The Cross House

    The ceiling looked fine. But, in pulling off the dangly bits, I could see that it had been repaired many times previously, and the whole covered with a thick sorta wallpaper. It looks like all the plaster will need to get removed, or reattached to the lath. I had not anticipated this.  …

                The drapes look terrible with the sofa, which doesn’t matter as the sofa will likely get moved to the Carriage House. And, yes, I need to steam the drapes. The drapes for the center window are being hemmed as they need to clear the radiator. I got…

So, y’all know this by now: If Ross does not get something right out of the gate, he will ponder ponder ponder, and fuss fuss fuss, until brilliance is acheived.       So, Ross pondered and pondered and pondered and realized two things: 1): The drapes need to hang higher. 2): There needs to…

          I am soooooooooooo thrilled that I managed to find all these very simple, period-correct gas/electric fixtures, and an entire set of matching Holophane shades (kinda a miracle, really). The great magician, JR of Oregon, fully rewired the fixtures, converting all the gas jets to electric. He is the hero of…

The human brain is fascinating. It works even when we are asleep. As such, on occasion, when we first wake we might have a brilliant solution to a vexing problem, a warning, a new approach, and so on. I call these an EMA, or Early Morning Awareness. They tend to only work upon first reaching…

    Next will be to finish off the column base I replaced a few weeks ago, and then to refinish the outer double entry doors. Dr. Doug refinished them in 2014, but the finish failed a while back. They have been flaking for years. I am going to sand them down, and then use…

                Even though I now have access to the inner parts of The Problem, I still cannot see any obvious leak. This is quite vexing! So, on Friday, Godsend Eric is gonna help answer this question by standing on the porch roof and pouring water on the roof…

I’ve posted about the water issue inside the main beam holding up the west porch. Somehow, water is getting in, draining down through a hollow wood column (rotting away its base) and now damaging a second column. This. Is. Bad. I have been on the hunt for how water is getting in. And to this…

        The rot to the columns (even more to the left) could NOT be from water traveling from the right side. This further confirms my belief that THAT issue is from a second leak…       The water damage to the right is, as far as I can tell, old damage….

  I think when people restore a house, a priority job should be to make sure the entry looks as good as possible. I think it is a feng shui kinda thing. However, as time has aged me it also aged the doors. The western sun beats the doors and the finish began to fail…

In February, I posted about have some friends over to dine at the Cross House. You might enjoy rereading the post. It is a lovely read, and offers background. We all met again at Dr. Doug’s house in May. And again last Tuesday at the Cross House.           Louis and Phyllis…

After the 2016 election I fell into a dangerously dark depression. The worst ever. Somehow though, magically, this lifted around mid-December but all I could think of was: How the fuck am I gonna get through 2017????????? A year later I realized that 2017 had proved the best of my life. It proved deeply satisfying…

Do you have a glass wine in hand? While sipping, please first re-read this post. Then return to this page and  scroll down. And be prepared to SQUEE!                                                      …