360 APPENDIX 



garden which joins the west terrace. "That garden is a lovesome 

 spot, God wot, rose plot, fringed pool, ferned grot." 



Whitewash in colors will enable us to line out the entire first 

 and second floors on the greensward before lifting a shovelful of earth, 

 and we shall be greatly aided in building by archetypes of wood or 

 cardboard, one-eighth scale, of each house, which can be dissected and 

 changed before nailing up the first batten board. Grounds can be 

 laid out in miniature and photographs and planting arranged and 

 rearranged in the model. After house is enclosed we can tempor- 

 arily partition it in a day with mason's grounds for inspection and 

 change. 



Conveniences ranging from a key-cabinet to a thermostat 

 include a coil of water piping in the ice-box, niches at each side of 

 the front door, in hall wall, over entrance door, and in gala room, 

 a telephone jog large enough to hold a guest book, and a utility closet. 



Careful planning to fit the house to the site will make the liv- 

 ing room face south and west, dining room east, library north, and 

 kitchen north and east, remembering also that poor landscaping and 

 an unnecessary net work of drives and paths may blemish a fine con- 

 ception. 



While our two type houses embody a wide range of features, 

 the get-it-in-at-all-hazards spirit, which so persistently dogs the 

 footsteps of the obsessed amateur builder, must be strenuously fought. 

 It is good planning to have three stop-off stations in that journey 

 from batten board to latch key, giving at each two or three days of 

 thought, before studding, before plastering, before trimming. Altera- 

 tions then made would often prevent those ugly afterthought work- 

 outs which raspingly stand by one for life. 



In house building we often lose sight of such expensive essen- 

 tials as foundation, roof, chimney, window, and door, the matter- 

 of-course things, but are apt to most enjoy and more clearly remem- 

 ber and note for reference the comparatively inexpensive things: 

 that marble door sill, a motto, a carved newel, a segmented ceiling, 

 a swinging leaded casement, a picture window, the lines of an unus- 

 ually high, undoored opening, a white and gold combination in a 

 bathroom, semi-conservatory-entrance porch, white tiling against 

 green plants, plate glass windows, sleeping jog, settled ingle-nook, 

 niche, even such an insignificant matter as alternating three 

 balusters on one step and two on the next. It is easy to name a 

 mightily interesting list of things which, judged by the strict rule 

 of essentials, are unnecessary, yet well worth the doing and minister 

 hourly to the enjoyment of owner and guest as long as the house 

 is a house. 



