286 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
sired for quaintness. I consid- 
ered fewer windows, properly 
placed as to light, ventilation 
and usage of wall space, more 
practical from the standpoint 
of heating and the labor of 
cleaning. It is well to plan 
your color scheme to reflect 
light. 
In planning the third floor 
we found that the maid’s 
bathroom was without light, 
so the little “eyebrows” were 
put in the panels of the door 
to give light, ventilation and 
to break the roof-line at this 
point. One day a passer-by 
declared to her companion, 
“Them there awful, ugly little windoers in the roof can’t be 
used, but I guess some foolish woman wanted them.” 
In the rear the roof-line is broken by a long dormer. A 
space 16 feet by 16 feet on the east side is left open under- 
neath for the living-porch, the roof-line being supported by 
one massive, simple concrete pillar. The floor of the porch 
—a buff-gray concrete, slightly rough in 
finish—is built on a level with the 
kitchen door so that food and dishes 
may be wheeled out for outdoor dining 
and afternoon tea-service. ‘This living- 
porch, being planned for privacy and 
comfort, was placed on the east side for 
shade in the Summer and sun in the 
Winter and to be farther away from 
the nearest house. 
On the interior depends the entire 
comfort of the house; the proportion- 
ing of money and labor necessary in 
taking from one thing to add to an- 
other; for necessities these days demand 
much, and the checking of one’s person- 
ality in planning and furnishing for 
the home must be either a living monu- 
ment to one’s good taste or to one’s bad 
taste. Not being given to undue personal adornment, and 
believing an interior to be indicative of the occupants’ na- 
tures, simplicity had to be the keynote for this reason, and 
for the reason that I had to do my own work. 
The interior seemed impossible at certain stages, and 
framing was chopped away and the entire interior re-ar- 
ranged by the owners, two helpful and never-tiring friends 
| ites wares fa dhe dneaikers 
The living-room showing the stairway and looking into the dining-room 
e in the corner of the living-r 
The top of the stair hall 
The unconventional fireplace end of the large, well-lighted living-room 
August, 1912 
and the contractor. The 
mistress of the house made 
her daily inspection tour dur- 
ing the entire construction, 
and when _ complications 
arose spent the whole day 
with the workmen. Need- 
less to say that I gained the 
reputation of being the most 
obstinate woman the con- 
tractor ever worked with, 
and the workmen thought 
me insane to diverge from 
the trodden path. 
Being more or less prac- 
tical, I decided there should 
be no waste nor unused 
space to be cleaned; every- 
thing should be condensed, convenient and the whole scheme 
should be simple; not one inch of molding to be dusted, 
and that it should be individual, no matter what other 
people had in their houses nor how severely they criticised 
what I was working out. 
A Colonial interior was not my aim. I aimed to work 
out a more livable and practical interior 
where everything should have its rela- 
tion to the other, and the whole be har- 
monious and inoffensive to the classic 
portal. 
A glance at the floor plans shows the 
spaciousness of the living-room and the 
dining-room which my nature demanded, 
being southern born and reared. ‘The 
walls’ natural gifts, the deep-silled win- 
dows, give a distinctive charm to these 
two rooms. 
The large cheery fireplace is more 
than a mere mass of masonry with a 
papier-maché log. Its construction was 
given much attention in order that it 
should not smoke and that it should 
throw out the maximum amount of heat 
with a minimum of wood. Much time 
was spent in selecting the brick, as I object to the lining, 
face and hearth bricks being of different color and texture. 
Then, too, the color had to harmonize with the color 
scheme. The long, low, simple arch, the lining and the 
sunken hearth are built of buff-gray bricks, wire-cut sur- 
face, which are fireproof and harmonize with the interior 
decorations both in color and texture. The fireplace is 
oom 
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