50 
House & Garden 
THE CHARM O F T H E QUIET HOUSE 
Proper 
T HE entrance to a house is like the tonic 
chord of a sonata. It gives one the 
key, the introduction to the atmosphere 
of the home. One really gets an impression of 
a home immediately upon entering the hallway. 
It is also true that on entering a house we are 
lured or repelled by the sounds in it, whether 
from the house itself or the people living there. 
If we are greeted by loud voices, slamming 
doors, creaking stairs, there is immediately the 
impression that this particular home is not well 
ordered and that the people in it are not at 
peace. But if we are at once enveloped by 
quiet and loveliness, a feeling of peace is sug¬ 
gested and involuntarily we expect to meet a 
charming family. 
The good architect always gives the builder 
a set of plans that should make a satisfactory 
house, but, as an eminent architect recently 
said, “It seems to be the aim of most builders 
to change every detail of the architect’s plan.’’ 
So it is a wise idea to watch the construction 
of your home so that when the house is actually 
built you will find it not only attractive to look 
at but so well constructed in every detail that 
there are no complaints to make as to leaks or 
noise or cold. If a house is built of good ma¬ 
terials, is well planned, is well put together, a 
sense of peace is apt to be the result. In order 
to accomplish this, every detail of the house 
must be considered, the windows and the doors, 
the stairs and floors. 
D UE to the high cost of building, heavy 
masonry is no longer always used in 
the division of rooms and the separat¬ 
ing of stairs from rooms. Where a slight par¬ 
tition only is required, there are on the market 
today asbestos, felt, and composition “boards” 
which render excellent service, and are often 
fireproof and soundproof. 
To shut away a nursery, these light weight, 
soundproof partitions are admirable. They 
not only leave a nursery perfectly quiet at 
night, shut away from all the disturbances of 
the house, but during the daytime they keep 
the family from hearing the play, the romping, 
or the unhappy times in the nursery. Of 
course, the arrangement of rooms, such as the 
relation of the nursery and kitchen to other 
parts of the house, has much to do with the 
peace of the home. The service end of the 
house should, so far as possible, be shut away 
by halls and doors, from too close communica¬ 
tion with the living part of the house. Think 
of this when you are planning your home. 
All uncovered floors are apt to be noisy no 
matter how well they are laid or how nicely 
they are finished. Whatever your floor, it 
should be well constructed, over an adequate 
sub-floor; if of wood, it should be put down so 
compactly that there is never a sound from it. 
But when it comes to quiet you must have car¬ 
pets or rugs. Bare floor never produces it, 
under any conditions. 
Construction and Good Equipment Well 
Will Reduce the Nuisance of Noise 
ETHEL R. PEYSER 
M ETAL weather strips! So important 
are they in relation to comfort and 
peace in the house that they should 
really be included in the specifications for the 
building of a home. Besides keeping out win¬ 
try blasts, they contribute much to a quiet 
atmosphere. In the first place, they help to 
keep the din of the street from indoors; also 
when they are applied to the interior doors, 
the noise from one room does not easily reach 
another. Windows that carry weather strips 
slide up and down easily. And a good word 
can be said of the weather-stripped door. A 
door with this silencer about it closes quietly 
and surely; even if one is in a hurry, the door 
does not show it. Another device for lessening 
the sound of doors shutting is a piston noise 
retarder. It has an air cushion which is at¬ 
tached to the frame of the door and the piston 
is fixed to the door. This keeps the door from 
slamming. Screen doors, which are of no use 
unless they shut quite tightly, should be fitted 
with this device. Children will bless it and so 
will the servants in the house. All these things 
should be considered both as to price and com¬ 
fort when you are planning your house, so that 
when you first begin to live in it you find peace 
and quiet, instead of a succession of irritating 
worries. 
A small device but one not to be regarded 
lightly, is a set of rubber or glass furniture 
protectors which, when affixed to the legs of 
any piece of furniture, makes it possible to 
move it about without noise and without any 
especial effort. These protectors also save 
the floor and keep the carpets from being worn 
and torn. They are easily attached and not 
expensive. 
The “silence cloth” on the dining table, 
whether made of cloth or asbestos, is another 
means of lessening disturbing sounds in a 
house. 
And in some homes I have known it to be 
a rule that all the servants should wear rubber 
heels. This not only lessens the noise in the 
house, but it mitigates, to a very great extent, 
the weariness felt by busy maids who are on 
their feet practically all day long. 
A great deal of the clattering sound in a 
kitchen can be avoided by lining the cutlery 
drawers with felt, so that when silver and 
knives are put away the clashing of pieces 
together is avoided. Pantries should be lined 
in the same way. This lining felt can easily 
be installed by pasting or tacking, and it is 
not expensive. 
A place for everything and everything in its 
place is an especially good idea in connection 
with the pots and pans in a kitchen. Much of 
the annoying sound from this source can be 
obviated by hanging the utensils, because most 
of the sound is due to the falling together of 
pots and pans as they are piled on top of 
each other when being put away on the shelves 
after use. 
Placed 
O NE of the chief offenders against the 
charm of the home in the matter of 
noise is cheaply constructed plumbing. 
This is not only unsanitary, but at times 
deeply embarrassing. Good plumbing is an 
absolute essential in the well-constructed 
house. Nothing will betray your economy so 
promptly as plumbing that is not of good ma¬ 
terials and well placed. It is necessary to get 
all your fixtures from the most reputable 
dealer, and have the best workman to put them 
in, and then you will save money in the long 
run and charm and peace will envelope the 
plumbing side of life. 
The bathtub with a water inlet so fixed that 
there is only a little noise for a few seconds or 
none at all is a point of perfection that manu¬ 
facturers are making every effort to attain. 
Perhaps the nearest to it is a device hung very 
low in the tub so that after the first few inches 
of water the faucet is covered, and the noise 
from the inflowing water is smothered. 
People who will not endure the slightest 
rattle or creaking in an automobile will live 
for months with a squeaking, leaking faucet. 
A slight adjustment will usually remedy the 
difficulty; sometimes only a washer is needed. 
And even an entirely new faucet is not a pur¬ 
chase with very serious consequences. 
As yet no way has been found to modify the 
noise of the telephone without lessening its ef¬ 
fectiveness. The telephone is rung to catch 
your attention and if we muffle the bell too 
completely we are liable to lose an important 
call. If you have a very noisy telephone bell 
in an apartment where every sound is heard, 
you can muffle it slightly with a little pad of 
absorbent cotton. This is an especially good 
thing to try where the sound of the bell dis¬ 
turbs an invalid or little children. 
R UGS are a delightful way to reduce 
noise in the hall. A long runner that 
goes the whole length of the hall and 
about half its width will keep your hall quiet 
for your own house and prevent its disturbing 
your neighbors. Of course, in a house where 
the hall is large and capacious, the surface is 
much more interesting covered with groups of 
rugs; a runner spoils its symmetry and a car¬ 
pet is less interesting. 
Quiet is one of the most difficult things to 
find these days in the city, and also one of the 
most essential things for one’s work and hap¬ 
piness and health. There is only one way to 
acquire it in the modern home and that is to 
look after every detail of your house at the 
very beginning. 
After all, the things that make for quiet are 
in the main little things. Yet it takes thought, 
some experience and a good deal of attention 
to detail at the beginning of making a home 
to insure in it that pervasive charm which 
must have for its foundation quiet throughout 
the house. 
