Omaha daily bee., 1908-09-06

More mistakes are probably made in the
building of fireplaces than in any other
one. feature OF the house, both as to a
structural build and artistic appearance.
Taking up the latter first. the home
builder is advised to have his architect de-
sign the fireplace and have 1t built es-
p~ecially for him. There are but very few
ready-made mantels on the market that are
worthy of going into any modern home. The
extreme of oddly, inharmony and freakish-
ness seems to have been reached by cabinet
makers in the designing OF some modern
fireplaces and built-in sideboards. A plain
brick fireplace, with a tile hearth, a neat
shelf projecting ten or twelve inches and a
plastered wall above on which to hang an
oil painting looks far better, shows better
-aste and is less expensive than most ready
made mantels. Mirrors in mantels are no
longer considered in good taste. Red is a
good color for a brick mantel. although
there are several shades of buff and other
colors which made neat-appearing mantels.
II desired the mantel can be of tile or of
stone. When the latter is used, however,
1t is not advisable to burn coal in the fire
place, as the intense heat is apt to chip the
stone work off on the edges toward the fire.
Coming to the construction of the fireplace,
here is where most masons meet their
Waterloo. In the first place. do not crowd
on the size of the flue. There is such a
thing as getting the flue too large, but for
the average fireplace the flue should be
about twelve inches square inside, or about
one-tenth of the size of the fireplace open
ing. The best size for the fireplace inside
measurements, II 1t is to be for a wood fire,
is four feet wide, two and one-half feet
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mansions can. of course, he reduced to
three feet wide, or even thirty inches. two
feet high and sixteen inches deep. For a
wood fire. however, it is not advisable to
make the fireplace opening less than three
feet wide, for an opening smaller than this
does not radiate enough heat. The brick
arch above the fireplace opening SHOULD
never, under any consideration, be greater
than four inches from the outside face OF
the fireplace to the throat. For II greater
than this the underside of the arch projects
over the fire so far that some OF the smoke
heats Il and is DETECTED into the room. The
throat should be about three inches by the
full width of the fireplace opening.
A very important thing to take into con-
sideration when considering the practical
side of home building is the front entrance
vestibule. Many people in building their
homes apparently do not take into consid-
Grafton the real object of a vestibule at the
front door and they make this feature so
small and cramped that its usefulness is
lost and It becomes a nuisance. The vesti-
bule, TO be practical, should be large enough
to allow the hostess to close the inside door
behind her, admit her guests, close the out
side door and then enter the hall. In this
way the cold north wind does not force it's
way into the house and but little heat Is
lost. Taking the average small boX-like
vestibule. here is the program;
The lady Of the house enters the vesti-
bule, but in order TO open the outside door
she must leave the inside door open in order
to back in and allow for the swing OF the
outside door. Her guest, who is so glad TO
see her, must. Of course, shake hands and
the lady Of the house gradually pulls her
into the hall during that ceremony, then
leaves her abruptly to go and close the ont
side door. In the meantime the entire
house has been flooded with the north wind