The Cross House

In 1929 Scout Mouse, Sr. purchased the Cross House and partially converted it into apartments. I do not know if he and his family lived in the house. In 1950, his son, Scott, Jr., turned the house into the Palace Motel:         Today, Lindy Mouse Whetzel, the daughter of the dashing Scott,…

In my previous post, I was, perhaps, not entirely serious. In today’s post I will try to conjure some sober maturity. All my previous posts have focused on the west facade. My 2015 project is to get the north facade painted all pretty. And do repairs. And tuck-point the chimney. Both facades are highly visible, as…

Brothers and sisters of the Ancient Clan of Restoration, a great day is upon us! ‘O let us rejoice! The rumors ’tis be true! It can today be stated that our endeavors have been achieved, allowing us to embark upon our siege of the Castle Cross! And we shall have victory! VICTORY SHALL BE OURS!…

  When the Cross House was built in 1894 it had wall-to-wall carpeting on the first two floors, a great luxury. In such instances, plain pine floors would be laid under, as was done at the Cross House. However, for a very long time the house has had oak flooring. I always assumed this was…

      Thanks Melody!  

    Thanks Melody! And now you got me wondering what a great, rich shade of purple would look like…      

  In my previous post I invited readers to paint my library. Kelly and Melody took up the challenge, and graciously photoshopped Tiffany Blue onto the library walls. Thanks to you both! With the lighter trim color now revealed, I do like Tiffany Blue better than when the trim was all dark. But is it…

In three previous posts (one, two, and three), readers offered suggestions as to what color I should paint the library in the Cross House. I love this input! The room will mostly be bookshelves from floor to ceiling, so the color will be confined, in the main, to the ceiling and around the windows. I…

Last summer I tore off a large section of original shingles on the second-floor exterior wall of the house. This section was punky from a blocked-up drain-spout (since unblocked), and missing roof flashing above (since installed). Thinking that I would replace the shingles with alacrity, I simply tar-papered over the naked section. Then time passed….

Originally, the 1894 Cross House had cheap pine floors on its first and second levels. This was because these floors were covered by the extraordinary luxury of wall-to-wall carpeting (27-inch wide strips hand-sewn together). Later, the pine floors were covered with plain oak floors. Sigh. Had the Cross House NOT had wall-to-wall carpeting in 1894,…

Today, nobody looks at a radiator with abject wonder. Nobody thinks, with an awestruck awareness: Wow! Radiators! They are so cool! So hip! So amazing! No, we think of radiators as being charmingly old-fashioned. But in 1894, when the Cross House was completed, radiators were a revolutionary advance. Since the beginning of time people used…

This blog is not even a year old. And one of the things I really LOVE about having a blog is OPC*. *OPC: Other People’s Comments. Today, I did a post about what-to-paint the 1894 library of the Cross House. I was flaberagasted that within an hour I had numerous comments. THIS IS SO COOL!…

      Mind you, I am SO not a matchy kind of guy. I do not need nor want a PERFECT match between the wall color and the Blue Bits in the stained-glass. But I do want a complement. As such, I am uncertain if Tiffany Blue (lust lust lust) is the right-perfect-ideal-most-fabulous color…

The Cross House has been through a lot. A lot. It was built as a private residence, but was later a tea room, an apartment house, motel, boarding house, and numerous fraternities and sororities. Golly. To accommodate all these changes a lot of kitchens and bathrooms were added. Then removed:     The above image…

I have been pondering paint colors. My house was built in 1894, and we think of Victorian-era houses as being very dark. We assume this because we only have black/white images of the era. If color images existed I suspect we would be shocked at how colorful many Victorian-era homes actually were. We long assumed…

In a previous post, it was discovered (thanks to Travis) that the American Standard toilet in the marble bath of the Cross House dates from 1926. Barb also brought to my attention a contest which American Standard had in 2005 for the Oldest Toilet in America. A 1928 model won.     But my model…

In my previous post on this subject, I had wondered about the age of the American Standard toilet in the marble bath of the 1894 Cross House. I knew it was old, but how old? I wrote: “Is it 1920s? Circa-1910? Or is it the original 1894 toilet?” One of the things that I really…

  In a previous post I detailed how I recreated the original expansive size of the main stair in the Cross House. In order to finish the work I need to order 16 new oak spindles (at $55 each). There is one problem. See the spindles above? See the sphere in the middle of each? See…

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…