The Cross House

        This column, to me, was the poster child symbolizing the decay of the Cross House. For five years it taunted me. Each time I would gaze at it, I would feel a stab of pain. With every passing year I would grow ever more worried: Would I ever be able to…

  Do you see what I see? Why is all the trim in the room so dark (which happens when shellac ages) but not the door? The faux bois finish on the door appears near original, and was clearly not repeatedly re-coated with later layers of shellac like all the surrounding trim. I thought I…

In 2018, I did two posts about about Phyllis and Louis, here and here. The second post was titled Part 1. And, at long last, I now present part 2! As I wrote in the first post: Phyllis and Louis were last in the house in the 1970s, when they first rented the Octagon Bedroom,…

      The search, which I expected would be long and torturous, ended up taking but minutes. My first stop was Rejuvenation. A few clicks on the keyboard, and—zounds!—there they were. A few more clicks and four were mine. Would that everything be so easy.  

            Well, you know what I have to do tomorrow. I have to up my alien abduction insurance.    

I’ve never asked y’all this before: What fabric should I use?       Kyle recommended Fabric Guru. “I get lost on this site for hours and end up buying stuff that I have no immediate need for!” I scrolled through the site and became quickly overwhelmed! Right away, I ignored all the “grandma” fabrics….

I began painting the exterior of the Cross House in 2014, shortly after buying it. This had soooooooooooo not been my intention but I could not find a painter willing to take the job. So, I thought: Well, I’ll just begin and will soon find a painter. That day never happened. It is just as…

      Kyle is a gastroenterologist with a hematology subspecialty. Hasan is a computer scientist. Golly. While Kyle is the Cross House fan, and has read all the blog posts, Innes and Hasan also seemed to enjoy the tour. I noted that Kyle took a particular interest in the stained glass, and it was revealed…

      However…I have no intention of installing the doors. Mostly because they will then cover the gorgeous solid wood doors. Oh, the horror! In an age before air-conditioning, comfort would have overruled aesthetics but, with the house now being fully air-conditioned, this is now a moot point. So, why am I having the…

      I have been searching for vintage wood guards for years but have never come across a matched set of four. Then, a year ago, I noticed that the Cross House had wood corner guards! And they look nothing like what I was used to. So, I removed a guard from the Round…

      I have no idea why the right door is darker. It was not like that in 2014. At some point, a few years from now, I will bring the doors back down to bare wood, and bleach the right door. Or something. Then refinish again. In a few years. It’s nice how…

NOTE: This is my longest ever post. Make sure you have some time. And a glass of wine. And, this post will be much better on a computer rather than a smart phone. NOTE: The images may take a while to download.   2014 From my very first blog post: One thought pushed me over…

Y’all have been asking: “Why has Ross stopped posting?” Well, my last post was on the 10th, so that means this is day 7 of no posts, the longest since I began this blog in 2014. Linda asked: O.k…, I am going to start checking area hospitals…and if you aren’t there, I am checking myself…

          There are just three more battered original columns to restore!      

    There are two such windows. One was restored last year, but this matching window has taken forever. But, it now has new glass, the glazing is done, as is the priming and painting. Next, will be the laborious and careful scraping required to created laser-sharp edges where paint meets glass. This is easy…

        I also still need to get the column straight. It leans to the right. And I’m, ahh, really unhappy with a right lean.  

  The original columns look TERRIBLE. There are black from age, and the capitals look totally corroded. The pristine new columns offer a stark contrast. A scary contrast. Yet, through the wonder of elbow grease…