A Gift From John
Yesterday, I arrived at the Cross House and a package was sitting on the front porch. Curious, as I do not use the house as a mailing address.
Taking the package inside, I opened did, and revealed something gorgeous:
A book! A luscious book!
A note was included, and John was gifting me the book. John lives here:
John wrote: “If you already have the book, please pass it on to another struggling restoration maven. It is meant and drink to the renascence-hungry soul.”
I do already have the book. And cannot recommend it enough. The story is truly inspiring.
So, I thought right away of Cody, who recently found the Cross House five window sash pulls, and had previously found two pair of hard-to-find gas electric sconces for the house. I wrote to him. Did he have the book? If not, would he like it?
He replied with alacrity: “Yes!!!!!”
While on eBay looking to screen capture an image of the cover, I was gobsmacked to find this recently out:
The interiors of the Obama White House. SQUEE!!!!!!!! I purchased the book, STAT!
Then I found this new book!!!!!!!! SOLD!
Then I found this, too! SOLD!
So, thank you John. Your gift will be passed on to another renascence-hungry soul, while I, because of you, found three more fabulous books!
What an adventure!
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Niiiiice!! 😁
Wow… what a visual treat! Love, love, Love English country houses!!! My forever home!! True Victorian style!! 🤨,(if we’re dreamin BIG here!! Lol)
*Had to look up the meaning of “renascence”.
What a generous gift, John (your place looks great!). Not only did you gift a beautiful book, you also gave the blessing to pass it on if the recipient (Ross) already has a copy of it. And what a generous gift, Ross.
I had considered that the mysterious MacTaggart Library of Design, Decoration, and Restoration likely already contained this volume, but one can trust Ross to do the right thing: “And it’s a pass to Ross! And Ross pivots, and it’s a hand-off to… CODY!! And Cody SCORES!!”
And by the bye, Ross dispenses MORE resources. Restoration love, like love itself, is not diminished but increased by sharing.
And I scored a used copy of “Old Homes, New Life” online!!
Hurrah! Such wonderful part of humanity, John, Ross, Cody and many more.
So much fun to watch that video about your house, John! So….IS it haunted??? 🙂
I’ve been working my way through YouTube, watching Restoration Home. Brits with serious passion buy wreaks and literally rebuild/restore them by hand. Everything from an old power station to ancient/not so ancient houses to a couple of castles have been featured. Absolutely fascinating. Some have even managed to finish the whole house, or at least enough to move into part of it. I just wish I could find the actual series somewhere, to see if anyone besides the power station house ever got truly finished.
And now there are more books to find. Squeee!!!
they also have the seasons on amazon prime. FYI
I have always admired (with envy) how historic restoration/preservation is so much a part of the British culture. If only more Americans valued our architectural heritage…
Yay for more books for your personal, fabulous library at the Cross House! (And yay for generous RTCH readers!)
I’ll get myself a house someday. Until then, I get to live vicariously through you and the other blogs I follow, on feed on the inspiration from books like this. All in good time.
Great outlook, Cody 🙂 The right house is like the right person; be patient, and be prepared to jump with everything you’ve got. Don’t settle for ho-hum, you will know when it is right. After years in a mid-80s ranch, we had looked at a dozen or more old houses and none of them set me on fire. A house that I had drove past hundreds of times suddenly came on the market, and we went to look at it; the minute we walked in, I just KNEW that this was the one. Over the past 20 years we have finished raising three kids here, and now Papaw and Nanna’s house is our four grandkids’ favorite place on earth. We’ve poured a lot of blood, sweat and tears into it, along with more money that we could ever recoup, but I would do it all again in a heartbeat. Yours is out there, and I wish you the best when you find it!
Oh, I’ve already found the one. I just have to live life and hope that the stars align in my favor before it crumbles away or something happens to me before it does!