288 AMERICAN 
What the average contractor charges 
for built-in pieces, then placing their 
construction in the untrained carpenter’s 
hands, is too ridiculous. A carpenter 
of foreign birth understands joining bet- 
ter, because he has to serve an appren- 
ticeship before he obtains his license. 
Built-in pieces give an atmosphere and 
fitness that odd pieces never can. The 
three quaint little windows were de- 
signed to save the expense of cutting a 
clumsy large one through the stone 
walls, shown in an original plan, and to 
give an indirect light on the table so 
that one dining at the opposite side of 
the table would not be compelled to face 
the strong light. ‘The trim is of white wood set with the 
cross pieces over the doors and windows, between the 
uprights. The unbroken, graceful lines of the upright give 
height to the ceilings and an individual placing of trim. 
The one-paneled doors are most attractive and have only 
four corners to be dusted, while the usual five-paneled door 
has twenty corners to be dusted. ‘The trim is painted a 
beautiful cream white. We bought our materials and 
gave the painting out bv day’s labor, and superintended 
the work day by day. ‘The floors are two-inch, combed- 
grained pine, filled and waxed. Having a few rare old 
pieces of mahogany and believing buff or gray to be their 
best background, and not caring to live with Colonial yel- 
low, nor the sallowness and coldness that gray walls give, 
we compromised by having a delightful buff-gray which is 
a perfect background for paintings, furniture and persons, 
and admits of cheaper draperies than any other color 
scheme. The walls are sand finish tinted buff-gray. We 
purchased our materials and mixed our tint. The curtains 
are made of a corn color French tissue, forty inches wide, 
at fifteen cents a yard, and stenciled in a bold design of 
rg o pete ee Dae LEE OLS 
A view of 
HOMES 
the remodeled house from the street front showing the 
AND GARDENS August, 1912 
nasturtiums, giving just the desired color 
and the sunniést glow imaginable in the 
rooms. The stencil was patterned by the 
designer of the built-in pieces and the 
stenciling was done by the mistress of 
the house. The rugs are homemade rag 
rugs in blue and white and colored hit- 
o’-miss. he cushions are made of Rus- 
sian crash and embroidered in silk in 
bright contrasting colors. The inherited 
couch is upholstered in a buft-gray rep 
that harmonizes so well with the walls 
that many ask if it has not been dyed 
to match. The putting of color in one’s 
cushions, curtains and rugs admits of 
changing the color scheme oftener than 
does the retinting of walls and re-upholstering. 
The master’s hall den is cleverly done in that it hides 
the necessary headroom in pushing three steps out of the 
kitchen floor without doing away with the absolutely neces- 
sary back stairs, that contractors and architects so know- 
ingly assure you must go or extend into the middle of the 
kitchen floor, as a dangerous stumbling block for all mem- 
bers of the family, and breaking the easy sweep for clean- 
ing. My stubborn nature asserted itself and stood against 
every sort of argument. The headroom was measured and 
the door on the landing was framed leaving the height of 
the three steps above the floor, unsightly to be sure. ‘The 
seat was designed to hide it and an open space left for a 
wall radiator. The desk was especially designed for the 
corner and for the use of the master. ‘The little doors 
Chest of drawers built into the walls of the 
upper stairway-hall 
close off the array of garden catalogues always at hand, 
and odds and ends. The deskroom is of convenient height 
and ample size for writing. The adjustable shelves give 
ample space for garden and other books. The curtain space 
admits of}color, as do the colored cushions spread on the seat. 
(Continued on page 297) 
ieeeliataiail a cacamaaaenstuaaiiatas ———eee 
treatment of the old wing 
