HOUSE AND GARDEN 
January, 1910 
3 1 
slabs. The wire mesh strips I then 
tacked over the open spaces from the 
inside with half-inch wire staples. I 
then mixed some brown-hair mortar 
—with a generous amount of hair— 
and about one-quarter Portland ce¬ 
ment and laid it in with a narrow 
pointing-up trowel both inside and 
outside over the mesh between the 
slabs. This forms an unbreakable 
“clinch” and prevents the cement 
from chipping off and falling out. 
The outside of the building will prob¬ 
ably have to be gone over after a 
year or two and patched in places, as the slabs will season and 
shrink; but this can easily be done with the aid of a long ladder. 
For the outside cement panels I used any old boards for a 
background, then beveled two sides of ordinary laths in such a 
way as to form an undercut groove when the beveled edges face 
the panel. 1 nailed these laths three or four inches apart on the 
wooden panel and plastered the whole surface with the same 
proportioned mixture of mortar, hair and cement as was used in 
sealing the slabs. After the plaster was thoroughly dry, the 
panels were tinted red with ordinary shingle stain the same tint 
being used for the shingle roof, which will be found very effective 
to relieve the sombre tone of the exterior. 
For the piazza posts 1 cut whole locust trees showing seven or 
eight inches at the butt end, smaller pieces for the railings and 
still smaller pieces for the filling in. Locust has a very rough 
bark and will blend well with the chestnut slabs of the exterior; 
besides this it is a very hard wood and the weather will not affect 
it. This completed the exterior and the work of fitting up the 
interior was begun. 
For the stairways white birch was used for making the newel- 
posts, railings and other odd fittings. 1 he same scheme was 
carried up right around the open well. 
White birch is a soft wood and may 
be used only for interior work, but 
great care should be used in handling 
it when green, as the bark is very 
tender and will curl up when bruised 
or cut. After it has thoroughly sea¬ 
soned, however, the bark and wood 
become hard and fixed. For the 
trimming to doors and windows 1 
picked out the wood of the young 
chestnut, which is a smooth gray, dap¬ 
pled with lighter spots. Large, irreg¬ 
ular knots, here and there, will add 
much to the general effect. The 
whole interior of the cottage was 
then sheathed with x 7 in. tongue- 
and-groove North Carolina pine which 
is the cheapest sheathing in the 
market (the cheapest sheathing can be 
used as the walls will all be covered up 
with some textile material). If the 
cottage is to be used during any por¬ 
tion of the winter months, it would 
be well to insert between the stud¬ 
ding, so as to leave an air space 
between it and the slabs, some good 
felting, several kinds of which are 
obtainable at reasonable prices. This 
felting keeps out cold, keeps in heat 
and, besides, is sound- and vermin- 
proof; it will add only about one per 
2nd 
T loor 
cent to the cost of the building. Then make a perpendicular 
wainscoting all around the living-room, four feet high, using 
the rougher wood with the bark on of chestnut, hickory or oak 
and cap it with a six-inch shelf. By using different woods 
for different rooms the same scheme may be carried out with 
slight variations throughout the house. If red cedars are plentiful 
in the neighborhood a very attractive and sweet-smelling den can 
be wainscoted with this wood by having the cedars sawed in half 
through their entire length and alternating the butts with the 
tips. 
As my builder, in his contract, was to supply the doors and 
windows, 1 had to specify the kinds wanted. The front door 
should be 4J x 7 ft. and patterned after the old-fashioned Dutch 
doors, of massive build, made in two pieces cut horizontally in 
the center, using some hard wood, such as oak or chestnut, showing 
a prominent grain. The door is stained a dark bottle-green and 
the beautiful grain of the wood stands out conspicuously. 
For the windows specified “casement” throughout the house 
—the lower floor square panes, 16 to the sash, and for the 
second floor the small diamond panes. 
(Continued on page viii) 
White birch stair and gallery railings and furniture brighten the living-room, which is wainscoted 
with slabs, the upper wall surface being covered with Java mats 
FLOOR PLAM5 
OP- THEr 
CAD 1 M 
The main living-room extends up to the roof, with a gallery around over all four sides 
