Other Cool Things

My blog was invaded by pixies for several weeks, and people were not receiving new posts. The pixies have now been banished (but not harmed!), and all is well now. I hope! You might have missed: Favorite Houses: 512 Exchange GRAND PLANS…revised. Victoria! MY HERO!

In my current house the backyard is surrounded by an eight-foot-high metal fence. This means that my kitties cannot climb it, so they have a safe haven INSIDE the fence. On occasion though, an unauthorized visitor enters the Cat Zone. Or unauthorized in the plural…        

    My grandfather was quite the character. He was not a good husband. He was not a good father to his one child, my dad. He was not a good employee or businessman. He was however a really fabulous grandfather. Indeed, he was the perfect grandfather. He delighted in his four grandchildren, and to him we…

I have had a lot of fun, no, THRILLS, uncovering layers of history at the Cross House via old wallpaper discoveries. Today, I was reading another blog, and smiled in recognition and delight at somebody else having the same kind of thrill. Enjoy!    

I collect vintage magazines regarding architecture and interior design. I like seeing how houses looked way back when, and not just decor but kitchens and baths and boilers and dumbwaiters and hardware and the whole bit. A particular favorite is Scientific American, Architects & Builders Edition. Each edition, at least the early editions, are only nominally…

WARNING LABEL While this blog is 99% about cool old houses, I also have a section titled Other Cool Things where I reserve the right to discuss other topics. Even scary topics. It is said that one should never discuss politics and religion in polite company. I find this helpful advice, and cannot count the times I…

JC is a very young man. I am old enough to be his father. The very thought freaks me out. FREAKS ME OUT. JC is renovating/restoring a house in Canada. The house is quite simple, so simple that, when JC purchased it, it was difficult to appreciate WHY he would have purchased it. But love…

Today I was looking at the Facebook page of somebody I sorta know. I will call him Tom. Tom posted this image:     Under the image Tom wrote: During the Industrial revolution in the Victorian and early Edwardian era Every city was spewing Coal and Wood smoke into the sky. We burned wood or…

A few weeks ago I received an email. Did I know about the Sternberg Mansion in Wichita, Kansas? Why…no. So I clicked on the Realtor.com listing, and my heart was instantly seized. Before me was a FABULOUS house built in 1886. But, before me was also a house in alarming condition. Thus, the seized heart. I…

Reading the news of late one would think that America is in imminent danger from Muslims and Syrian refugees. DANGER! BE AFRAID! Ahhh…no. You see, politicians love to scare us. And while the world IS a dangerous place, I am wholly unconcerned about Muslims and refugees attacking America. Why? Because, since 9/11: There were 45 deaths…

Once upon a time, in a faraway land called Scotland, in a sprawling, gritty city known as Glasgow, there lived an eccentric and brilliant architect named Alexander Thomson. Today, most people, even those with an interest in architecture, think: Who? When one thinks of Glasgow, Charles Rennie Mackintosh comes to mind, a world-famous architect who…

WAY back in 1979, I watched the very first episode of This Old House. And was mesmerized. I ate up each subsequent episode. When a book came out about that first season, I snapped did up, and devoured it. I was twenty-two. As the years have passed, as the decades passed, I became aware that…

I was born in Detroit, a 1957 model. While my family lived in suburban Detroit, my father’s parents lived in outer Detroit, and my grandfather often took his four grandchildren downtown on the weekends. I wrote about my vivid memories of these adventures, and this was published a few years ago. My family left Michigan for Florida…

Wow. What a year it is going to be, politically. In November, there is a presidential election, and in my lifetime I cannot recall such, well, surrealism. The Republicans started out with sixteen candidates. This keeps getting whittled down. And I continue to gasp at what comes out of the mouths of some of these…

    I am a sucker for an architectural damsel in distress. And this house pushes my every button. It just intoxicates me. Had I not purchased the Cross House I might well have gone after this faded beauty. The house was featured on the fabulous Old House Dreams, where you can learn a lot…

There are a spate of TV shows showing viewers how they can renovate and “update” an old home. Oh the horror. The horror. The result of this televised saturation is that a great many people think nothing about painting gorgeous wood interior trim white, knocking out walls to create “open plans”, discarding original lighting for…