326 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE 



To dissect still more closely, stairs need not link the entrance 

 door with the bathroom, and the thoroughfare to the front door 

 should not be through living rooms. The architect's conception must 

 tie conveniently together hall, door, window, stair, and fireplace. 



To get the proper height for a stair step, the width of step 

 plus height should equal the ordinary walking stride. Seven inches 

 is good riser height. An abnormal increase of step width is awkward 

 and uncomfortable and any pronounced infringement of the above 

 rule makes an undesirable stair. Too wide a step is as inconvenient 

 as too high a tread and should not be used, unless a short, wide flight 

 is needed to give an imposing entrance to hall or salon. Seven by 

 nine, totaling sixty-three inches, is good stair mathematics. The 

 close string staircase admits of more substantial and richer treatment 

 than the common cut-string stair so universally used in cottage and 

 bungalow. 



The baluster Colonial, the carved Jacobean, the ogived Gothic, 

 as well as marble step and metal balustrade, to the manor born 

 and appropriately used, add their quota to stairway motifs. 



The rail, whether with Colonial ramp or heavily carved, should 

 be three feet six inches high to protect alike childhood and age. The 

 side view of a staircase is generally the most interesting. In several 

 houses curlicues ornamented the outside of each step, and one low 

 staircase wainscot was heightened by a line of uniformly framed 

 pictures. 



An awkward second story hall is obviated by a bayed and 

 settled window nook, a divaned book alcove leading to a balcony, 

 a second story conservatory, or a prosy but essential sewing corner 

 in fact, a bit of foresight will often change an ugly landing or an 

 angular entry into a useful and beautiful hall. Ugly falls are pre- 

 vented by mid-stair platforms, absence of winders, and ample head 

 room. 



That half a loaf is better than none applies aptly to the half- 

 back service stair, though a house of any pretensions should have noth- 

 ing giving less seclusion than a full flight of back stairs, at least to 

 the second story. 



Painting. 



Paint is not always a wood protector. Green wood hermetically 

 sealed with paint sponsors dry rot. Old, unpainted houses prove that 

 air is the great preservative. Oxygen in the lungs of men or in the 

 depths of matter lengthens life, while confined moisture is a destroyer. 

 Any paint that does not contain sufficient pure oil to withstand a fair 

 amount of soap and water scrubbing is not worth the labor of putting 

 on. 



Color matching, whether paint or stain, as seen in roof and side 

 wall or in the interior on ceiling, wall, trim, doors, window frames, 

 stairs and floors, is important. Rarely is a large house built but, 

 through carelessness of owner, architect, or painter, the wrong stain 



