A screened porch was built across one end of the old structure, reached through a doorway from the living-room. A covering of shingles, 
dipped in a silvery gray stain, was put on over the original clapboards 
Remodeling an Old Long Island Farmhouse 
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE WITH AN OLD HOUSE AND THREE ACRES THAT WERE BOUGHT 
FOR $1,200—THE EXPERIENCE OF A CITY WOMAN WHO MADE A COUNTRY HOME 
by Alice Boughion 
Photographs by the Author 
H ALF-WAY down the south shore of Long Island was a 
square, rather ugly, little box of a house, situated in a small 
fishing village. Somehow or other the mushroom development 
companies, and the tide of suburban homeseekers, overlooked this 
place in their advance upon the Island and left the town unmarred, 
still retaining all its original charm. About five years ago a young 
woman, whose work was in the city, became seized with the desire 
to own a real country home. In her 
peregrinations after something that 
at the same time fitted her pocketbook 
as well as her ideal, she happened 
upon this house. Crude and ugly as 
it was, she saw it remodeled, in im¬ 
agination, into the very likeness of 
her dreams. It would be hers—the 
fruit of her labor and the outgrowth 
of her plans! And so it became. 
The house and three acres were 
bought for $1,200 and she at once 
set about the work of remodeling it 
according to her own ideas and taste. 
In this she was assisted by a young 
student of architecture who happened 
to be a very good carpenter. He had 
just completed his first year’s instruc¬ 
tion and was very glad to spend his 
vacation in work along similar lines 
to the study which he had been persuing at the university. 
They consulted and planned together and after plenty of good 
hard work succeeded. The young woman leaded the windows, 
dipped and nailed the shingles, painted floors, lathed, and in an 
emergency carried on her bicycle all sorts of building materials 
from the town three miles away. The student drew plans for 
stairs, windows, doors and other details and sent them to a mill in 
a neighboring town where they were 
made and delivered with the lum¬ 
ber, at one-quarter of the expense 
estimated by local builders. 
The original house, though ugly, 
was well built, with a good founda¬ 
tion and the cellar had a bricked 
and cemented floor and sides. The 
beams were apparently taken from 
some wreck that had found its rest¬ 
ing place upon the coast and were 
of hard weathered oak. In places 
the timbers were caulked as they 
were originally when aboard ship. 
The exterior was finished with the 
ubiquitous clapboards. 
With this to work upon they set 
about the labor of transformation. 
Two large dormer windows and two 
small ones and an annex were 
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