When I began painting the parlor, my friend Patricia advised that I do the walls in a multi-layered finish using translucent paints. “This will give the walls depth, texture, and richness.” But I blanched at how much work this would require. My goal was maximum effect for minimal effort. So, what I went…

I did a previous post about “the Snake”, an absurdly long and convoluted A/C duct to the Round Bedroom. I went to some effort in changing a bend in the Snake to help assure maximum air flow. To this end, I had to take up the just installed subfloor of the north stair landing. Then…

  I have to smile at the absurdity. For, the dining room is a wreck. Yet, I have placed in it an incredibly expensive table by Baker, from their Stately Home Collection (purchased for a song on eBay). I then added a huge crystal chandelier (ditto eBay song). And then today I added a rug….

When I purchased the Cross House in 2014, all the interior wood was dark. Dark. Depressing dark. In 2015, I accidentally discovered that most of the wood in the house had a faux wood finish, buried under later layers of shellac (shellac darkens over time). By removing the shellac, MUCH lighter surfaces were revealed. Since…

  Today, I finished sealing all the windows in the Long Bedroom. Whoee!!!!!!!! The temperature of the room immediately increased. Whoee!!!!!!!! And the room immediately got much quieter. Whoee!!!!!!!! I use peel-away caulk, so the windows could be opened if somebody down the road so desires. Oh, and you cannot see the glorious stained-glass in the above…

  I thought: Calient? Huh? So, I Googled the word. Still huh. Then Google suggested an alternative spelling: Caliente. Ahh! THAT made sense: HOT. And this meant that the radiator pictured was now — drum roll, please — working! WORKING!!!!!!!! And this means that, after much ado and much $$$ and much time, ALL THE RADIATORS IN…

WEDNESDAY: Radiator pipe in parlor is found to be leaking. Water has damaged finished floor. Ross unhappy. WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Around 11PM, Ross has visions of the leaking pipe bursting and destroying the house. Ross struggles NOT to drive back to the house and make sure all is well. A fitful sleep ensues. THURSDAY MORNING: Ross…

Justin and I were in the basement discussing how to reactivate the sole remaining Mouse Palace Motel bathroom in the universe. Then Justin asked: “Is that water?” And the day went to Hell.   Justin pointed to a corner of the basement under the parlor. And there was, indeed, a small pool of water in…

  The three windows had air blowing in through and around them. While this is bad, the issue was compounded by the fact that the house sagged at this particular area, meaning that the upper and lower sashes did not align in the middle, meaning that the lock sets did not close. We removed the…

                                                      When I finished the above corner, I was struck with a thought: the walls, for the first time, were now, well, worthy of the room. The vine, somehow,…

Last spring, when finally decorating the parlor of the 1894 Cross House, a lot of readers came to the conclusion that I had no taste. Some came around when the parlor was finished. “I love it!” I am uncertain if everybody came around. During the ensuing months and months, I developed an uneasy awareness that…