The Cross House

  Today, I finished sealing all the windows in the Long Bedroom. Whoee!!!!!!!! The temperature of the room immediately increased. Whoee!!!!!!!! And the room immediately got much quieter. Whoee!!!!!!!! I use peel-away caulk, so the windows could be opened if somebody down the road so desires. Oh, and you cannot see the glorious stained-glass in the above…

  I thought: Calient? Huh? So, I Googled the word. Still huh. Then Google suggested an alternative spelling: Caliente. Ahh! THAT made sense: HOT. And this meant that the radiator pictured was now — drum roll, please — working! WORKING!!!!!!!! And this means that, after much ado and much $$$ and much time, ALL THE RADIATORS IN…

WEDNESDAY: Radiator pipe in parlor is found to be leaking. Water has damaged finished floor. Ross unhappy. WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Around 11PM, Ross has visions of the leaking pipe bursting and destroying the house. Ross struggles NOT to drive back to the house and make sure all is well. A fitful sleep ensues. THURSDAY MORNING: Ross…

Justin and I were in the basement discussing how to reactivate the sole remaining Mouse Palace Motel bathroom in the universe. Then Justin asked: “Is that water?” And the day went to Hell.   Justin pointed to a corner of the basement under the parlor. And there was, indeed, a small pool of water in…

  The three windows had air blowing in through and around them. While this is bad, the issue was compounded by the fact that the house sagged at this particular area, meaning that the upper and lower sashes did not align in the middle, meaning that the lock sets did not close. We removed the…

                                                      When I finished the above corner, I was struck with a thought: the walls, for the first time, were now, well, worthy of the room. The vine, somehow,…

Last spring, when finally decorating the parlor of the 1894 Cross House, a lot of readers came to the conclusion that I had no taste. Some came around when the parlor was finished. “I love it!” I am uncertain if everybody came around. During the ensuing months and months, I developed an uneasy awareness that…

      Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! And a great big: WHEW!  

Fifteen days ago I did a post about the radiator system being turned back after years of disuse. And all went kinda sorta maybe well…save the parlor ceiling being damaged by a leaking radiator connection. Yes, poo.                 I am crossing my fingers that in a few days…

      I then contacted Dr. Doug: “Can you fix this mess?” And the good doctor replied: “Yes.” Wanna see the results? Scroll way down…                                                          …

I have done several posts about the mystery of the dining room finish. The room, like most of the rooms in the house, retains its original 1894 faux wood finish. But this is obscured by later finishes. In all the other rooms, the later finishes are shellac, which darkens over time. Luckily, shellac is easily…

When I purchased the Cross House in 2014, it was blessed with newish three-zone central AC, with three “towers”, as I call them. Tower #2 was in the corner of the library. Which meant that the room now had a boxed-in corner. Oh, the horror. So, I relocated the tower into a closet. In the…

                                        It has become quite the trend to paint over “depressing” dark trim in houses. This is tragic as simply removing non-original layers of varnish/shellac can reveal…      

  Well, not really. But, it felt like I did. While yesterday was like 60 degrees in Kansas, today the temperature plummeted into the low thirties. I arrived at the Cross House, opened the door, and smiled. It was warm inside, thanks to the newly reactivated radiator system. The thermostat for the radiator boilers was…