The Cross House

          The parlor stained-glass is the last to be restored, and all enabled by two Heritage Trust Fund grants. This work has entailed 42 windows. Amazing. When I purchased the house, the stained-glass was in…disturbing condition.           All this work has taken five years. And I’m damn…

  Like everything with the south facade, the top of the tower looked fine from ground level. I thought: A light sanding, primer, and paint! Easy-peasy! Oops.         Even the two arched window sashes, which were restored a few years ago, needed attention. I partially reglazed one, and repainted all four sashes…

      The wood will receive an oil-based primer, and two coats of oil-base glossy black. The gloss really makes the sashes pop.    

…I have a tiny bit of good news! So, y’all remember about the new Pete portrait in the 1894 parlor? But the hanging cord thingy looked, umm, undersized. It is the fourth one in the room, and I have never been happy with them. Too skimpy. I have been searching for beefier versions and at…

In 2016, I was painting the parlor of the 1894 Cross House. Hillary Clinton had been nominated for president by The Democratic Party. And at one point, as my hand was up in the air painting the ceiling, a thought struck me: When this room was was built women didn’t even have the right to…

      This is NOT the ideal solution, which would be to remove the entire double frame and replace the sill, as was done with two windows in the SE corner. But there is no time to do this right now, so the metal sill will protect the house and buy me a few…

Last month, I did a post about perhaps, maybe, rethinking my kitchen plan. Perhaps. Maybe. What is driving this nagging pondering is this image:     My pondering involves these thoughts: How cool would it be to have an actual 1890s kitchen sink? How cool would it be to do something really unexpected in the…

      So, what is the taupe? It does not seem to be a paint layer. It is really thin, more akin to a stain. I am going to ask Frank about this mystery color. What is it? Is it some kind of sealer for the plaster?    

In January, 1894, shortly before Susan and Harrison Cross moved into their new home, along with their granddaughter, Mary, a reporter from the Emporia Gazette wrote a detailed article. A curious aspect of the article is that nothing about the decoration was mentioned. Nothing. There is no mention of colors, wallpapers, drapery, furniture, lighting, or…

Recently, I did a post about trying to ascertain the original colors of the 1894 Cross House kitchen, whereby I sent samples to Frank Welsh, who I have previously worked with. Today, Frank sent me the results!     So, the wood trim in the kitchen simply had an orange shellac finish. The plaster was…

                  While it all looks GREAT, the sun will cook everything and in a few years everything will not look great. This is NOT how to restore. This is only how to buy some time. Down the road I will have the entire window removed and rebuilt…

  Previously, I posted about discovering small, round, numbered brass tacks along side the window frames. These would have been matched by tacks on each screen/storm window. So, the latter could be removed, stored, and then put back in the right place. I love this kinda stuff. As I finish restoring each window, I gleefully…

  The stuff is like molasses. It is thick and you brush it on. It will seal SMALL leaks and SMALL holes. If you have a large holes or cracks, these first need some metal riveted on, and then you can brush on the molasses. I have no idea of how long the stuff lasts….