The Cross House

Arriving at the Cross House on Friday, when it was 0-degrees, the heat setting was 50 but…eek…the inside temperature was 43. Inside the Carriage House the setting was also 50 but the temperature was 42. This is bad. Today, it was also 0-degrees but the Cross house was 50/50. Oh! This is good! Why the…

      The BIG focus this week was getting the water turned back on. I had it turned off two winters ago so I didn’t have to pay for heating an empty house. All the pipes were drained and winterized. I’m now though back working on the interior and having sinks/toilers would be very…

Golly. I thought y’all would be excited about my pondering about a pergola over the entry deck of the Carriage House. But…yeah…golly. The big complaint is this: “pergolas can only be used in a backyard.” I pointed out that this was not true. But the complaints keep rolling in. Thus, I offer:      …

        Today I woke from a nap with a surprising thought: What if, instead of a shingled roof, I installed a pergola? This thought was just sitting in my head, sipping some wine. But what, you may ask, is a pergola?     I will be installing two pergola’s behind the Cross…

The end of 2016 was the darkest of my life. My despair and shock was overwhelming. I absolutely did not understand how to get through 2017. But the year ended up being my best. All due to the Cross House. I ‘enhanced’ the exterior colors and this proved vastly satisfying. I, too, finish the Great…

A year ago I thought: I would finish the Library in early 2023. I would finish the cat fence summer, 2023. I would move into the Cross House at the end of 2023. Oopsie. Only one of these three wishes happened. In late April I was hit with a Violation Order by the city demanding…

Drum roll, please: This is my final post on the Violation Notice work the city imposed upon me. While often tedious tedious tedious I have mostly enjoyed the work and attendant pride and satisfaction in taking something SO battered and making it look 1,000% better. I am even proud that I…who would have believed it…

You will note a new title. This is the first post of what may consume all of 2024: finishing the interior of the Carriage House so I can earn some money off it. At long last. The plan (!) is to do one room at a time, beginning with the foyer. Each blog title will…

    And…drum roll, please…I have made a decision! I have long pondered replacing the upper door (a non-original change made when the Carriage House was converted into 3 apartments) with a window or with shingles. Today it popped into my slow head that I could replace the ugly door with a beveled glass door…

  It was lightly drizzling when I arrived. As soon as I finished painting the trim the drizzle turned into rain. It is now 6 hours later and still raining. I went inside and started the process of cleaning so I can get started on the Next Big Project. Happy holidays to all of you!…

      OK, everybody. 1, 2, 3…SQUEE!!!!!!!! I love the tiny bit of historic colors, a hint of What Will Be. This hint helps me to tolerate the vinyl. The roof work (left) will be done next week. So, I anticipate that the Violation Notice work will be complete in 2023. Over the weekend…