The Cross House

Yesterday, I arrived at the Cross House. The temperature was in the 20s. It was windy. I prayed the boilers were working, as I had not been at the house the day before. Unlocking the front door, I stepped inside. The boilers were clearly off. Oh dear. Although the house did not seem cold. Quickly,…

In 2013, I began a major renovation of the house I’ve lived in since 1996. I began to transform one bedroom into a huge en-suite spa-style bathroom. The old 1-car garage into another huge spa-style en-suite bathroom, and with vaulted ceilings. And a total redo of the kitchen. While all this was underway, in early…

In a time far, far away time, a time before life-as-we-know-it collapsed, I purchased a lovely bedroom set for the Octagon Bedroom suite. This was in January, which feels 594 years ago.       There was a lot of discussion about getting a mattress for the bed, as vintage beds are normally an odd…

    FUCK! I am soooooooooooooo sick of shingling. I have been putting off this very minor amount of work for days because I got nauseous just thinking about cutting more shingles. Today, I procrastinated yet again, finally arriving at the house at 5PM. Getting out of the car, I felt my energy deflate. By…

Last night, late, we had a windstorm! With winds up to 45MPH! I kept running outside to check out the cat fence where I live. Was it still standing? It was! Then I began to worry about the wood scaffolding at the Cross House. HOW could it and the tarp survive all this?    …

Yesterday, I arrived at the Cross House and a package was sitting on the front porch. Curious, as I do not use the house as a mailing address. Taking the package inside, I opened did, and revealed something gorgeous:     A note was included, and John was gifting me the book. John lives here:…

                                      I am thrilled this vital work is completed. I have spent four years thinking about it and planning it. Will all my cunning work? A big storm will let us know. Pray.    

In 2017, I did a post about the tragic discovery that I was missing 21 Yale & Towne Austerlitz sash pulls. Oh, the horror. The horror. Recently though, the ever-intrepid Cody contacted me with a Red Alert! He had found something. Scroll down…                          …

In January and February of this year, my sales were way up from the same time period in 2019. The first two weeks of March were also way up. Then, in the middle of March, the country shut down because of Covid-45. And my sales tanked. As April unfolded I was terrified. TERRIFIED. Sales were…

I have not posted in a bit although work continues on the Cross House almost daily. The last week has been focused on repairing roof tiles, and reworking the built-in gutter in the SE corner. All this should be done this weekend. I hope. The work is not very photogenic. This interlude is not part…

  The cementitious roof tiles were, I believe, installed circa-1930. They are, mostly, in good condition and will last till the end of time. However, along this valley I discovered numerous cracked tiles, no doubt caused by being walked on. This is bad. A quick fix is to insert some metal under the cracked tiles…

    Wow. It really IS better! I also replaced the horrid strapping with an L-bracket on the bottom. Better, too! You know, downspouts are vital. Gutters as well. MOST of the exterior damage to the Cross House was caused by a lack of downspouts, and gutters not being properly maintained. Sigh though, because with…

    I cannot just do a straight vertical spout with an elbow on the bottom because the elbow would be at a 90-degree angle to the gutter, meaning that it would pour water at the roof rather than straight into the gutter. So, I need one elbow to move the spout over to the…

    Sigh. This is the first time I have done sloppy work on the house. But, there is just no time to repair this small area right now as several Heritage Grant line items are pressing. So, I have purchased myself some time. This small area is actually better. It is just not right….

  Sigh. More shingling. Well, there is just no time for this. The last 3 line items on the 2017 Heritage Grant need to be finished by the end of the year, and this bit of work is not part of the grant. So, even though I’m right in the corner already, and even though…

With the second-floor south finally finished… …what next? With the wood scaffolding in place at the SW corner, I am going to rework the built-in gutter which caused massive damage over many decades. I hope my plans FIX the issues. Pray. Repointing the north chimney is a line item on the 2017 Heritage Grant. The…

                                                      Well, you know what this means, don’t you? THE SECOND-FLOOR SOUTH IS COMPLETE! Squee!!!!!!!! Squee!!!!!!!! Squee!!!!!!!! Squee!!!!!!!! Squee!!!!!!!! I cannot believe it. I am in shock. I have…

I have previously written about Harold, and his late wife, Wilma, two of my favorite-ever people. Harold has now visited the Cross House twice, and on his last visit he came as Santa Claus.     Then, last week, my iPhone rang while I was up on scaffolding painting. I did not recognize the number,…