The Ursuline Centre

While visiting family, we toured the Ursuline Centre in Great Falls, Montana. It was opened in 1912 as school run by the Ursuline Sisters. There are a few pictures on their website; here are a few more:



Alabaster light (bought from a traveling salesman!)


Stained glass windows in the chapel

The art studio

Gingerbread Architecture

This post is all about gingerbread and houses. It is NOT, however, about the kind on MY house!
We made gingerbread houses for Christmas:

Here is my gingerbread house... big suprise! It's a classic quasi-Victorian cottage!

Other houses included the avante garde with lots of trees and a really cool fence...

... cottages with gardens and dog houses...

... and flowers and a basketball hoop.

Merry Christmas From All of Us!

Just a Note on the Two Ads At the Top...

They are not paid ads; they are for family members' businesses that are sort of related to old houses and home improvement/decoration. Just wanted to clarify, as I've received a few comments asking for paid listings. At this time, Tiny Old House is not accepting paid advertising. Thanks!

The New Old Front Door

Here's the new old front door.


It has a very pretty dentil style molding under the beveled glass window, and matches our house age perfectly... it's almost identical to the one on the version of our house a block away.

The finish is cracking in places, and there is quite a bit of dirt on the door; luckily, it is shellacked and a simple wipe with denatured alcohol and a nylon scrubby removes the dirty cracking finish while leaving all of the aged character.



The door is not perfect; at one point in it's history, a standard lockset hole was drilled into the side opposite the original mortise lock. We'll be using the original holes, and plugging the circular hole. Hopefully, with stain, shellac, and the careful used of artist paints and brushes, we'll be able to hide the patch!