What a thrilling day! I am uncertain how the great adventure started, but Justin (the main contractor working on the Cross House) and I were walking through the house, going over various issues, when our discussion unexpectedly veered toward sleuthing. Don’t ya’ love it when that happens?   THE GREAT DINING ROOM DOOR MYSTERY For…

          For two years I have been pondering how to make my beautiful pockets doors effortlessly open/close. Every time I tried, I would give up, frustrated. HOW was I ever going to get the doors right???????? Then Stephen, God love ’em, saved the day. For two years I worried that the…

Whew. Saved! At least I hope! I sent my previous post on the subject to Stephen, who has an amazing website. His tagline: Practicing the lost art of maintenance and repair of pocket doors. Ahhh, THE man! Stephen replied to me today. I was THRILLED. He began: “Kudos to your blessed neurosis concerning the restoration of your…

The Cross House has three pairs of pocket doors: Between the foyer and parlor Between the parlor and library Between the stairhall and dining room There is also a single very wide door (like five-feet wide) upstairs between the main bedroom and sewing room. Only the dining room pair works well. All the others open/close,…

In a previous post, Sharon commented, and graciously forwarded a link to online plumbing catalogs. Well, I have been astounded looking through these treasures! Thank you, Sharon!!!!!!! Then I realized that if I was having so much fun, so might you! So I decided to kinda transfer Sharon’s comment into this post. Sharon wrote: Ross,…

        Yesterday, it never occurred to me that the missing pantry faucets were likely of the gooseneck type. And of course this makes sense with the small, shallow sink. Thank you, magical Bo! Now, I am on the hunt for vintage gooseneck faucets!    

  Below are a bunch of single taps. All are from Bathroom Machineries. But are any period-correct to the Cross House? Oh, the vexation! The vexation!                 Who knew that simply trying to buy faucets could be so vexing? It belatedly occurs to me me that there might,…

Recently, I did a post about removing the old alligatored finish on the pair of beveled-glass inner entry doors of the Cross House. Under all the old, dark shellacked finish was a gorgeous and much lighter finish. Experience has shown me that the revealed finish was likely the original finish. Today, I surprised myself with a…

    There are many stories like these. Too many. It is for this reason that I do not allow a heat gun to be used on the Cross House. Never. Ever. EVER. And everybody working on the house knows this, too. It is the #1 RULE. Break it and you are fired. Sooooo fired!…