What We Learned When We Built Our House 
A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE IN HOME MAKING—FEATURES THAT HAVE PROVED 
THEIR WORTH AND MISTAKES THAT PROSPECTIVE BUILDERS CAN EASILY AVOID 
by Emma Paddock Telford, 
W LIERE should it be? What were the absolute essentials 
in the country home I wanted, free from New York’s 
noise and tumult? Briefly summarized they were: pure air, 
sunshine, breathing spaces, a water supply and sewerage system 
above reproach, pleasant things to look at — trees, flowers, a 
garden where I could have vines of my own planting, refined 
neighbors as homogeneous 
as possible, and all within 
easy access of the great 
city. 
The Palisades offered 
the best promise, and a 
lot was purchased there 
from what was believed 
to be an honorable com¬ 
pany. Its frontage was 
Jtifty feet, while it ex¬ 
tended 165 feet in depth, 
affording a chance for a 
barn or garage if ever 
one was needed. The 
purchase price was listed 
at $2,000, but a consider¬ 
able advance “cash down,” 
procured a small discount. 
In three years the lot was 
paid for and then, being 
assured by a friend who 
was an architect that it 
was an ideal time for 
building and that he 
would personally look 
after every detail, I de¬ 
cided to build. The plans 
were drawn up, com¬ 
pared, talked over and 
altered until they seemed 
complete. 
In deciding on the ma¬ 
terial of which the house 
should be built, concrete 
received the deciding 
vote. And we next be¬ 
gan to assemble our ideas. 
Much of the furniture 
was to be built in to 
save buying and at the 
same time preserve a con¬ 
sistent decorative scheme. There was to be sunshine in every 
room, fireplaces that would draw, an upper balcony that could 
be used for out-of-door sleeping and for airing bedding and 
brushing clothes without having to drag everything down into 
the yard. There was to be plenty of pantry and store room, a 
good cellar, and window boxes inside and out. 
The house completed was to cost $5,000. It could not be 
less than that according to the restrictions imposed by the com¬ 
pany and it ought not to be more than that according to the 
state of my finances and income. 
With such detailed specifications it would seem that mistakes 
could not be made. Nevertheless experience showed that they 
could and did occur. But that is another story. 
A minor mistake was in the digging of the cellar. The con¬ 
tract called for a cellar under the house, which, being inter¬ 
preted according to the sense of the first paragraph —“accprd- 
ing to the true intent 
and meaning" — meant un¬ 
der the entire house. On 
digging for the founda¬ 
tions, however, it was 
found that the difficulty 
of blasting the entire 
rocky bed of the cellar 
would be greater than 
expected. The architect 
sent a notification that at 
least a hundred dollars 
more would be needed 
for that work alone. Al¬ 
though it seemed most 
unfortunate to give up 
the cellar room counted 
upon, an unwillingness 
to increase the original 
estimated cost on the 
very setting out of the 
work led to a compro¬ 
mise and the cellar was 
made only large enough 
to allow for a furnace 
place, coal bin and store 
closet, the remaining 
space being left “un¬ 
natural,” as it were, the 
rock forming a wall and 
the house being raised up 
higher than intended to 
give air space beneath its 
entire length. 
It must be remembered, 
too, that the picture of 
the house will not be 
quite the same in aspect 
as the actual building, as 
the pitch of the roof or 
set and height of the 
windows will appear dif¬ 
ferent. If these things are expected the sense of disappointment 
will be guarded against and perhaps avoided. 
The arrangement for beginning the building commenced with 
an application to a Building and Loan Association for the 
requisite loan of $4,000, the lot and house as it would be finished 
being the security. To negotiate this loan a deposit of $10.50 
was demanded before the acceptance was announced. When 
this had been made a further deposit of $50, together with 
deeds and titles to the property, was handed over to the com¬ 
pany. They then forwarded papers to their attorney and made 
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