Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! And a great big: WHEW!  

Fifteen days ago I did a post about the radiator system being turned back after years of disuse. And all went kinda sorta maybe well…save the parlor ceiling being damaged by a leaking radiator connection. Yes, poo.                 I am crossing my fingers that in a few days…

      I then contacted Dr. Doug: “Can you fix this mess?” And the good doctor replied: “Yes.” Wanna see the results? Scroll way down…                                                          …

I have done several posts about the mystery of the dining room finish. The room, like most of the rooms in the house, retains its original 1894 faux wood finish. But this is obscured by later finishes. In all the other rooms, the later finishes are shellac, which darkens over time. Luckily, shellac is easily…

When I purchased the Cross House in 2014, it was blessed with newish three-zone central AC, with three “towers”, as I call them. Tower #2 was in the corner of the library. Which meant that the room now had a boxed-in corner. Oh, the horror. So, I relocated the tower into a closet. In the…

                                        It has become quite the trend to paint over “depressing” dark trim in houses. This is tragic as simply removing non-original layers of varnish/shellac can reveal…      

  Well, not really. But, it felt like I did. While yesterday was like 60 degrees in Kansas, today the temperature plummeted into the low thirties. I arrived at the Cross House, opened the door, and smiled. It was warm inside, thanks to the newly reactivated radiator system. The thermostat for the radiator boilers was…

        I am SO not looking forward to recreating all the hand-painted work. Sigh. I am not even certain the new work will match the older work. Pray for the ceiling. Pray.  

            This all reconfirmed my previous experience: the dining room is going to be a problem. In the parlor and library, it was effortless (relatively speaking) to restore the wood in each room. Ditto, so far, with the oak in the stairhall niche. Ditto ditto with the round bedroom mantel….

Yesterday, after a long time being dormant, the radiator system in the 1894 Cross House was, after much ado, reactivated. As my post yesterday detailed, some highly distressing and unexpected results occurred. Oopsy-daisy. Well, you can imagine my great excitement, and fear, at arriving at the house today. Would all be well? Or would I…

Today was the best of days. Today was the worst of days. For, today was the day I have waited years for: getting the radiator system online. At first, it seemed a fortuitous day, being literally 0 degrees. So having more heat was something I would vastly appreciate.   Over the last 123-years, the radiator…