A COTTAGE 
■*» BUILT ‘f STUCCO 
By G. BERTRAND MITCHELL 
Mr. Mitchell is by profession illustrator, figure painter and interior decorator. He claims little knowledge of architectural 
detail and wishes it stated that while no architect was employed in supervising the construction of the house described below, 
assistance was received from a competent source on many of its features and in the delineation of the plans and in the preparation of 
the specifications.— Editor. 
Y OU have heard, perhaps, of the lady who cut a 
hole through the roof to make room for an old- 
fashioned high posted bedstead. It was highly 
important, apparently, that the bedstead should be 
set up at whatever cost it might be to the house. 
Some such problem faced us in planning our little 
suburban home. Not only must the house be com¬ 
plete in itself as a comfortable and practical establish¬ 
ment, but it must contain a working room or studio 
of suitable dimensions, and yet cover in itself no 
more space than that of the usual cottage house. 
At first, we decided to have the studio as an exten¬ 
sion or ell, and plans were prepared and submitted 
to the local contractors, hut the bids ran far beyond 
what we had planned to expend. We tried builders 
from adjoining towns, and still the studio figured 
almost an extra half to the cost of the house. 
Disappointed but not' discouraged, we allowed 
the matter to rest until after the summer vacation. 
By that time we felt convinced that the problem had 
been solved and plans were again submitted in which 
the great working room was a part of the second floor 
of the house. We commenced budding in the fall 
of 1903 with a carpenter’s contract that was within 
our proposed expenditure. 
Of course there were many other things to be 
taken into consideration. One of these was to plan 
a style of architecture that would be in keeping with 
140 
THE HOUSE 
