The Cross House

  You might though be thinking: Why three water lines? Of course, normally one has a cold line and a hot line. And that is what is pictured. Except, there is ONE cold line (right, PVC pipe) and TWO hot lines (left, CPVC pipes). The latter is a contiguous loop running from the hot water…

As promised. Scroll way down…                                     The doors were graciously returned to the house by Bob Rodak. They were falling apart though, and Dr. Doug (above, doing a very poor Vanna White) wholly rebuilt them. All the wood…

In 2015, I did a blog post about a titanic battle between Good Ross and Evil Ross. If you have not read the post, I suggest clicking the link above and taking a look. I assure you it will be worth it. In 2016, I did an update. This, too, is well worth it. It…

  On Wednesday, my artist friend Susi will arrive to begin the process of recreating the lost finish. Neither one of us knows what the end result will look like, but we are confident it will look a LOT better than it has for many decades. Stay tuned! And, on Tuesday, something big is gonna…

      As it proved, the entry WAS original to the circa-1921 conversion. But, I much prefer making the room a secret.    

  When I purchased the property in 2014, the cabinet was in a closet, which had previously been an open porch. It was obvious though that the cabinet had originally been elsewhere. But where? My guess is that it had been a part of the circa-1921 conversion of the carriage house. The kitchen was then…

  Is this an original 1894 feature? Or were the boards repurposed during the circa-1921 conversion?       This seems to settle the question. The shellacked boards atop my kitchen joists are likely original. As such, they would be the only original 1894 interior bits I have found in the structure. Stay tuned…  

              Both windows originally looked out under the 1921 porch so they would have received almost no light. And no direct sun. But now, with the porch gone, west sun pours into the basement. I love sunlight.    

      Huh? Huh? Huh? My first thought: The kitchen was originally the ‘barn’ wing of the 1894 carriage house. Are the shellacked boards the original ceiling of the barn, set atop the joists? My second thought: Why though go to the trouble of shellacking the boards to look nice, but not the adjacent…

              The goal is to create a stunning kitchen an a $1.98 budget. Another factor is just is, well, just basic decency. Throwing away the Home Depot cabinets is environmentally irresponsible. Ditto for the old-growth T&G. Can I make cheap cabinets look good? Can I make heavily overpainted wood…

  This is the kitchen of the carriage house. Remember this image. For, it might look really different in about six weeks. After much progress in the basement regarding rewiring, redoing the HVAC, and cleaning, everything just halted. Justin has been unable to work on the house for almost three weeks now. And while I…