FOREWORD 



HE home that affords the 

 most pleasure to its owner is 

 the one which is largely the 

 result of personal effort in 

 the development of its possi- 

 bilities. The " ready-made 

 home," if I may be allowed 

 the expression, may be equally as comfortable, 

 from the standpoint of convenience, — ^and possi- 

 bly a great deal more so, — ^but it invariably lacks 

 the charm which invests the place that has de- 

 veloped under our own management, by slow and 

 easy stages, until it seems to have become part 

 of ourselves. 



Home-making is a process of evolution. We 

 take up the work when everything connected 

 with it is in a more or less chaotic condition, 

 probably without any definite plan in mind. The 

 initial act in the direction of development, what- 

 ever it may be, suggests almost immediately 

 something else that can be done to advantage, 

 and in tliis way we go on doing little things from 

 day to day, until the time comes when we sud- 



