The Columbia evening Missourian., 1922-12-16
BUILDER NEEDS BOTH
DREAMS AND MORTAR


ing than building castles in Spain. In
the latter, only dreams are used for ma
terial, while che former requires both
dreams and mortar. Building a house
means weeks and weeks of planning the
structure. Each room, door, hall and
porch require long hours of dreams.
Then the flooring, woodwork and paper
must be carefully determined before
hand and each little detail must be thor
oughly studied. IL is an interesting
game, his one Of home-building, and is
like block games children delight in
playing. They take few blocks and
upon these are built various Structures
houses, schools, churches and bridges.
The home-builder does not use children's
blocks, but paper and pencil are utilized
in making designs and dream houses"
become realities as the sketched designs
are used by the contractor.
Two Columbia women have recently
built a unique little bungalow out in the
southeast part of town. 1t is a small
house and modelled sofnewhat after Cali
fornia homes with their low roofs and
small porches. These women did not
consult an architect but planned the
little home themselves. They studied
different plans in magazines and news
papers, observed other houses and noted
the likable features of each. They then
consulted contractor who helped them
considerably in planning their dream
house" They wanted ii just a little diff
ferent from anything in Columbia, yet
not too different to be completely out of
contrast with lis surroundings.
The house was fininshed exactly as
planned, they said, except for the dimen-
sions. They said they were unable to
visualize dimensions and had TO adopt
the pioneer method of stepping off the
distance and when the house was CON-
pleted it lacked few feet from meeting
the desired space.
Many persons say the finished house
cost much more than they at first intend
ed. This was not so regarding the bun
galow built by these women, as the total
cost was only a few more dollars than
they had planned TO spend. Costs can
be determined, they say, by consulting
the contractor and other people who
have built homes as well as a careful
figuring on the specifications.
When a woman builds house, she
pays more attention TO the conveniences
than does man. This can be partly ex-
planned because a woman spends the
greater part of her time at home while
the man is busy in his office or shop
most of the day. For instance, man
would not concern himself with the color
of the wallpaper, the design Of the wood
work or windows, but this falls naturally
into a woman's line of thought. She
plans color schemes in her dresses and
hats and it is not long jump to plan
color schemes for the interior decora-
lions Of house. Then the man would
spend little thought over built-in furni-
ture, but if it is to tighten the burden
of housework, the woman would see to it
that the conveniences were installed.
A Kansas City architect who visited in
Columbia for several days said he has
many humorous and pathetic experiences
in his work. Young married couples
who have saved up a small nestegg come
to him to help them plan their new
home. They have nearly always figured
the cost several hundred dollars less than
what it will finally be and some of them
become almost broken-hearted when he
tells them tina. they haven't enough
money to carry out their plans.
"One time said the architect, "a
young couple came into my office and
told me they had worked and saved for
four years and wanted to build home.
] looked at the poor little girl and could
see what she had told me was true. She
had on dress which was faded and very
much out of style. Her hat looked as if
il had been worn for four or five years.
Her husband was not much better off.
He had on a blue serge suit which had
been worn so slick that l could almost
see myself in it. They showed me their
handbook and then laid the sketches of
their proposed house on my work table.
| looked them over and then began
figuring on the cost. When had COM
pleted the estimates / looked over at the
smiling couple and | could see the hopes
and dreams of youth. could hardly
keep the tears back when | said to them,
4 am afraid you lack about $500 of hav-
ing enough money The poor little wom-
an almost broke down, but she finally
controlled herself and taking her hus-
band by the arm she said, Come on,
Charley, | guess We can save that much
in another year.