The Cross House

In my recent post about resuming work on the kitchen, I wrote: “The island will also be blue. What shade of blue I do not know. Suggestions?”                    

In March, 2021, I presented my super-duper super-revised kitchen plan. I had planned to move ahead with the kitchen, but my order for the island cabinets kept getting OUT OF STOCK notices. After 6 months I cancelled the order. A year later I noticed that the cabinets were now in stock but the prices had…

A few days ago, Cody asked: “what else does the Cross House need in terms of lighting?” This is my reply.     THE ENTRY HALL. DONE     RECEIVING ROOM. DONE.     PARLOR. DONE.     LIBRARY. DONE.         PEACOCK POWDER ROOM. NEED.       KITCHEN. DONE.    …

    The small amount of work shown between images #1 and #2 represent about two weeks of Baby Step work. If I had Justin doing the work, this all would have taken half a day. And this, this, is the new Slow-Motion Ross manifested, as I detailed in my year end post. What matters…

Susan and Harrison Cross built the Cross House. Their granddaughter, Mary, lived with them. She was nine-years-old when the house was finished. Mary later married, and moved to Seattle. In January, 2024, the great-grandson of Mary, Peter, reached out to me. I was thrilled! But it got better. After moving to Seattle, Mary purchased an…

Note how I put schedule in quotes in the title? Today, in another post, Monika asked: “One thing I always wonder but haven’t really wanted to ask until now: You are renovating/fixing 3 houses… Do you see the end of the tunnel or are you going til you no longer able to do all this…

Well, my fellow flying monkeys, it is time for the annual Ross Review! Overall, it has been a good year. Slow. Steady. But with a catastrophic shock on November 6. Yes, that. The primary shift in 2024 has been the ever-dawning awareness that I am not the Ross I always have been. As I wrote-in…

Last nighted I posted a very long Year End report. Here. This morning I woke to not a single comment. It is now lunch time. And still not a single comment. Have ya’all been kidnapped by aliens?

2023 proved unexpected. And I mean 2023 and not 2024. 2023 began with finishing the library. It turned out great. I mean, really great.  Then, in April, I was hit with a Violation Notice from the city regarding the dilapidated condition of the Carriage House exterior. And there went all my plans for the rest…

            In short: Very little progress this week. But….there was progress. And that is all that matters to me. Baby Steps™ in action.    

Early in the year I was working steadily on the inside of the Carriage House, with the hope (fantasy?) of finishing the interior by the end of the year. But then, in April, I decided to take a hiatus to work on some long-delayed projects causing problem on the Cross House, and the infamous cat…

In August of 2023, I got my blood tested for lead. I learned that 3.5 is normal. Anything above 5 is considered a concern. And mine? 13.4. I abruptly stopped scraping off old lead paint from the Carriage House. A month later I had another test. The number had dropped to 11.6. In December, 2023…

  The scaffolding is gone! Gone! Gone! SQUEE!!!!!!!! Look at the GLEAMING lap-siding on the first floor of the tower! That was months of work this year. There is no sheet covering the big window!!!!!!!!! Thanks to help from Godsend Eric, this is year #10 of the 3-story holiday lighted tree!