St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1873-08-08
Hints on Building a House.

ing series of letters on the above
subject, i'll answer to enquiries from a
friend, and below is the substance OF
one of them:
Do yOu really expect us to dispense
with sliding doors between the parlors
I'm sure that won't pass. We would
almost as soon give up the bay win
dows-everybody has them nowadays.
The architect replies: .'Everybody
has them :" What a monstrous load of
iniquity and nonsense that scape- goat
has to carry! Everybody wears tight
boots, and buStlcs and chignons and
stove pipe bats. Everybody smokes
and hrags and cheats in trade. not to
mention host of other denominations
! that can give only this excuse for their
/ being: They are common to few
millions of people who have not learned
t" declare Il reason for the faith that is
i'll them or the works that grow out Of
! them.
Let us take time to consider this
sliding door qucStion-folding doors
they used to he and. truly. I'm not sure
that the rollers are any improvement
on the hinges there is something dread
! fully barney about sliding doors Why
do you want either! You have one
room which you call the parlor. sup
/ posed to he the best in the house. as to
/ its location. its finish. its furniture and
its Use. Three of its walls are hand
>omely tresc0ed. curtained and decor a.
! ted with pictures OF other ornaments.
the fourth is one huge ba1ricade of pan
cl work. When the two parts are
closed you have Il constant fancy of
rheumatic currents stealing through the
cracks. and an ever-prescnt fear lest
they should suddenly fly open with I'M
petuous recoil. grating harsh thunder
on their wheels. and not exactly letting
I Satan in bat everything in the room
fall ont. An idle fear. for they can
only hc showed a>under by dint of much
pushing and pulling. especially if they
are warped 10y having one side exposed
10 more heat than the other. a> usually
happens. Being at last opened by hook
or crook another room is revealed.
commonly smaller. mere shabby in APP
peaIance. a sort of poor relation at
taclment. spelling the completeness
and artistic unity of the larger one.
by care you may avoid something of
this; if you follow the fashion you will
have the most of it. When the two
rooms are twins. alike in every respect.
they are really one larger room fitted
up. for economical reasons. with mov-
able screen in the centre. by means of
which Nou may warm excepting rheu-
matte currents as Hhove) and use one
half ut time. But call things by their
right names. Don't talk grandlv about
your two parlors when You mean two
halves of one. Have wide doors. by all
means. not only between rooms hut
into main hall four. six. or eight feet.
if the rooms are wide and high enough
that they shall not hc disproportionate-
-, ly Large. Then if You must have the
whole broad side of sliding or folding
doors. let the two rooms thus connec-
ted lac of different STYLES but equal rich
neS>-ditlcrent that they shall not seem
one room cut i'll two-pccrs that one
shall not shame and cheaper the other.
Doors are Il great bother at best. |
wish they could he abolished. They
are always Slaming. punching holes in
/ tie plastcring with their knobs. creak-
ing on their hinges. bruising the piano.
. plnchlng babies fingers and making old
folks see stars when they get up in the
night to look for burglars. Heavy cur
tains are infinitely more graceful. equal
ly warm, and not half so stuhbornly
unmanagcahlo. Then think of enter
ing il room. by her steps goddess is
revealed. hut who can walk like god
desS while forcing an entrance between
two sliding doors, maybe wedging fast
at half way through? ? How different
from passing in quiet dignity beneath
the rich folds of overhanging drapery
But suppose we must leave all that to
the Orientals. at present.
"Iou would almost as soon give up
the bay windows" Well. YOU might
Indignation boil. Bay windows are
very charming things. sometimes: some
times they are nuiSances. Some have
been SO appropriate and altogether
lovely that any peppcr-b0X cOntrivancc
thrusting itself out from the main walls
and looking three ways fOI Sunday is
supposed to he bower of beauty. a
perfect pharos of observation, an ahund-
ant recOmpense for uumitigated ugl
ness and Inconvenience in the rest OF
the building. Truly, well ordered
bay window will often change Il gloomy,
graceless room into a cheerful and ar
tistic one, but large, simple windows
are sometimes rather to he chosen than
too much bay. In many, perhaps the
majority, of cases, it is wiser to extend
the whole wall of the room in the form
of a half heXagOn or three sides of an
octagOn. costing no more. and repaying
the cost far more abundantly.
While on the subject let us finish it.
If yOu indulge in a regular bay window,
make it large enough to he of real use
don't feel constrained to build it with
more than fifteen sides remember that
two stories will not cost twice as much
as one, while the second is pretty GER
tain to be the pleasanter don't carry
the ceiling of the main room level and
unbrOken into the bay, or, because il
certain one you have seen looks well i'll
its place, resolve to have another Just
like it. regardless of its surroundings.
| sometimes fancy there must he Il fac
tory where bay windows are made for
the wholesale trade, all of one style,
strictly orthodox, tive-sided, bracketed,
blinded, painted with striped paint, and
ready to barnacle on wherever required.
In the stereotyped pattern the blinds
are apt to he troublesome. If outside.
they clash against each other and re-
fuse to be fastened open, while inside
they are a mighty maze of folds, flaps,
brass butts and rolling Stats. In the
first case, wide piers between the sash
are necessary; in the second, bookings
for the blinds. Both require ample
room, which, fortunately, you have.
Sixtbly, and in conclusion, there is no