June, 1914 
466 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
Electricity and steam heat are features of the successful bungalow. Here a saving was made by the use of 
plaster boards instead of lath and plaster 
were used in making forms for the concrete were afterwards 
used in framing and sheathing the building. In addition to this 
economy, a fine layer of sand was found in digging the cellar, 
which provided all the sand necessary for concrete work. 4 he 
cost of the foundations, therefore, merely resolved itself into 
cement and labor. 
The house as planned was to have a stucco exterior, which costs 
practically the same as shingles. It was first sided with sheathing 
boards nailed on diagonally and the sheathing covered with 
japanned metal lath. There is a great difference in the price and 
quality of this material, but again for the sake of economy, we 
used a brand of lath costing 18 cents a 
square yard, although tempted to buy a 
much stronger and better brand at 
duble the price. 
The roof is shingled with Perfection 
red cedar shingles. This is the name of 
a certain grade, and is not unduly ad¬ 
vertising any shingle manufacturer. 
The floors are North Carolina comb¬ 
grained pine. This is the best cheap 
floor that can be laid. A better one is 
maple, and costs 50% more. The trim 
of the entire house, as well as the doors, 
is cypress. The merits of cypress ad¬ 
mit of some discussion. Its prominent 
grain when stained gives a beautiful 
effect, but this same grain becomes an 
objection when the cypress is painted. 
Even after several coats of lead and oil, 
the grains and spots will show through 
until the painter scratches his head, and, 
with Lady Macbeth, exclaims, “Out, 
damned spot; out, I say!" 
In spite of this, cypress is best to use 
in a simple house, both for its low price 
and for its comparative freedom from 
knots. It is far better than inferior 
white pine, which is full of knots and 
sappy places, and it is less than half as expensive as oak, or any 
of the hard woods. It is “the wood eternal," according to the ad¬ 
vertisements, but someone older than I will have to vouch for this 
statement. To pause for a minute in the rapid progress of our 
bungalow, I want to say a word about staining cypress. We have 
found a stain having wonderful covering properties, that gives 
a rich nut-brown color obtainable at verv little effort, and with 
practically no treatment of the wood except to paint it on, and 
after a day to rub it down. 
In the question of the finished walls of the bungalow, we were 
on the fence between old-fashioned lath and plaster at fifty cents 
a square yard, and plaster boards, 
which I had found from experience 
cost about half this amount. As our 
scheme of interior decoration contem¬ 
plated the use of wall paper for all of 
the rooms, we used the plaster boards. 
Now that the walls are papered, it is 
impossible to tell what the wall ma¬ 
terial is. 
Our bungalow is built in Northern 
New Jersey, in a remote country dis¬ 
trict where there are no sewers, water 
supply or gas. The only modern im¬ 
provement the section affords is elec¬ 
tricity. But with this, all the other 
things that will give you city comfort 
in a country house are possible. Elec¬ 
tric service is worth more to a house¬ 
builder than all other improvements 
combined. Our bungalow is lighted by 
electricity, with baseboard plugs in 
every room to run a vacuum cleaner 
(when we can afford to buy one). 
I hese plugs are at present useful in 
connecting piano lamps, electric toast¬ 
ers and other gimcracks, and that 
(Continued on page 486) 
Even though the house is small, there is an air of spaciousness about the living-room which we do not usually find 
in bungalows. Cypress trim is effective here 
