Dismantling Aladdin’s Cave
In the vast basement of the Cross House, under the library, is the now-famous Aladdin’s Cave.
The cave was stuffed with trim and windows and odd bits from the house which had fallen off over the decades or been removed. Since buying the house I have been steadily emptying the shelves in the cave as bits and pieces are returned to their former places.
However, the time has now come to…ekk…dismantle the magical cave of wonders.
I know. I know!
A huge shelving unit sat in the middle of the room. When I purchased the house it was stuffed. But, I realized that I could now condense everything remaining to much smaller shelving and dismantle the titanic shelving.
Which I did. Creating quite the mess to clean up this weekend.
In the process I found lots of treasures. Like all the trim to the huge kitchen window! Whoee!!!!!!!!
There was also a lot of these pieces of trim which….
…go here. Whoee!!!!!!!! I also found all the trim for one of the windows in the former housekeeper’s room. Whoee!!!!!!!!
A particularly thrilling discovery involved the only remaining Mouse Palace Motel bathroom remaining in the entire galaxy. This is in the basement and I plan to fully restore the bath, including its lost pink tile. It’s in very poor condition but intact. Save the missing towel bar above the toilet. Drat! Drat! You can see one of the towel bar holders directly above the left side of the toilet.
See?
But look what I found! Whoee!!!!!!!!
And over to the right was two old holes.
But look what I found! Whoee!!!!!!!!
Now I just need a chrome bar!
I appreciate the absurdity of getting SO excited about two basically worthless 1950s towel bar arms but, well, I was delighted beyond measure.
Because one day, one day, fluffy pink towels will hang, once again, in the only remaining Mouse Palace Motel bathroom remaining in the entire galaxy. A day I am living for!
13 Comments
Leave a Reply Cancel Reply
Your email address will NEVER be made public or shared, and you may use a screen name if you wish.
That is pretty cool. I really like your idea of restoring the 1950s bathroom in the basement. It’s a great way of telling the history of the house, without disrupting the restored original main floors.
It shouldn’t be hard to find the correct towel bar hardware. I have some similar ones lying around our new house from haphazard remodels over the years. I think mine are square bars, but the same style. You might also have luck at a salvage shop like a Habitat for Humanity ReStore or similar. That’s the kind of thing that gets taken out of homes on a daily basis, sadly.
And don’t forget you will also have a pink flamingo for that period correct bathroom, courtesy of the crazy flamingo lady from Iowa, Lol! I just have to find the perfect one. 🙂
Perfect. So glad a piece of “Mouse House” history will be preserved bc that is what my grandmother (my dad’s side, not my maternal great grandmother who lived in the original Cross House) referred to the house as. She has touched so many lives in her years, no matter how many names people gave her. I often think about the people who lived there when she was an apartment building, and a fraternity and a motel. Looking back at what they did constructually (is that a word?) from the stairway hall to the fire escape, etc. I am appalled. But, sometimes I try to imagine how those people living there must have felt. I’m sure they were grateful to have a warm place to call home. And I truly believe that as horrible as some of these designs were, they also allowed the owners a way to keep her from a tradgic demise. I am behind you 100% on bringing her back to original glory but I am all smiles when you recognize that her history is not just 1890’s. If only she could tell us her stories! I wish I could be there for your day after Thanksgiving- it will be awesome I’m sure.
I’m looking forward to seeing that pink bathroom come together. Should be fabulous when it’s done — especially the lighting.
Ross I LOVE your childlike enthusiasm and glee over things! It is so refreshing and contagious!!!! Thanks for being you!
The brick which is blackened near the bottom…Coal chute?
Dismantle? Huh? Whu?!
Someone go stop Ross from tossing all his cave treasure away!! Bad Ross must have gotten frustrated at not finding some 3in piece of attic fenestration or whatever and gained control.
Oh, just the shelving. Hmmm… that makes sense.
I should really not read (nor comment) before coffee. Nevermind.
I am continually amazed at your uncanny ability (honed by years of practice, I’m sure) to look at a random piece of wood in the basement and figure out exactly where in the house they came from! They all look the same to the rest of us!
Those pieces of trim for the windows are adjustable sash stops! You should be able to use those to keep out the drafts instead of DAP. Although more popular in early twentieth century they were first invented in the 1880s-1890s…more cutting edge technology for the CRoss House!
Curious about all the saved bits… Did Bob organize all the bits? Were bits saved from The Mouse’s and the Tom’s? I assume the short time the Cross family was there they wouldn’t have needed to save bits. All the bits are so cool. To keep finding the pieces to the puzzle on the bit shelf is an testament that this house was meant to be renovated and a guy like you finding this gem is like the stars were aligned. Thank you for sharing your journey with us. Did I mention? I love the bits!
Ross, every time you have one of these moments I smile – because I have experienced and completely understand the delight you are feeling. Good for you!
And, yes, if you are wondering, I have given over my entire day to indulging my vicarious enjoyment of your illicitly addictive blog. But, what the heck, it’s snowing and too cold to work in the garden…
Thank you, Barbara!