In short, Kyle offered to reupholster the settee. It is now in the entry hall, in front of the staircase. I think I will keep it there. For the last two years though, upholstering the settee has been a LPI (low priority item). But…of late…I moved this to…

  But…there is a problem. Most of the mantels in the Cross House had a pair of sconces to each side. Very close. Too close. Meaning, that the sconces had to be swivel sconces so they did not bash into the overmantels, particularly so when the mantel is on an angled wall. And, you know,…

  The mantel is a catalog piece. It was not particularly expensive in its day. The wood had a tinted shellac finish originally, making the wood look better than it was. In time, a roof leak developed, and for many decades a steady drip drip drip fell upon the left side of the mantel, eroding…

    It is odd. Even though the “after” image still looks scary, the room feels less damaged. And it looks less damaged. Yes, the plaster is missing but this area no longer looks…brutalized. And this makes me smile. For a little something, somewhere, is a tad bit better.    

  See the lower red chimney? See the upper red chimney? But you cannot see the middle red chimney as it is covered in four layers of thick plastic, and a blue heating blanket, all carefully taped to the house to keep the newly done pointing (new mortar) of the middle chimney from freezing. The…

I have been restoring houses for four decades. During these years, I have always infilled missing plaster with sheetrock. In the Cross House, I covered over the highly damaged plaster ceiling in the house with sheetrock. Then, I discovered something extraordinary. Something I had never heard or read about in all my decades of working…

So, I am gonna ask y’all for your help. Close your eyes, cross your fingers, and say: Ross is gonna move into the Cross House in 2021! Ross is gonna move into the Cross House in 2021! Ross is gonna move into the Cross House in 2021! For, I need all the powers of the…

          Of addition note: Y’all will recall how much work I did in the corner regarding the built-in gutter. Since doing all that work we have had almost no rain. But…on Tuesday it rained and rained and rained so when I arrived at the house I ran up and onto the…

In 2014, not long after I purchased the Cross House, I discovered that a stained-glass window had gone missing. I was shocked, as all the stained-glass seemed intact (although in perilous condition). I detailed the missing window in this post, and knew that I would eventually recreate the lost window and return it to its…