The Washington herald., 1922-03-26
FIREPLACE MAKES
SHELL OF A HOUSE
DISTINCTIVE HOME
Adds Requisite Touch of
Comfort to Walls and
Decorations.

Four walls and roof do not
make a home. Be the walls ever
so solid. the roof ever so substan-
tial, II there are lacking the little
touches of individuality and COM
fort, the house remains merely a
house. the bare she'll of a home.
But suppose your house Is
equipped with the "Details of beauty
and utility. Immediately there is a
difference. The prospective buyer
sees then not merely vacant
house: his minds eve Immediately
Imagines it as his own home: he
pictures himself and his family
established there; he feels glow
Of pride in the thought of owning
such a home.
Perhaps the greatest lure to the
prospective home buyer Is found in
the fireplace. From time imme-
mortal the symbol of home has been
the hearth. The Romans made II
the focal point in planning their
rooms and throughout all ages Its
praises have been sung In litera-
ture and drama. What picture has
greater universal appeal than that
of a happy family grouped around
the fiickering flames in the long
winter evenings? 1t is remarkable
how a fireplace transforms an
otherwise ordinary room into a
place of honey attractiveness. All
activities group themselves about
1t.
Realtor builders are. of course,
universally awake to the import
ance of selling their homes to the
women of the community. Friend
husband may agree with you about
the advantages OF your heating
system and the excellent quality OF
your plumbing, but unless friend
wife is equally enthusiastic about
some feature of your house, the
deal Is of. Women are more sus-
ceptible to the points of beauty and
comfort than men and chief among
these points. in her way of think
ing. is the fireplace. Entering the
living-Toom, the woman's eye i'm
mediately locates and appraises the
fireplace. At once she begins to
think. with such a pretty fireplace.
and the plano here and the floor
lamp over there, this will be an at
tractive room" Already her minds
eye is building pictures OF what
she will do when the house is hers,
and once this sense of proprietary
pride is aroused, the rest Is easy.
Simply building a pile of brick
to look like a fireplace Is not
enough. The attraction lies in the
functioning of the fire. Home buy
crs want freplaces that will take a
good wood fire. they want mantels,
we'll designed with distinguished
lines. simple, and in good taste.
Wise builders OF. homes do not
bubble about the cost when they
are building nreplaces in their
home, for they know that in the
long run, cheap fireplaces are a
poor Investment. A fireplace is, first
OF all, decoration to a room. Any
interior decorator will tell you that
1t Is "the center OF interest" that
all other furnishings group them
selves about it. Therefore, a fire.
place that looks cheap and ugly
fails to fulfill its first mission. By
its very lines It must suggest COM
fort, taste, refinement.
Every fireplace should be used.
There are few people who can re-
sist the spell of a glowing hearth
fire, and the customer who finds
that his fireplace is a failure from
the mechanical standpoint is apt
to bear no great good will toward
the man who sold the house. But
a well-built, good-looking fireplace
cannot be installed without bring
ing excellent results. The general
public is constantly becoming bet
ter educated in the fundamentals
Of BODYBUILDING and home-fur-
nishing. and beauty Is no longer
considered an extravaganza.
Indeed that Is what our Ameri-
can housewives want in their homes
something that will distinguish
the individual home from that of
neighbor, something that bears
the stamp of individuality. And
nothing does this quite so easily
and completely as a fireplace, a
substantial. attractive hearth.
Since women are. in the end, the
buyers of homes. realtor builders
heed their whims and desires. And
there are few women who fail to
respond to the charm of a fireplace.