The Cross House

                      The man who sold the set said it was his grandmother’s. After her death though no family member had a place for the set. So, it has now moved from Wichita to Emporia to begin a new life.    

I think 592 days have gone by since my last post about the Cross House. Well, maybe not quite that long, but certainly the longest since beginning the blog in 2014. Justin has been working elsewhere for the past few weeks so that, of course, has slowed everything WAY down. And because I am just…

So, y’all know I have been redoing the library. You know, the room I did in 2014. Sigh. The redesign process started when I began to experience a subtle…but nagging…suggestion in my brain: Hey, Ross, wouldn’t it be cool to return the small door to its original location? This would mean removing mounds of books,…

All long-term restoration projects involve…creeping funk. This is when somehow, when you are not looking, every room gets filled with clutter. In one room miscellaneous trim fills a corner, a stack of wood shingles sits in front of the mantel, small boxes rest adjacent, several doors (from where?) rest against another wall. And so on….

So, y’all know I have been making a mess of the library. I am going to take down the 2014 white shelves I installed on the west wall, to the right of the mantel. This will necessitate rounding up trim for the wide pocket doors into the parlor. The trim was removed (I think) circa-1950…

In 2020, I did two posts on what I believe is the vanished stair hall built-in bench. Post I Post II Before reading this new post (and when you have the time), I suggest you get some wine out, and re-read the first two posts. They are rich with information. And, remember, Restoring Ross always…

In 1929, the Cross House was converted into apartments on the second floor, and the new owner (Scott Mouse, Sr.) created a private apartment for his family on the first floor. This suite…I think…consisted of a living room (the former dining room), kitchen, and bedroom (the former library). However, to access the bedroom, a new…

      After the stripping is done, I will sand down the door. Then amber shellac it, as it was originally. Ross excited.    

                          While restoring the south hall was not remotely on my to do list for 2022 it unexpectedly became a project. All renovation projects are like this. The hall became a project due to: Moving the library door back to its near-original location…

The Cross House is blessed with a lot of sunlight. I adore sunlight. But under the main stair was a dark and creepy space. There was just no sunlight. This though is not what the architect intended. This was the result of later changes. And today? Scroll down…              …

  The stair, as drawn, had steps spilling to the north, and with curved corner wall (right). So, the whole lower stair was intended to be an L-shape. However, as built, the whole lower stair was a U-shape with the steps spilling down to the east. And the plastered corner, while framed out as a…

  The 1950s Metz set is now fully in the room. Metz did high-quality furniture and was unusual in hiring a lot of women and paying them equal to men! This was pretty much unheard of at the time. It is still not the standard. FFS. The curtains are hung! I really love them. They…

                                      We debated why the chair is so much taller than its mate. Barb suggested that this was because it is a ‘ladies chair’ and the lack of arms accounted the large dresses of the era. But…