424 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
real human sympathy grew 
an irresistible power of per- 
suasion, and before long the 
old gentleman was not only 
willing but interested. The 
rent was fixed—at an ab- 
surdly low figure too—and 
they at once set about get- 
ting a carpenter to cut a 
gate in the high board fence. 
In the old days, fifty years 
ago or more, when this had 
been a quiet street of solid, 
well-to-do house-owners, the 
little brick buildings in the 
yard had served as laundry 
and general service-room be- 
low, while above were prob- 
ably some servants’ quar- 
ters. It was indeed a change 
for the little house, long 
practically disused, to become a craftworker’s shop and a 
gathering place for a group of men and women very much 
alive to all the progress of the day. 
When the little artist first stepped inside the tiny house 
she could not believe her good fortune. There was the 
wide and deep brick fireplace of her dreams, occupying 
most of one end. A staircase, enclosed with matched 
boards, ascended to the upper floor. The beams support- 
ing this floor were heavy and rough, and had once been 
boarded over, but a part of this boarding had fallen down. 
The second floor was divided into two rooms, or perhaps 
more exactly a room and an ante-room, where the stairs 
entered, for in this small room there was no ceiling, and 
the brick walls were bare, while the other was ceiled and 
plastered. The four small 
windows on one side lighted 
the upper floor well. The 
windows, thick with dust 
and cobwebs, admitted little 
light. The place was piled 
high with odds and ends of 
furniture, empty boxes and 
other rubbish. 
But the little artist saw 
through the dust and dirt its 
future. Her imagination pic- 
tured the wood fire’s glow on 
the disclosed beams, and the 
delightful way the shadows 
would play about the deep 
recess beside the chimney. A 
high cupboard of one deep 
shelf, once enclosed but now 
guiltless of a door, occupied 
this recess, and beneath it 
stood a long, much-battered 
chest—just the thing for a 
wood-box. The walls of this 
lower room presented con- 
siderable variety, two of 
them being only of the brick, 
a third plastered and the 
fourth roughly cased in wood, 
the reason obvious, for one 
place that had not been 
quite covered showed cracks 
letting in the outside light. 
With carte blanche to do 
what they liked, so long as 
“ oy 
i HAE Sti tie ren pee 
Shelves were arranged 
The wash-house before transformation 
to alld books and old pewter 
December, 1912 
they didn’t tear the house 
down, the artist and her 
friends began the work of 
rehabilitating the long-dis- 
used wash-house. 
The first thing to be done 
was some tearing out. The 
overhead beams proved to 
be solid and whole, and the 
now insecure boarding was 
pulled down, leaving them 
exposed. The ceiled-up side 
of the room had to be reno- 
vated, and then came the 
question of shelving. 
Rather high over the 
chimney was placed a wide 
mantel, with long wooden 
supports reaching down on 
either side. Along the side 
that enclosed the staircase a 
narrower shelf was built high, about 18 inches from the 
ceiling, and at the end of the room opposite the fireplace 
was placed a double shelf across the entire space, and under- 
neath it was placed a comfortable couch. ‘The shelves 
above filled with books and the fire lighted, who can imag- 
ine a more delightful spot for reading? At one end of the 
couch stood a small table with a brass samovar and tea 
tray, while across the room, in the old cupboard, hung the 
cups, and on its shelf were sundry casseroles and other 
things that foretold the possible preparation of gay little 
suppers as well as afternoon teas. 
Upstairs there were more shelves. The window in the 
ante-room had its built-in seat with locker beneath and 
flanked by book shelves at either end, just the width of the 
seat. A set of three shelves, 
the lowest some four or five 
feet from the ground, filled 
the end of the room, and un- 
derneath was placed a nar- 
row writing table. These 
again were filled with books, 
except an occasional space 
for a bowl of gleaming brass 
or copper. 
You will see that the pur- 
pose of all this high shelving 
was to save space, the little 
rooms being none too large 
for the necessary furniture. 
The shelves were just of 
smooth pine boards, and all 
the supports were of the 
visible type, made of scant- 
ling. All the shelving and 
such portions of the old 
woodwork as required 
replacing were stained 
brown, while the door, win- 
dow frames and walls, hay- 
ing been painted once, were 
again painted a cool moss- 
green. The floors were done 
with green—the paint being 
mixed with kerosene, which 
makes an admirable floor 
stain. 
The effect was indescrib- 
ably beautiful with the 
browns and greens lighted 
