32 
House 
& Garden 
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F OR a while this summer my work in the garden has been distracted 
by painters. Off and on for a month they have been around the 
house. Bothersome fallows, these, because they take so much time and 
apparently accomplish so little. And yet, now that they have departed, 
I am beginning to understand the wisdom of paint. 
There are two ways of looking at paint. You can think of it merely 
as a method for freshening up wall surfaces and furniture or, if you 
are more practically minded, consider it as a preservative. Paint is a 
rare combination of the esthetic and the practical. It gives a house a 
cleaner, fresher appearance, increases its property value, makes it a 
richer contribution to the community’s good looks—but it also adds years 
to the life of the house. The commonplace fact that paint is a pre¬ 
servative cannot be repeated too often. It stops wood from checking 
and closes up the pores and fibres of an exposed surface that the ele¬ 
ments would otherwise eventually ruin. 
Looking at paint from that angle, no man 
can begrudge the cost. 
Nor should he begrudge the time it 
takes painters to do their work. The 
basis of good painting is the careful 
preparation of the surface to be painted. 
Any amateur can slap on a coat over the 
old, worn surface, whereas a skilled 
workman will take hours with sand paper 
and putty knife before a brushful of the 
new paint is applied. It is in neglecting 
to make adequate preparation that most 
amateurs fail. In fact, it is wiser for 
the amateur to restrict his painting en¬ 
deavors to small and unimportant areas 
and leave the larger work for men skilled 
in that line. 
Poor results are often blamed on the 
brand of paint used. The manufacturer 
can only give the owner the best possible 
product; it is the owner’s responsibility, 
if he demands ideal results, to employ 
the best possible workers. 
The wisdom of paint, then, reduces 
itself to this—buy the best, standard 
brands made by reputable firms, hire 
intelligent painters and give them all the 
time they require for preparation. 
T HE shortage of building materials 
has awakened interest in remodel¬ 
ing and restoring old houses. All around 
the countryside neglected farmhouses are 
beginning to live again, bams are blos¬ 
soming out as summer homes, houses of 
questionable “Queen Anne” architecture 
are being remodeled into a more rational 
style, and the Mansard roof is disappear¬ 
ing. These are good signs. Just as one 
can graft new stock on the stump of an 
old apple tree and harvest a paying lot 
of fruit, so these remodeled houses pay 
for the work and time and money that 
On the other hand, in remodeling an old house it is not always pos¬ 
sible to follow your original plans. It is best to have a general idea 
of what you want to do, and then, as the work proceeds, make the other 
changes as the ideas present themselves. This, of course, means more 
work and a bigger bill, but it is more satisfactory in the end and gives 
more pleasure in the doing. That little afterthought bay window, that 
casement, those panels in the hall—all such little additions make an 
old house richer in possibilities for comfortable living. 
One small detail that should be carefully watched in restoring an 
old house is the type of hardware used. Modern style locks and 
handles in a Colonial house are an abomination without excuse. 
Excellent reproductions of Colonial hardware are available at reason¬ 
able prices. Keep an eye on your local carpenter in this respect; he is 
often lacking in hardware taste, and needs guidance. ' 
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The ubiquitous glass door takes on a new character 
when it is fashioned in this shape and is painted 
opalescent and decorated with a formal design of 
conventionalized flowers 
<*'n* 
'HE other day I came across this 
charming page about wood. It is in 
Romain Rolland’s portrait study, “Colas 
Brengnon, Burgundian”. The old fellow 
stands before his bench and rhapsodizes: 
“To rouse Beauty sleeping in the 
wood, her lover must penetrate to the 
heart of it, but the loveliness which is 
unveiled under my plane has no unreali¬ 
ties. You know those slim Dianas of 
the early Italians, straight behind and 
before? A good Burgundy piece is bet¬ 
ter yet, bronzed, strong, covered like a 
grapevine with fruit; a fine bulging cup¬ 
board, a carved wardrobe. ... I dress 
mv house with panels, and moldings, and 
winding staircases in long twists and my 
furniture is like trained fruit trees, full 
and robust, sprouting from the wall, 
made for the very spot where I place it. 
The best of all is when I can fix on 
my wood something I see smiling in my 
mind’s eye, a gesture, a movement, a 
bending back or swelling breast, flowery 
curves, garlands and grotesques. 
“How good it is to stand before the 
bench with a tool in my hand and then 
saw and cut, plane, shave, curve, put in 
a peg, file, twist and turn the strong 
fine stuff, which resists yet yields—soft, 
smooth walnut, as soft to my fingers as 
fairy flesh; the rosy bodies or brown 
limbs of our wood nymphs which the 
hatchet has stripped of their robe. There 
is no pleasure like the accurate hand, the 
clever big fingers which can turn out the 
most fragile works of art, no pleasure 
like the thought which rules over the 
forces of the world, and writes the 
ordered caprices of its rich imagination 
on wood, iron and stone.” 
one may spend on them. 
This work divides itself into tw T o classes—restoring and remodeling. 
If you are fortunate enough to find an old farmhouse of good lines, 
architectural changes may not be necessary. If any additions are made, 
keep them in character with the original building. There is nothing 
worse than an Italian porch on a Colonial house. Should you wish to 
remodel, then remodel to the full—change the house over completelv. 
Let the Rural Gothic disappear behind half-timber and stucco or remove 
the dormers, flatten the roof and let your Italian ideas have full swing. 
Remember that half-way remodeling is deadly. 
Remember also that in any old house there are two rooms which must 
he brought up to date. Even more important than the architecture is 
the plumbing in kitchen and bathroom. See to this first. Make ade¬ 
quate preparation for labor-saving equipment. Bills from the plumber 
and electrician may stagger you, but this work must be done. 
It is also the better part of wisdom to make all your structural 
changes the first year. Otherwise you’ll have carpenters and plumbers 
and painters around the place until you are tired of them; the place 
will be in constant confusion and the grounds littered with the flotsam 
and jetsam of work. 
R EADING an architect’s plans is not always so simple a matter as 
. it may seem. To visualize the completed house from a set of 
blue prints requires thinking in three dimensions. Even with projec¬ 
tions of the faqades, the prospective builder may not quite see all that 
the design really holds—the depth of shadows, the proportion of wings, 
the massing of the chimney stacks, the relief of windows properlv 
placed. 
A great aid in visualizing a projected house is to have a model of it 
built. These toy houses are a luxury and yet, if owners only afforded 
them, they would be much more satisfied with the finished results. The 
model may even be made in sections, one section to each floor, so that 
the rooms can be studied. And then, when the house is finished, its 
model makes quite an interesting center for a group on a big table in the 
living room. 
These models can be made simple or elaborate, with paper walls and 
a paper roof, or finished in materials to simulate brick and stucco and 
slate. This depends on what the owner wants to pay. But if he does 
treat himself to a model, he should insist that it be surrounded with the 
general topographical character of the real setting—the slope of the 
land, the larger trees, the drives and walks. 
