AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



May, 1908 



May, 1908 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



Seven Hundred Old Railway Tie. Transformed 



A Bungalow Mad from Railway Ties 



By MafLman 



nfort and . 



bungalo 

 those w 



ence of living pudy appe 



ly be 

 have experienced it] The 

 thing delightfully 

 I about bungalow life, and every 

 tends to keep expense down, a a 

 ly can the simplest kind of furni c cha 

 i the services of a maid 

 a simple life can be enjoyed whei 

 planned to entail only 



of purple varying the dull ] 



ime treatment is car 



room. They are chai 



s which are painted ( 



The irregular placinj 



of the 



generous lireplact 

 ly pointed with 



ied out in the walls of the 

 ningly broken by wooden 

 reen like the rest of the 

 of these adds no little to 



nimun msiderably by dooi 



lure be used, bui 



dispensed with, n 

 the house has be 

 amount of labor. 



Birchwood bungalow is very ac- 

 cessible, being within a stone's 

 throw of the trolley line at Ridley 

 Park, one of the beautiful country 

 places near Philadelphia. There 

 are many points of interest about 

 this bungalow. One is, that it was 

 designed without the help of an 

 architect, the original owner, Mr. 

 Sloane, and a builder, planned it together. 

 They have succeeded in building a very artis- 

 tic and practical bungalow. 



It was built out of 700 old railway ties 

 which cost live cents a piece and the hauling. 

 The ties were laid one upon another, spiked 

 and cemented with the round side for the ex- 

 terior, and the Hat side for the interior walls. 



The foundations consist of stone piles 

 sunk three feet in the ground. The roof is 

 made of a wooden frame which was white- 

 washed. This was then covered with tin 

 which was afterward painted with cold wa- 

 ter paint. The ties were left the natural 

 color, the silvery gray of these forming an 

 admirable contrast to the rough posts and 

 trims, which were painted green. 



There is something quite Japanese in the appearanceare the fumed cha 

 of the bungalow, and the choice of location is a particu-seats. The sidebi 



ly happy one. One side overlooks a deep rav.netoo large for th« 



One end is filled entirely by 

 built of local rough gray stone 

 ray plaster. The walls are broken 

 ays as it entered from the hall on 

 one side and opens out on to the 

 porch above the creek on the 

 other. Opposite this doorway is 

 another leading to the dining- 

 room, while opposite the fire- 

 place is a wide doorway leading 

 to the rest of the house. Green 

 is the keynote of this room. The 

 floor being somewhat rough has 

 been entirely covered with plain 

 green filling. Relief is given by 

 simple Mission furniture stained 

 brown, upholstered in tan 

 leather. 



The dining-room is quite as 

 attractive in its way as the liv- 

 ing-room. The walls consist of 

 pine boards oiled, relieved by 

 trims of white woodwork. The 

 room is in blue and yellow ac- 

 cented by a strong note of blue 

 in the Japanese plates. A por- 

 tiere of blue canvas hangs in the 

 doorway leading into the living- 

 room, while the opposite door- 

 way is also hung with a similar 

 curtain. Particularly attractive 

 rs stained brown with their wooden 

 ird is carefully chosen, and is not 

 room. A wide, low window, hung with 

 uns and blue inner curtains, overlooks 

 sepia platinum types are framed in 

 a pleasing contrast to the yellow walls. 

 s left unfinished, but is relieved by white 

 The large doorway with its iron latch 

 to the porch. The floor is covered with 



The Porch Above the Creek 



ough which the picturesque Ridley Creek flows. Thewhiti 

 porch is built almost entirely round the house, and onthc porch. The 

 the south and west sides branches of trees spread over brown, and make 

 the piazza, giving it a most beautiful bowery appear- The pine ceiling i 

 ance. This can be seen in looking at one of the small painted striping, 

 illustrations taken before the leaves were fully out, so opens directly on 

 as to get a glimpse of the bungalow. a ni S o{ olt] blui 



The present owners, Mr. and Mrs. Albert B. Meats, Returning through the living-rot 

 have furnished the bungalow appropriately, and in per- through a passage we find ourselves i 

 feet taste. They made several valuable changes which sitting-room. The floor is covered with 

 considerably improved it. r a " s °f pine are painted ivory white. 



The door opens into a small square hall which pre- T he cost of building such a bungalov 

 sents a charmingly rustic appearance with the flat side $1,500 to-day, but when the bungalow 

 of the ties painted a dull, soft green. Originally the years ago it cost only $1,000. 

 walls were orange, but when Mr. Mears bought it, hf [he t 

 painted the walls green, putting two coats of green coM [ l "r 

 water paint over the orange. This har - - 

 a most artistic appearance to the w 



i from which the ho 

 readily be understood ho\ 

 lentally give" |°»'s can be erected by making 

 is there is a f tone fireplaces cost $180.00. 



and going 



cheery little 

 :ing, and the 



uld be about 



built several 



When one realizes that 



as built cost only $35.00 



very economically bunga- 



r Fireplace of the Silting-n 



of thei 



The three 



