This couple live like they’re in the Victorian era
Meet the Washington couple who live like it’s the 1890s. Sarah Chrisman, 36, and husband Gabriel, 38, have a strict “only if they did it in the 1800s” policy, which sees them live in an 1880s home, keep their food cold with an icebox, cook with a wood-burning stove, read by oil lamp and ride bicycles everywhere. Sarah has even worn a corset day and night for the past seven years!
The couple’s Victorian-era lifestyle all started in early 2009, when Gabriel gifted Sarah, who collects vintage clothing, a corset for her birthday.
"We've always been fascinated with this period," says Sarah. "We believe that the best way to understand a different culture is to interact with its daily life."
So that’s exactly what the Chrismans did. Every day, after Gabriel heads off to his job at a bike shop, Sarah dresses in her corset, pantalets, petticoats and a long dress, before she tackles the domestic chores. She’ll clean out the ashes in the stove and lays a new fire. She’ll then move onto emptying the drip tray from the icebox, before baking a loaf of bread, filling the lamps and the heater with oil and washing the laundry by hand.
The couple say their eccentric lifestyle has brought them closer together.
“Living like this brings us together,” says Gabriel. “Because we have all these wonderful challenges that we're both sharing and trying to understand and workout. It helps us connect.”
He adds, “It's not about replicating the past – we're trying to bring these principles into the modern world.”
Scroll through the gallery above to see how the Chrismans live. Could you live like it’s the Victorian era? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
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