The Cross House

The previous owner of the Cross House stripped the exterior of paint. This was a factor which weighed heavily in my buying the house. As I continue painting the Great North Wall, I find that there is more old paint than I encountered on the Great West Wall. This paint is like old scabs on…

              Mark wrote: “We have to make sure your old finial is structurally sound enough to go back up on the roof. Sometimes these old finials are held together by much more than their last paint job.” I replied that the finial seems quite sound, actually. It has an interior…

        (It is possible that none of the above is true. Perhaps Kelly from Old House Dreams graciously participated in this silliness, and photoshopped my finial on Amy’s house. Amy, and her husband, Doug, have their own blog about their own fabulous old house. The above image does NOT reflect how their…

Yesterday, I did a post about the intergalactic transmitter on top of the Cross House turret. Would you like to se it up close?           My plan was to clean up the transmitter, repair what I can, paint it, and then have it reinstalled. One cannot really see all the issues…

      It is obvious what happened. ALIENS FROM THE PLANET ZOT TOOK IT! Wow! Right, I know! I have long suspected that the finial was, in actuality, an intergalactic transmitter. And I now realize that it must have stopped working (a broken krypton fuse?), so the Zot aliens must have taken it to…

    But, as I now know, there is no evidence that there was ever a porch light at the Cross House. Of course, the previous owner, who did extensive work in the porch attic, could have removed such evidence, but I doubt this. So, it may be that the porch had no lighting. Most…

After MUCH ado, I discovered that I was painting the Cross House wrong. I had been dedicated from day one in ascertaining the original 1894 colors, and recreating this palette. I thought I had. I had not. Sigh. No matter the recent discoveries, I plan to continue with the color palette I started using in…

Amy, and her husband, Doug, are restoring their own fabulous old house, and Amy sent me an email today. She had scored big time on Craigslist.     Even more incredibly, Amy intended to keep the vanity, rather then donate it to the Cross House! Can you believe it? I am quite vexed.*    …

            HOUSE DESIGN 101 In designing a house, architects learn a vital mantra: shed water. Every feature, every detail, should reflect this mantra. This mantra must be made manifest on even the smallest of details. For example, a porch railing. If the bottom rail is flat on top, IT WILL…

    When the Cross House was built in 1894, it, too, had a context. In 1894 radiators were an extraordinary invention, and people would have come into the Cross House and breathlessly asked: “Can I see a radiator?” They would have marveled over these mighty steel creations and stood agape wondering how they could…

  DELICATE SENSIBILITIES ALERT: This post contains naughty words.   ACT I Last week I did a post about the shocking discovery of the original 1894 exterior wall color of the Cross House. Shocking because it was WAY different than the color I have been painting with for two years now. Shocking that I messed…

Tomorrow, I am anticipating in the mail a chip of the original exterior wall color of the Cross House! I will then have this computer matched, and after much ado, will finally know exactly what the color was. I am breathless with anticipation and a tingly excitement! Today, Groh & Sons Roofers told me that they…

So, the roofers are inching away at the Cross House. Last week they tore like five layers of roofing off the top of the octagon tower. I was preoccupied, and not paying attention. And when I did pay attention, it was too late.         So, why am I a ding-dong? Because when…

OK! So, yesterday I did a post about how I was FREAKING OUT about the exterior wall color of the Cross House. I had received scientific confirmation about the original 1894 color. And this matched a Duron color chip: 8194 Capertree. (Duron was taken over by Sherwin-Williams years ago, but SW could match the color.)…

Yesterday, I did a post about the discovery of the original, confirmed exterior wall color of the Cross House. I was SO not happy with the results. SO not happy. Then Brandy commented, and stated that the sample Sherwin-Williams made up for me looked nothing like the color chip she found online. And Brandy was…

Today started out…breathlessly. I woke, and walked to the computer with cereal bowl in hand. The computer was switched on. And there, there, was a response from Frank Welsh. My heart stopped. You see, I did a recent post on trying to ascertain the exact shade of exterior wall color for the Cross House. This…