THE GOOD NEWS The living room of the Cross House is — it seems hard to believe — sorta kinda somewhat ready to decorate. Not this minute, mind you, but (crossing my fingers) in April. Golly. I have been so preoccupied with structural, electrical, restoration, and other non-decor issues that the idea of being able to, at…

I do not think I have ever seen Justin quite so excited. You see, Justin has been doing a lot of work on the Cross House. He is the Main Guy, and the one who has been lifting sagging parts of the house, demolishing non-original parts of the house (or rotted), building new sections of…

With all the west-facing columns now returned to the front porch for the first time in many decades, the next Great Porch Adventure can begin! Railings!                 To my utter astonishment, and considerable delight, the moldering railings proved to be almost all there, and all were restorable. Dr….

Golly. I started work on the Cross House a year ago today. And what a year it has been. I first saw the house in 1999, when Debbi and Bob Rodak had an open house shorty after they moved in. I was awestruck and mesmerized by the huge structure (almost 9,000 square feet on four…

This is my fifth post on re-roofing the Cross House. Nowadays, we are all concerned about energy efficiency. The most efficient roof on the Cross House would be white, which will reflect the sun. Of course white would be a terrible color choice, aesthetically. But an excellent choice, in term of efficiency. Oh, I am…

        Note the second-floor of the round tower. Look, TWO restored windows now back in place! TWO! And things of great beauty they be (particularly when you consider what they used to look like). Note the third-floor of the round tower. Look, THREE restored windows now back in place! THREE! Whoee!!!!!!! It…

In Part 2 of the roofing adventure, Marilyn commented: “If you are using Tamco shingles, their website allows you to upload a picture of your house and then “apply” different shingles.” Really? Cool!!!!!! Thanks Marilyn! So, off to Tamco.com I went! It was pretty easy. The modeling tool however is not very sophisticated so I could…

The Cross House was built in 1894, and with gas/electric lighting. At some point however ALL the original lighting was removed from the house. I am waiting for a time-travel app on my iPhone so I can go back in time and slap the person who made this decision. Even though I restore vintage lighting…

For all the the Cross House has been through (private residence, sanitarium, tea room, fraternities, sororities, apartments, motel, boarding house) it is amazingly, astonishingly intact. Save some bits. Like all the original lighting is long gone. BIG sigh. There are also about four interior doors which are Gone Door. Sigh. I have looked through countless…

2015 is the year that the Cross House gets new shingles, and the built-in gutters get relined. This is good as the roofs and built-in gutters are scary:     After MUCH debate, I have settled on asphalt shingles. Quite pedestrian, yes, but I have no desire to return to the original wood shingles “dipped…

      Since buying the Cross House a year ago, I have been…appreciative of the tile floors. I did not love or adore or treasure them. It seemed cool that they were original, and I certainly intended to respect them and do what I could to fill in missing sections. But during this week…

                A week ago I had no idea, none, that the 120-year-old porcelain geometric flooring in the Cross House, supplied by the American Encaustic Tiling Company, could be properly restored, and missing tiles recreated. No idea. My elation is considerable regarding this new-found knowledge. My anticipation is great…

FLASH UPDATE! In Part 1 of my Big Learning Curve, I discovered that it might actually be possible to fully restore the 1894 bathroom floor of the Cross House.     I just got off the phone with Bryan at Olde English Tiles in Arkansas, and with incredible news. The company can match my existing tiles!…

When the Cross House was built in 1894, it featured tile floors in three vestibules, two bathrooms, and also tiles around eight fireplaces. The previous owner of the house, Bob Rodak, found an invoice from the American Encaustic Tiling Company (AETCO). This was a way cool discovery. Amazingly, all this tile is still there in…