The Cross House

The 1894 Cross House had a carriage house/barn on the adjacent south lot. Circa-1920, the structure was sold off, and moved forward on the lot a bit; the north “barn” was severed, rotated, and became the east wing of the renovated structure.                   And this realization got…

    The Cross House. The carriage house. The “barn”. Around 1920s, the double lot was cut in half, and the carriage house/barn sold off. The carriage house was moved a bit forward on the lot, the “barn” was severed, turned 90-degrees, and moved behind the carriage house. Then the whole was rebuilt as a…

          I still have to attach the bits properly, and some judicious caulking will make everything look as it did when new! Squee!!!!!!!!    

WARNING: This is a long and winding post. You might wish to read it when you have some time. And some wine handy.     The poor carriage house. The poor dear. It sits, patiently, while Ross does battle with the Big House. And each year the carriage house…erodes just a tiny bit.   SPRING…

  This corner seems never-ending and I will be SO grateful to relocate!    

After purchasing the Cross House and its carriage house in 2014, both structures received work. With the latter, it mostly involved tearing out obviously non-original alterations. At the time, I was only dimly aware of who architect Charles Squires was, and had been told that he did not design the carriage house. Indeed, I had…

        This corner has seemed endless due to the massive amount of work of, basically, wholly rebuilding it. At first, I simply thought it needed some missing shingles replaced! I should not however have been surprised. Everything under this second-floor level was 100% rebuilt in 2014, and I mean everything: all the…

In 2017, I painted the porch ceiling of the 1894 Cross House. And the color choice was…unexpected.       And this is how things have been since. But…but…Ross wasn’t entirely satisfied. And, as y’all know by now, that can lead to, ah, changes. I loved how unexpected the color was. It was a shock…

I have good news. And more good news! This post offers a two for one! You get to finally meet the Bo mystery light! You get to see — drum roll, please — the painted-at-last stairhall niche! Yes! Can you even believe it!   Last year I began the restoration of the stairhall niche. This…

    Several readers were not happy, thinking that the original finish would never have been so, ah, blond. So, I did a post about the myth that All Old Houses Had Dark Trim. It’s a good post; you might enjoy reading it.               Kenny and I discussed how…

    I painted the walls a greenish taupe, which is close to what the kitchen seems to have been painted originally. The frieze is a lighter color. Between the two, I will reinstate the lost picture rail. The colors are meant to be temporary, which means that I did not obsess over them! If…

    So, by next week I should have the wall painted (a kinda greenish taupe), have the gold picture rail installed in the original location (about 20-inches below the ceiling) and the frieze painted (pale taupe). The trim will all go back. I am debating if I should paint it (it was painted originally…

The other day I posted about a settee which David brought to my attention. The settee was period-correct for the 1894 Cross House, and budget-correct (meaning not too fancy/simple for the Cross House). The settee was also close by, inexpensive (because the seller knew it would need to be reupholstered), and my friend Carl picked…