OULD it star¬ 
tle you to be 
ushered into an eight 
by twelve dining¬ 
room with apple- 
green furniture and 
sea-blue walls, and 
would you think it 
possible to seat eight 
people comfortably therein and 
have dinner served in an orderly 
manner? Would you be sur¬ 
prised at a green lattice in place 
of wall paper in a living-room which is large enough comfortably 
to accommodate an eight-foot table in its center? And would you 
marvel at a dark “parlor” with three small windows transformed 
into a reception room 
bright with sunny 
cheer, merely by the 
artistic treatment of 
the walls and wood¬ 
work ? 
Mrs. Clarence C. 
Rice has proved, in 
remodeling her little 
o 1 d farmhouse at 
Bedford Village, 
New York, among 
the green Westchester 
hills, that it is pos¬ 
sible to accomplish 
the impossible. Her 
love of color and the 
knowledge of the 
blendings of color 
derived from her 
study of the pottery 
of the ancients — for 
she has workshops 
and kilns on her farm 
wherein she repro¬ 
duces to perfection 
the wonderful 
ancient colorings 
and glazes of the 
potter’s art — have 
helped her to de- 
v e 1 o p an unusual 
plan of furnishing 
which attracts at 
once by its simplicity and its 
bizarre effect. No architect was 
employed in the remodeling; the 
plans as well as the furnishings 
are of her own devising, and their effect is unique. 
The original house was of simple New England type, without 
porches; the enlarged house still carries out the simple lines of 
the original, and there 
is no porch. The lawn 
under the trees at the 
back, just a few steps 
from the shadowy 
lake, is the piazza and 
breakfast-room when¬ 
ever the weather is 
fine. What need for 
a built-on piazza 
w h e n nature offers 
her generous lap ; and 
especially when the 
living-room serves 
every purpose of a 
piazza ? 
The living - room 
was built onto the 
original house by 
Mrs. Rice, and serves 
every purpose of a 
large covered porch. 
It occupies the whole 
ground floor of the 
wing, with a great 
A FARMHOUSE REMODELED IN A NOVEL WAY—WHAT CAN BE AC¬ 
COMPLISHED WITH COLOR-BRINGING OUTDOORS INTO THE HOUSE 
by Katherine N. Birdsall 
Photographs by Edwin Levick 
Three sides of the living-room have removable windows and in summer it is part of an 
outdoor room. The lattice is appropriate in that it adds a note of outdoor freshness 
( 145 ) 
