At 16, she started collecting antiques for her future home. Over a 10-year period, she spent two to three nights a week at auctions buying antiques for a home that still only existed in her dreams.

Then one day more than 12 years ago, Teri's husband, Mike, was driving through Saratoga and noticed a "for sale" sign in front of the Neil Carmichael House on Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road.

The house was made of solid redwood and had a neoclassic style.

"The man who built it had a lumber mill," Teri said. "He got the redwood out of the mountains here."

Neil and Belle Carmichael were the original owners of the house, which was built for $10,000 in 1914. Neil owned and operated sawmills on the west side of the Santa Cruz Mountains from 1899 to 1911 with his brother, Dan, and Thomas Hubbard.

When Mike told Teri that the Neil Carmichael House was for sale, she saw the opportunity to make her childhood dream come true. A few hours later, she was standing in front of the house with her real estate agent.

"When I saw the sun porch I said, 'that's it. I'm going to have to find the devil and sell my soul,' " she said.

The Dahlbecks purchased the house and moved in. All the antiques Teri had collected over the years now had a suitable home.

The Neil Carmichael House has a gable roof that extends over a series of columns interspersed around the large wrap-around porch. Small oval windows complement the home's large double sash windows. A water tower and a detached garage stand behind the home. Inside, antique fixtures, handmade silkscreen wallpaper and all of Teri's collectibles complete the authentic Victorian era feel.

Although they take care to maintain the historic nature of their home, it is still a home and not a museum, Teri explained. With a 13-year-old son and frequent guests, she does not worry when things are knocked off tables and shelves. Most of the antiques she purchased were bought on the cheap, and she's covered the tables with glass to avoid rings in the wood caused by beverage containers. "The house is pretty durable," she said.

The Neil Carmichael House is a city of Saratoga Historic Landmark. Last October, the city granted the Dahlbecks a tax break under the Mills Act Program, which reduces property tax payments as an incentive for owners of historic properties to preserve and maintain their buildings.

"I think people who own historic homes almost have an obsession with keeping the charm and authenticity going," Teri said. "For me, a Victorian house like this represents home and family. I wanted to have a warm and friendly place to live in and for my friends and family to visit."

During the holidays, the Neil Carmichael House has become something of a holiday spectacle in Saratoga. For the last 12 years, the Dahlbecks have decorated their home with about 5,000 Christmas lights.

"People stop all the time at our house to take pictures," Teri said. "They say they really enjoy that we take the time to put up the lights. It does make it feel very Christmassy."

The tradition started by accident. Teri had been shopping at Woolworth's during a going-out-of-business sale and bought a case of Christmas lights for about $5. She thought she had bought a lifetime supply of lights. When she told her husband to string up Christmas lights for the holidays, she thought he would just put up a few strings, but Mike strung up the whole case--and a tradition was born. "Like a good husband, he thought he was minding his wife," she said.

Mike will once again be stringing the house with lights this Thanksgiving weekend.

For Teri and Mike, taking care of their historic home has been a labor of love. "We love it and want to pass it on to our son," Teri said. "But he's seen all the work we put into it and wants to live in an apartment."