AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
February, 1g11 
Garden Notes 
Conducted by Charles Downing Lay 
HE location of a small bungalow on a lot 
125x250 feet does not seem a difficult 
problem at first, yet there are many things 
to consider, and it grows more absorbing 
and more difhcult the more one studies it. 
The problem came to me as a plan for 
the bungalow drawn in pencil on an ex- 
cellent topographic map, but with no indication of the 
owner’s desires in the way of its development. 
In general the location of the house was good, but it was 
wrongly oriented. ‘The living-room was on the northeast 
corner, the kitchen southeast and the two bedrooms were 
on the west; the bathroom, however, being between one 
bedroom and the kitchen. 
I have changed the plan, therefore, so that the bedrooms 
and bath are en suite, and so that the kitchen and living- 
room have a southern exposure. ‘The living-room being 
southwest, which is the best location, and in this case com- 
mands the best view. 
From the size of the house it is fair to suppose that the 
house work will be done by the ladies of the family, as- 
sisted, perhaps, by not more than one inconstant maid. It 
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is, therefore, reasonable to have the kitchen on the best 
side of the house. If the maid were a constant and objec- 
tionable factor I should be inclined to put the kitchen on the 
northwest corner where she would not be always overseeing 
the intimate pleasures of the family as they go on in the 
garden. 
The front of the place is kept simple, with straight roads 
and paths, no showy planting of tender annuals, but a few 
good shrubs such as Berberis Thunbergii to soften the cor- 
ners and give a little sense of seclusion in an unfenced lot. 
The driveway to the kitchen door is for the marketmen 
and the coal and ice. Visitors will, of course, use the path 
to the piazza. 
If it were necessary to have a garage, then the living- 
room might be in the southeast corner, and the kitchen in 
the northwest corner, with the path leading to the kitchen 
door. The road would remain as it is, being prolonged to 
the garage in the southeast corner of the place, and would 
be the foot and vehicle entrance to the front door. A gar- 
age in the southwest corner would be more out of the way, 
but a road on that side does not seem advisable. 
At the rear of the house I have tried to combine beauty 
Bist be. statins pin Oe as 
So 
Sr 1 LET 
