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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



December, 1905 



The Ingle-Nook in the Study 



lated kitchen. The laundry, fitted complete, the laundry 

 porch, with coal bins and the drying yard inclosed, all are 

 good features. 



The second floor is exceptionally well arranged; the main 

 suite, consisting of two bedrooms, dressing-room, boudoir 

 and bath, form the principal feature of this floor. Besides 

 this suite there are three bedrooms and bath, while the serv- 

 ants' rooms are placed over the kitchen extension. This 

 floor is treated with white paint and has attractive wall deco- 



rations. Four of the bedrooms have open 

 liieplaces with tiled trimmings, and Co- 

 lonial mantels. There is ample storage 

 space on the third floor, and the heating ap- 

 paratus and fuel room are placed in the 

 cellar. 



Messrs. Cope & Stewardson, architects, 

 320 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 



Moderate Priced Fireproof 

 Dwellings 



The city of Pittsburg is claiming the 

 honor of possessing within its municipal 

 limits the first houses of low cost which are 

 practically fireproof. The Pittsburg experi- 

 ment is, therefore, one of the utmost in- 

 terest. The houses are of the " semi- 

 detached " type; that is to say, built in pairs 

 with a party wall between. The basement 

 walls are of hollow tile, 9 by 13 inches and 

 3 feet long, making a good 13-inch wall. 

 The exterior walls are faced with red 

 pressed brick, lined within with hollow tile, 

 and the partition walls are made entirely 

 of the hollow tile. 



The floors throughout are practically 

 monolithic and are composed of hollow tile laid in straight 

 courses, filled between the courses with an inch of concrete. 

 Steel fabric, used for tension, is embedded in a second lower 

 inch of concrete. The porch floors are built in the same way. 

 The interior floors are covered with tightly joined grooved 

 flooring. As little wood as possible is used. The roofs 

 throughout are of tile, and the porch supports are of fire- 

 proof blocks embedded in cement. Steel framing supports 

 the tiling of the roof and porch. 



The Household 



Mixed Furnishings 



NE of the commonest difficulties that the 

 housekeeper is apt to fall into is the promis- 

 cuous use of furniture in a promiscuous 

 way. Most households contain a very 

 miscellaneous lot of furniture, gathered in 

 various ways, obtained at various times and 

 from various sources, furniture intended for many uses and 

 which has survived the wear and tear of usage, too good to 

 throw away, perhaps not really good enough to keep. It is 

 often a serious problem what should be done with such furni- 

 ture, especially when a new house is taken or a general re- 

 arrangement made. 



The drastic remedy of destruction and ejectment is, in 

 many cases, the only safe one. Complete uniformity may 

 not always be possible, but at least approximate uniformity 

 should be followed. A room furnished in a single style, or 

 with furniture of a homogeneous kind, has marked advan- 

 tages in esthetic effect over one that, at first glance, seems 

 to be a museum of furniture, and which on further inspection 

 is revealed as a place of last resort; nothing more. 



The situation is bad enough when the relics of several 

 rooms, of several houses, or of several replenishings are thus 

 gathered together; it is much more dreadful when this effect 

 is the direct result of simultaneous purchase — and this 

 happens oftener than there is any need for. Many furniture 

 buyers start out without any preconceived notion of what to 

 get, and with absolutely no idea as to how their furniture is 



going to look in the rooms for which it is destined. They 

 choose anything that strikes their fancy, and then when the 

 room is finished wonder why it is not pleasing. 



It is because of this lack of foresight, this inability to 

 see rooms as they will be, this lack of knowledge of good 

 furniture and ignorance of the principles of good furnishings 

 that so many tasteless rooms are evolved at great expense. 

 There is not the slightest necessity for this state of things. 

 It is a very easy matter to obtain good advice on such sub- 

 jects, and if one does not know what to do oneself one should 

 seek the necessary advice in the proper quarters. 



The case of mixed furniture that has survived is more 

 difficult. Some pieces may be well worthy of preservation, 

 some may be too good to throw away; but the result is sure 

 to be hodgepodge, and there can never be the satisfaction 

 that is rightly felt in rooms furnished from the beginning in 

 a homogeneous manner. 



Success in furnishing is determined by results. Results are 

 determined by taste. Objects good in themselves may not 

 be good when placed in close juxtaposition in the same room. 

 It is a difficult matter to furnish well, that is, with a keen 

 eye to good taste and an appreciation of comfort and utility. 

 But it is only on such lines that satisfactory and satisfying 

 results can be obtained. Mixed furnishings, promiscuous 

 furnishings, haphazard furnishings, are to be avoided as the 

 most dangerous of household expedients. They are common 

 enough in even good houses. 



