26 



The Country House 



new sketch on tracing paper over the first. Keep all your efforts, as they are 

 valuable for reference. Pick out the best features of your many attempts and try 

 if they will combine; they probably won't, but try. Do not prolong your fun so 



as to make the 

 architect too much 

 work in changing 

 and rechanging. 



When your 

 architect has de- 

 livered his sketch, 

 go over it and sleep 

 on it. If you think 

 it is not as good as 

 yours, tell him so 

 in a pleasant \vay 

 and he may tell you 

 something you do 

 not know, or vice 

 versa. Try the 

 tracing paper on 

 that, but be sure 

 that you understand 

 thoroughly what 

 the drawing means 

 and learn how to 

 read it before you 

 condemn it. 



The first floor is the most important; the second floor generally adjusts 

 itself, and you can see in a general way how it will work out. After your first 

 floor is settled, draw the second and attic and cellar, or let your architect have the 

 first try at it. 



It is important that you should take as much time as possible to think the 

 thing out, but when it is satisfactorily settled go ahead. Mistakes and omissions 

 are expensive, if one tries to rectify them during the process of construction, 

 and it is very seldom that they can be satisfactorily rectified. If it be possible, 

 the three-quarter-scale drawings (if any) should be finished up to the figures at 

 the time the plans are to be estimated upon. In this way the client knows better 

 what he is to get, the contractor has a fairer show, and omissions and mistakes are 

 less likely to occur. 



It is next to impossible to lay down many hard-and-fast rules to govern the 

 planning of a house. Personal habits and ideas are all-important factors; and 

 what might be inadequate for one man might be perfectly satisfactory for another. 

 A few general hints will suffice to set the reader to thinking, and in setting these 

 forward for his consideration we are doing all that can be done. 



First, we should consider the convenience of the plan and its reference to 

 every-day uses and the ease with which it can be kept up and cared for. Do 



Log and stone house at Bar 



by a local carpenter, and very 



suggestive despite its faults 



