November, 1917 
47 
CONVENIENT DEVICES FOR THE HOUSE 
Whether a house costs a thousand or a hundred thousand, it’s the little things that count and make you like 
it or dislike it. It’s not the Queen Anne this or the Renaissance that or a Pompeian something else; it’s 
the kitchen sink and the bedroom closet and the garbage can tluit make or mar a happy home. These 
and a lot of other little things should have as much consideration in the planning of the house as the 
pergola and the living room fireplace and the front stairs. Here are shown six of these necessary devices. 
Watch this page for such ideas in housebuilding. 
I T is not such a small matter as some of 
the others, but perhaps you dislike a 
screen door. In one of the recent houses 
where the architect and the owner have 
worked out so many little conveniences and 
comforts, the screen door has been elimi¬ 
nated. The upper half of the front door is 
composed of wrought iron spindles. The 
spindles are split and a wire screen fitted 
between them. Inside there is a sash door 
which may be opened or closed at will. 
When open, it allows free passage of the 
air, and it is possible to speak to anyone 
through the spindles. When closed, it 
makes practically a solid door. At either 
side of the door is a smaller sash door 
covering a similar set of spindles with a 
screen set through the center. The whole 
makes a handsome front entrance, free from the 
detractions of the ordinary screen door. 
This principle has long since been applied to 
the entrance doors of more pretentious houses 
where bronze or wrought iron is used for the 
grilles. By making the spindles of iron the 
smaller house has a door that is just as burglar- 
proof as doors of the larger house. 
W HY should it be necessary for the maid 
to answer the bell when it is only the 
postman or a laundry boy delivering mail or 
packages? To save her steps, and to assure 
.delivery when the family is absent, has been 
made a chute in the outer kitchen 
wall. The mail drops into a box 
in the wall, and the box opens 
from the inside with a sliding 
panel. Apropos of this, there is a 
foolproof box that is being manufac¬ 
tured for the kitchen door, which per¬ 
mits large packages to be slid in from 
the outside, the door clicks back in 
place, and the package cannot be 
taken until the door is unlocked from 
the inside. The principle works the 
other way, of course, and packages 
can be put in from the inside. 
A FLUSH-FINISH kitchen cup¬ 
board door is easier to keep 
clean than one with panels. If so 
made that it extends below the lowest 
shelf, instead of fitting across the 
upper edge, it keeps out the dust. 
The placing of cupboards is a mat¬ 
ter of individual 
preference and 
should be based 
on individual 
conditions and 
needs. The kit¬ 
chen in which this 
feature is shown 
faces the north 
and has no room 
above it. To in¬ 
sure light, there 
is a stationary, 
waterproof sky¬ 
light. Ventilation 
is given by a lou¬ 
vre on one side. 
A N unusually convenient cupboard for 
. the average kitchen for everyday uten¬ 
sils and cooking ingredients is one against 
the wall at a height where everything in it 
can be seen at a glance and reached with¬ 
out tiptoeing or squatting. The one shown 
is about 7' long, 2' high and 15" deep, with 
two shelves the entire length and two sets 
of doors. In one side are the cooking 
dishes and the ingredients most used. In 
the other are kettles, griddles, skillets, pie 
and cake tins, pans, collanders—all the 
common utensils. Under the cupboard is 
room for a table, convenient for mixing. 
If the doors of this cupboard were flush 
finish and swung so that they extended 
below the lower shelf, it would be quite 
ideal. It eliminates in this kitchen the 
cupboards under sink and drain boards, in 
which one gropes in the dark with bent back 
and strained legs. The dimensions given suit 
this particular kitchen and this particular 
family, and may be varied for the next. The 
finish is enamel paint that can be readily 
washed down. The shelves should be remov¬ 
able for the occasional scrubbing and sun bath. 
T HE ice man need never set foot inside the 
house. This has been proven by a woman 
who added her brains to the brains of her 
architect. A hole was cut in the back of a 
portable icebox and another hole in the wall of 
the kitchen pantry. A door was 
fitted to the hole in the box and an¬ 
other to the wall outside. Below the 
door are three cement steps and a 
small platform by which to reach 
these doors. The ice man slips in 
from the street, deposits his ice in 
the box and slips out again, and no 
one is the wiser or the crosser for 
his coming. The space under the 
flat form can be used for a box to 
hold the garbage can. Or, if one 
wishes to be more up to date, a gar¬ 
bage can may be sunk in the ground. 
A BUILT - IN dressing table 
should be placed immediately 
under a row of windows. The base 
of the windows can be a mirror in 
which can be seen the slightest fuzz 
to be shaved or the tiniest new 
wrinkle to be combated. A mirror 
in the door of a 
small cupboard at 
each side of the 
dressing table 
may, by opening 
the door, serve the 
purpose of a hand 
mirror. Electric 
lights are so 
placed that the 
mirrors are as sat¬ 
isfactory by night 
as by day. In this 
room is the same 
type of flush fin¬ 
ish door as in the 
kitchen opposite. 
