Evening star., 1925-08-02
COUPLE DEFEATS !
HIGH LIVING COST
Mr.. and Mrs. Saunders Built
Own Home Before and
After Work.

Comfortably settled in the attractive
home they built with their own hands.
Mr.. and Mrs. James W. Saunders of
5515 Sherrier place have about come
TO the conclusion that whoever manu-
factured that oft-repeated phrase,
"the high cost of living" got his
adjectiveS transpoSed.
Having built large, comfortable
home without going into one cents
worth of debt for 1t, purchased an
other building lot as an investment
in the same block and traded in their
older and smaller model touring car
and some cash for a brand-neW auto
mobile with a considerably more eX-
pensive name, both agree that the
wording should have been the cost
of high living"
Both Mr.. and Mrs. Saunders have
spent most of their lives in Washing
ton with the exception of an interim
of several years just prior TO 1915
Because of the i'll health of Mrs
Saunders it was necessary for them
to move West and they did not re
turn until the close of 1915. When
thev stepped from the train they
just possessed $500 in cash and a lot
of determination to come back
Drew Own Plans.
Mr.. Saunders obtained a position as
estimator in the navy yard. Mrs
Saunders accepted few roomers into
her home. Then they decided they
should build as quickly as possible,
but there was no money available To
start the operations and not much
chance of getting it. Finally Mr.
Saunders decided to build the home
himself and Immediately started in
by drawing his own plans.
The lot. located just a block below
the Conduit road on Sherrier place
was obtained by paying s25 month
for the first four months, and S10 Il
month until the balance was settled
/ Then Mr.. Saunders hired some men
TO dig the excavations for the founda.
ton and from then on completed the
structure himself, with the assistance
of his wife, Mrs. Lena Baldwin Saun-
ders
Mr.. Saunders began by making the
large concrete blocks for the founda-
! ton. His plans called for 1900 of
| these blocks and he made 10 day,
! before going to work in the morning.
| and in the evening hauled them TO the
| site of the house in an automobile,
| placed them in position and cemented
| them together. Gradually the house
| began to rise above its foundation,
| always spurring its builders on TO
| greater effort.
Moved in IncompIeted Home.
| About a year after it had been
started. the house Mr.. and Mrs
Saunders occupied in the city was
/ ordered changed to business place
! and they We're obliged to move I'm
/ daunted, they boarded up enough of.
| their uncompleted home 10 keep II
warm and moved in About two wears
ago the house was entirely completed.
an attractive two-story structure with
seven rooms, two baths and three
| porches.
1t was hard pull" j" Mrs Saunders
! said, but now il is all over we are
| more proud of our home than if we
| have spent thousands of dollars on
| II. | don't believe we could possibly
tell how much it cost. but I do know
| We didn't borrow cent. We paid
for the whole thing out of what we
could save from Mr. Saunders salary
and the little money l made while
kept roomers. =
Mr.. and Mrs. Saunders spared no
| finer details. either. Their floors are
hardwood and the baseboards and
stair balustrades are quartered oak
No paper adorns the walls. Every
wall is artistically painted All of
| this was done by Mr.. and Mrs Saun-
ders, too, with the exception of the
borders, which they employed an
artist to complete. And now that
their nest is feathered, both have
settled back 10 take the rest of their
lives easy.