222 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
June, 1910 
“The Old Red House,” Rowayton, Conn., from the garden side. 
Remodeled for the summer home of two New York women 
trim is without paint or stain, but each year it is given a pro¬ 
tecting coat of oil. For the roof hemlock slabs were used, giv¬ 
ing a rough, shaggy texture that harmonizes well with the re¬ 
mainder of the building. 
On the lower floor there is a living-room, sleeping-quarters 
and bath. The studio proper is on the upper floor, which it 
occupies entirely. Here the side walls are covered with burlap, 
but the rough round logs used for the roof rafters were left 
uncovered. The room is very high as may be seen from the 
photographs of the exterior; and a gallery crosses one end of 
the upper part, affording convenient storage space for large 
stretchers, packing-cases and the various other bulky accumula¬ 
tions about an artist’s studio. A big stone fireplace, seven feet 
wide, is located at one side of the room. An outside stairway 
approach for the use of models and visitors, gives the opportunity 
for one of the most charming bits of Norwegian architectural 
detail in the arcade illustrated on the preceding page. 
A Remodeled Connecticut Farmhouse 
by Katharine Newbold Birdsall 
OMETIMES a very small thing turns the scale when one is 
selecting a summer home. Two professional women, visit¬ 
ing in Connecticut last spring, passed an old farmhouse in To- 
keneke Park, Rowayton, Conn. They had no intention of buying, 
but the noble elm trees guarding the farmhouse, and the beauty 
and simplicity of the Colonial door, turned the scale. They 
could not resist the calling of the old house and its two acres of 
good ground. To-day the house stands transformed, “a perfect 
paradise on earth,” the owners declare. Perhaps the fact that 
the owners are artists—interior decorators—has helped in the 
transformation. But a little common sense, and some old furni¬ 
ture, quaint prints and suitable wall papers, go a long way toward 
making the average farmhouse very livable. 
“The Old Red House” was built in 1765, and the sturdy oak 
beams are still firm and solid. The first thought of the new 
owners was to restore the house, inside and out, to its original 
Colonial simplicity; adding, however, electric lights, steam heat 
and running water. I 
In some of these old Colonial houses, it is hard to tell which 
side to call the front. The Old Red House has no front: it has 
the “gate-side” and the “well-side,” and the Colonial hall opens 
equally attractively upon both. The gate-side originally had a 
large covered porch on the extension; this has been almost en¬ 
tirely removed, just enough of the flooring having been left to 
come flush with the body of the house. The remainder of the 
porch is spanned with small beams to make a sort of pergola, 
which admits a flood of light into the dining-room. 
The doorway that so strongly and successfully invited the 
purchase of the house, is typically Colonial, with hand-hewn 
posts and ornaments. The semi-circular transom is an elaborate 
tracery of leadwork, showing an American eagle pattern. Noth¬ 
ing was needed here but the renewing of a few of the ornaments. 
The ceiling of the little porch is plastered. The door itself, 
sunbaked for ages, was left as it was, blisters and all. Two 
Colonial seats, painted white, and made after an old pattern, 
were fitted to the spaces on each side of the door. The house 
was repainted a Colonial red, with white trim and light blue- 
green blinds. 
The old roof of course required re-shingling, and the new 
shingles were stained a weatherworn brown. Shingles were also 
put over the clapboards on the extension to make the rooms 
warmer. Most of the blinds had to be renewed, and a window 
was cut in the woodhouse. The latter was also re-shingled, thus 
making it available for a servant’s bedroom. 
Nothing further was done to the outside of the property the 
first summer. This year a formal garden has been started on 
the gate-side near the house and extending to the stone wall 
and hedge; and a vegetable garden further to the right. 
The Colonial hall had been divided into two rooms by 
former owners, and it was necessary to remove the partition to 
In the living-room the paper is a green and white stripe, with fur¬ 
niture coverings in large-figured English chnitz 
A bay-tree patterned paper in green and cream covers the dining¬ 
room walls. The furniture is Old English 
