Is the Cross House the biggest Victorian-Era house ever built on such a small piece of land? I have often pondered the question. I mean, the size of the yard is absurdly small. The front yard is TINY. To the south? The driveway takes up all this. East? This is small, and currently parking. North?…

    Tomorrow, I plan to — hallelujah — remove the last of the scaffolding!!!!!!!! Then I need to paint the window sills, and finish the scrollwork!    

    TO DATE: Wide gable over porch steps recolored. Thanks, Eric! Porch ceiling painted coral. Thanks, Patricia! Column capitals painted the newly introduced color #5. Thanks, Zac! Most of the column bases painted color #5. Thanks, Zac! Pair column shafts above steps painted in high-gloss clear polyurethane. Thanks, well, me! Garland swags on upper…

  Yesterday, I arrived at the Cross House. My mind was full of thoughts and I was thinking of the pressing things I needed to finish before the day ended I was not thinking about the porch ceiling. After getting out of my car, and walking towards the house, I looked up. And stopped in…

  I learned about this two years ago and was fascinated. Pink? Pink???????? But I never really thought about pink porch ceilings for the Cross House. I mean…pink? A few days ago however, my friend Patricia called and said she had a sudden insight. “I think you should do your porch ceiling in a kind…

    This idea was a stroke of friggin’ genius! I love love love the results! I was uneasy with the green columns. So I painted two gold. Oops. That was so not the solution. But without the gold effort I would never have thought of the gloss idea. The change is subtle, and more…

Are you sitting down? Is your seatbelt fastened? OK! I asked Zac to photo-shop several color ideas for me. This all seemed perfectly reasonable. Perfectly reasonable. Until I got the results. Are you sitting down? Is your seatbelt fastened? OK! Now, scroll way down…                      …

Years ago I watched a documentary on Dr. Seuss. One part, in particular, fascinated me. Seuss labored over every word he wrote. He could spend a week on a single sentence. He could agonize over a comma. He would put in a word, ponder it for hours, and then remove it. He would stare and…

Originally, the porch ceilings of the Cross House were a very pale olive. Very pale. Because I accidentally did not recreate the original colors of the house, my noble intentions notwithstanding, I feel a certain freedom concerning color choices for the four porch ceilings. Although I cannot explain why, I yearn for something…unexpected. Even kinda…

  He changed the color of the columns. And it’s all Zac’s fault. Bad Ross. Bad Zac. Obviously a dangerous combination.     IT ALL BEGAN… Last week Zac introduced himself and astonished me with a gift of incredible photo-shopped images where he “repainted” the Cross House. This initiated a down-the-rabbit-hole kinda adventure, and my…

Today is a day I have long awaited. For over three long years. During all this time I have been patient. Waiting. Just waiting. For the time. The time for beauty to emerge. (Really, I should get some sort of patience award.) Well, wanna see what I did today? Scroll way down…      …

  The more and more I get the exterior painted, the more and more I realize that I have been playing it too safe. I have been SO concerned about not having the house look like a painted lady that I have been…too conservative. In studying the 1895 image of the house I belatedly realized…

            It develops that Zac lives only an hour away! So, I invited him for a grand tour of the Cross House and it will be an honor to meet him! Thanks, Zac!!!!!!!!    

Today, I received an email from ZD (slightly modified for clarity): I’ve just recently come across this site and I’ve been binge reading it. Great stuff Ross! I did want to comment on the subject of the exterior colors. I think your scheme looks fantastic. However, as you mention, it’s just missing something. I can tell…

I wonder what color #5 was? That is, if there ever was a color #5. But now I will likely never know.     For three-and-a-half-years, I have poured over the above image, working to glean details from its embodied historic moment in time. It was my great intention to recreate the original colors of…

      On the front of the house, I restored the double set of entry doors by using denatured alcohol. The process was more tedious than difficult, and the old shellac had come off easily. To my surprise though, and distress, denatured alcohol had no effect on the ancient cracked dark finish on the…

    Not everybody is happy though. Ross is not 100% about the eye being all green, and he is pondering options. Others think the “garland band” around the tower should be solid green. I, too, thought this would look good until Alex sent in a Photo-shop rendering…     A solid green band made…