The Cross House

Today, Cary Grant arrived at the Cross House. Previously, I alluded to his visit, and am thrilled that Mr. Grant has now stepped over the threshold! OK, so, ah, maybe it’s not really Cary Grant. Maybe…it…is…Bo! Yes! Bo Sullivan has traveled half-way across the country to document the 1894 wallpapers in the house, no matter…

    I have often stated that I have no desire to live with a period-correct decor. Rather, I want the decor of the house to reflect 123-years of design and history. So, this memorial piece to David Bowie, hanging in a house built in 1894, pleases me greatly. I suspect Mr. Bowie would have…

    The ceiling stencils will soon be here! And the picture rail is now on site! I have to order the metallic powders for the stencils (pearl, gold, and copper) and am hoping to accomplish that this weekend! So…soooooooooon….there will be loveliness in the parlor! I am breathless with anticipation and excitement! (And, did…

Three years ago, as of yesterday, I took possession of the 1894 Cross House. The house was terrifyingly huge. H U G E. The house was, too, in terrifying condition. Y I K E S. So, why in the world did I do something so insane? Well…ummm…ahhh….love. Love, baby. I was in love. And three…

In 1894, almost every room in the Cross House had picture rail. Curiously, all this trim was later removed but ghost outlines thankfully remain. Without the rail, the rooms look, to me, unbalanced. The tall walls just visually morph into the ceilings. The tall windows and their trim are visually unconnected to each other. Recently,…

  This mysterious door, it be told, was, in a faraway time long long ago, where an Ice Man would show up in the wee morning hours and deposit huge blocks of ice. All this would be done without waking the Cross family or staff from their deep, dreamy slumbers. Many years would pass before a…

I wrote the following about the Cross House in my very first post in August, 2014: And, most disturbing and altogether terrifying, the house needed a ton of work. However, a-ton-of-work can in no way truly convey the reality of just how much work was required. The projected expense and time required to even make the house…

This morning Chris emailed me to let me know it was National Tile Day! And thank goodness for I otherwise would have had no idea! Chris also wanted to know if I could could do an update on the tile in the Cross House. You know, for National Tile Day. OK! In February, 2015, I…

I hear a lot of things about the Cross House which are not true. Visitors to the house tell me that the dark, detailed wainscoting on much of the first floor is hand-tooled leather. I explain that it is Lincrustra, basically sawdust and glue. Vistors insist that it is hand-tooled leather and look at me as…

  There are two pillows on the sofa. Brown pillows. Brown! Ugh! I have long planned to recover them but have not as yet found the perfect fabric. After Krystal reduced the length of the drapery panels for the library and parlor last week I was left with a lot of extra fabric. Oh! What…

A DISCOVERY! In the 1960s it seems that the Toms family, which owned the Cross House from 1950 to 1992, added an exterior door to the original Dining Room so they could have a private entrance (as the house was being used at times as a motel, boarding house, fraternity, and sorority). The doorway was…

    Ms. Davis let me know that she would like to stay incognito during her visit (“fans can be SUCH a bother!”) so she asked me to call her Krystal. And, what Ms. Davis wants Ms. Davis gets! After arriving, I gave “Krystal” a quick tour and then we went to lunch at Radius where…

      I chose the stencil for numerous reasons: What I REALLY like about the stencil is the fact that I can do an asymmetrical pattern. This will be a ton easier, will prevent the pattern from awkwardly bashing into the mantel or trim (because I can place the pattern wherever it looks best), and I…

        I think I should be able to get all this painted this week, and boy what a difference that will make! AND, the diamond-paned pantry windows will reappear!!!!!!!! So, stay tuned to this channel!    

OK. Something VERY interesting and VERY weird is soon to happen at the Cross House. There are two people I have never met, two people who also do not know each other, who contacted me and said they wanted to travel across vast distances to visit the Cross House.   Ms. Davis The first person,…

Previously, I have written about my hunt for little chairs on little wheels. Pretty much every such chair I find pre-dates the 1894 Cross House. While the house may well have been originally furnished with pieces already owned by Susan and Harrison Cross I am inclined to think that because the house was architecturally sophisticated…

The 1894 Cross House originally had a dumbwaiter serving the kitchen and laundry room in the basement. This fabulous feature was removed, I think, in 1929 when the house was converted into apartments. The change allowed a new hall, so a person to go directly from the kitchen to the family entrance on the south…