November, 19 21 
33 
Wooden Gutter worked 
out of solid piece 
start until you know them by heart. 
You never realize how many times you 
can change your mind, or how swiftly, 
or how little you know your own mind, 
until you begin to work over floor plans 
for your own home; the time to make 
changes is when you are making plans. 
Getting Proportions 
When you feel pretty confident that 
you are getting a satisfactory and con¬ 
venient arrangement of your rooms in 
harmony with the style of your house, 
then give your drawings to your archi¬ 
tect. Have a good talk with him and 
ask him to work them over a bit for you 
so that you get some idea of accurate 
proportion, not actual scale, but just 
accurate enough for you to see what you 
don’t want and to make some more 
changes. Then with everybody who is 
going to have a word to say about this 
house gathered around the table go 
through every detail from garret to cellar, 
talk over the placing of the rooms and 
the constructional equipment. Plan your 
plumbing, heating, lighting and ventila¬ 
tion. Decide whether you will use elec¬ 
tricity or gas, whether you will heat with 
hot air or hot water or vapor. Eventually 
all these details must go in your plans 
and specifications. The more time you 
give to your house now, the less time you 
will give to changes and repairs later on. 
Tell your architect, if you can, just where 
you will place your radiators and just 
where you want your lights. 
After all, very few people build more 
than one home in a lifetime and the 
only possible way to achieve this home 
is to work over your floor plans until 
they are the very essence of the house you 
are going to build. I do not believe that 
anyone is ever completely satisfied by 
The method of 
laying up a 
chimney is 
shown, making 
clear that much- 
abused building 
phrase “flashing” 
Chimney Flashing 
This plan of a 
“double - hung” 
window will 
show you that 
an apron is not 
always an article 
of dress 
This chart of a wall elevation will help you to help the 
builder do exactly what you want him to, because you 
will speak his language 
o 
Ornamental Cap 
on Me fad "leader' 
turning an order for a house over to an 
architect and decorator. You may get 
something very magnificent, the chances 
are that you will. Your house will be 
in some very beautiful and definite 
period and your furniture will be appro¬ 
priate and you will have absolutely noth¬ 
ing to complain of (and that is always a 
drawback) but it will not be your home, 
it will not express your idea of beauty, 
your hope of comfort, your love of con¬ 
venience. And so I am very much in 
favor of working with the architect from 
start to finish, having your home an in¬ 
dividual expression, even if you have 
some very blue days in the midst of 
changing plans; even in those solemn 
hours when the architect disagrees with 
you. 
The Rooms 
While you are working over your 
plans, it is an interesting idea to imagine 
that you are living in the house, walking 
about from room to room. You already 
know the view you wish out of your win¬ 
dows and you have settled the problem 
of the fireplaces and whether or no you 
are to have a sunroom or a porch, but as 
you move around your house you wonder 
whether you want a separate dining 
room, or whether you will have a dining 
corner in your living room with a screen 
in front of the table, or whether you will 
build in an alcove. It is well to consider, 
if you have to think of finances, that a 
dining room well placed and pleasantly 
furnished will add from $1,200 to $2,000 
to the cost of your house. If you are 
going to have such a room you do not 
want it too small, and dining room fur¬ 
niture is always expensive. 
If you keep but one maid or by any 
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