The diamond pantry windows are now restored. The huge double south kitchen windows are now restored. And the east kitchen window is now restored. Whoee! Next on the window list are the sashes for the servant’s hall!   The sashes were, originally, painted. I think. A kinda nutmeg color….

In my previous post I did a year-end update on the Cross House. This post is a year-end update on me. But why? Well, many readers have expressed interest in knowing the man behind the blog. I understand this, as I grow bored with blogs that endlessly detail a house restoration while never offering a…

2017. Wow. What a year. Wow. All the work regarding the 2015 Kansas Heritage Trust Fund Grant was completed! Then, in February, I was notified that the Cross House had been awarded a second full Heritage grant! As amazed as I was to receive the first grant, I was even more amazed to receive a…

When Bob Rodak owned the Cross House, from 1999 to 2014, he rewired it. Well, that is not really accurate. For, Bob super duper atomic rewired. I mean, if a normal rewiring job would have taken a mile of wire, Bob put in three miles of new wiring. This was because Bob wanted a high-tech old house. He…

        I also discovered something REALLY odd. See the door in the above image? See the black area, lower left? See the black on the adjacent trim? That is…eek…charred wood! GASP! But why would the wood be charred? Yes, I know, because of fire, but why a fire here? And when did…

  Next week, I will make the new wood sill, and paint that inside the heated basement workroom. Then I can install the sill, and the already restored window! Weather be dammed!    

  The sash is restored, and is sitting in the basement. I am hoping to paint the frame tomorrow. If not, I lose the weather for a while. Also, I have to recreate the rotted wood sill. I am SOOOOOOOOOO excited about this small project soon being completed!      

    The wall had problems from Day 1. It had no support under. It just rested on ceiling joists which, quite understandably, sagged over time. In 1929, things were made exponentially worse when the expansive stair opening was shrunk in half so two kitchens could be created.  But these new kitchens, and the new…

For the last six weeks I have been wandering from room to room doing small things. All these small thing appear to have a common theme: Putting the Cross House back together. And this feel really good. Nothing I have done is visually dramatic. There are no stunning Before/After images. But the house, I dunno,…