SUGGESTIONS FOR THE MONTH 
,FOR THE H0U5E AND GARDE] 
THE HOUSE 
HIS is the month of winds so as early as pos¬ 
sible it is well to see that there are no loose 
bricks in the chimneys, or shingles on the 
roof, which can be readily dislodged. Have the 
chimneys pointed up, the roofs overlooked, ice bridges 
broken in the gutters, and all detached things made 
secure. Look to the windows also, have the putty 
renewed around the panes of glass, and the catches 
for the shutters repaired if necessary. 
If additions, or alterations, are to be made to the 
house this spring, this is the time to get the plans 
out, so that work may begin as soon as the frost is 
out of the ground. Possibly it has been thought 
well to add a living-room, a summer kitchen or even 
a piazza, and if so it is most desirable not to postpone 
preparations. 
There is nothing more attractive than a house 
which has been built bit by bit as necessity required, 
or the purse permitted, provided the building has 
been done in accordance with a well defined plan. 
Unless you are wiser than the majority—much wiser 
—do not attempt to be your own architect. Make 
up your mind what you want and then take your plan, 
or plans, to one who has had experience in dealing 
with such material. In this way you will save your¬ 
self much vexation and, in all probability, the appear¬ 
ance of your house. Windows cannot be cut even 
in a side wall with impunity, nor piazzas added with¬ 
out careful consideration. Each factor is a part of 
design and must be made to accord with the rest. 
A rural porch on a city house is like a gingham apron 
on a velvet gown—or, if you will, vice-versa—inevi¬ 
tably a misfit. It is this disregard of appropriateness 
and continuity which gives many houses such a sorry 
appearance. Look around in your own neighbor¬ 
hood and see how many squint or grimace, or are rest¬ 
less and uneasy. 
But if you can add a piazza, or porch, do it by all 
means—and have it if possible two stories in height. 
Not one which will be merely a passage-way, an 
approach, or indeed an ornament, but an outdoor 
living-room. Have it deep enough to afford protec¬ 
tion from the weather and secluded enough to insure 
real privacy. Two story porches, or galleries, are 
very common in the South, and there if anywhere the 
question of comfortable living in summer has been 
solved. Such an outdoor living-room is not to be 
reckoned negligible by the grown up members of 
the family and to the children it is an unalloyed 
blessing. 
If the home is in New England, winter will not 
loose its grip until another thirty days have passed 
and storm doors and windows will be more necessary 
than in the months which have just gone by—or at 
least equally so—but if it is in the latitude of Balti¬ 
more or Washington they can be removed before old 
Dame Nature starts in, as James Lane Allen has said, 
to do her spring house cleaning. 
Painting is best done in the spring—that is outside 
painting—before the sun’s rays are too direct and 
the flies come in sw-arms to track and disfigure fresh 
surfaces. Not enough thought is given, it would 
seem, to the color of exteriors, and many a house 
which might be unoffensive is made positively hideous 
through inartistic painting. Paint is, it is true, a 
protector of wood and tin, a sponsor for cleanliness, 
but why not at the same time a beautifier Look Ito 
Nature for example and make the house accord with 
its surroundings; see to it that the color chosen for 
the window shutters and frames is not out of harmony 
with that selected for the w'alls, as you would give 
thought to the trimming of a frock or a coat. Try 
the effect of a glint of red wdiere it will give life and 
yet will not be blatant. Nothing is so hard to handle 
successfully as great expanses of flat color or are as 
deadening to effect. Color in architecture is of far 
greater importance than many suppose, though the 
Egyptians, the Greeks, and some of the Oriental 
people repeatedly demonstrated it. 
Above all things, if it can be avoided, do not paint 
bricks, as it destroys their texture and spoils their 
effect. Let the material which is used in construc¬ 
tion manifest its character and serve the purpose for 
which it is fitted. The simplest things can be made 
attractive by their handling as well as the most costly, 
but sham is rarely if ever successful or satisfactory. 
As this is apt to be a stormy month it may be a good 
time to give some special thought to the den—make 
changes in its furnishings and clear away some of 
the accumulated treasures. See if the mantel is not 
overcrowded with bric-a-brac which has been added 
so gradually that its superfluity has not been observed 
—give heed to the table and note whether it too is not 
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