossed wallpaper painted periwinkle. Heavy, decades-old draperies and lace sheers, dripping with tassles, crystals and beads hung on every window. In the back of the home, what is now a single space for their kitchen and family room had been turned into five different spaces, all tiny and walled off.

When they decided to buy the home that had been on the market, a friend’s parents were visiting the island and using their smaller home. Carson and Stuart grabbed some clothes and an air mattress and headed over to their new place.

Every day or so they’d bring more belongings over and eventually Stuart could see what Carson already had: a home they’d fallen in love with.

They hired an architect who offered sound advice and found a contractor they had to wait six months for. They did a fair amount of work themselves, and lived in the home during all of it.

Now ready for the tour, the home’s main floor is fully renovated and trucks have been delivering new furniture steadily in recent weeks. Their home may be 115 years old, but it’s far from a museum.

Their kitchen is on trend with quartz counters covering a big, 10-foot island and bright, white cabinets lighting up the room. Contemporary furniture in the family room looks so comfortable that it’s hard to imagine wanting to spend time in the living room, except that it’s so full of more glamorous furniture, a blue velvet sectional sofa piled with decorative pillows and resting alongside a mix of current pieces and antiques.

In the year and a half they’ve lived in the home they’ve never seen the ghost, though they’ve given him every opportunity to appear. At Thanksgiving they reserved a place for him at the table and every night, they give him a Waltons-style shout-out when they go to bed and cry: “Order in the court!”

A greenhouse/hot tub room out back has been converted into a guest suite, and a powder room under the front stairs has gotten a small but glamorous makeover.

The tiny space has a miniature sink with a black swan faucet. A frame with a lattice-like edge has a sconce placed in the middle of the lattice work. It’s the size of a tiny closet, but it’s sure to make you smile.

diane.cowen@chron.com