Evening star., 1926-06-12
BY NORMAN H. BARNES.

Assistant Secretary. Electric League of
Washington, d. c.
The city-wide interest aroused by
The Evening Star in its sponsoring of
model homes is causing present and
future home owners to give a great
deal of thought to the many different
details that go to making house a
modern, model home. The happy part
of the whole plan is the fact that
there is no line drawn as to class or
financial status. Every one of the
near half million of Washingtonians
and suburbanites can know that there
IS model home planned for their in
come.
Outstanding among the many fea-
lures of a home that can be classed
as model is the electrical installation.
Too many people feel that If it has
electricity their home has the best.
This, of course, is a sad error. for to
secure proper results both from a
viewpoint of health and of comfort ad-
equate and carefully planned electri-
cal installations are essential.
Several Points Involved.
Consider the living room. The elec
trfcal installation here should accom-
Dlish several separate duties: First, it
should provide proper illumination for
reading and other utilitarian purposes;
second, ii should provide sufficient out
let's for the use of labor saving. home
making appliances and enough switch
es to control outlets serving different
duties; and third, it should provide
means for painting with light, a
means for setting off the room with
decorative lights that can be changed
with the changing seasons.
The best and most modern means
for accomplishing the first of the du-
ties of the electrical installation in
the living room is through the use of
a number of portable lamps. No easy
chair. sofa or bookcase can afford to
be left without its own lamp. To sink
into a chair with the real estate sec
tion of The Evening Star on Satur-
day evening and TO reach only few
inches to produce a flow of soft, even
light where it is wanted indeed is solid
comfort. The manner in which to
make possible this electrical utility,
to have light where it is wanted, is
simple enough. \ duplex convenience
outlet every 10 running feet of the
Dashboard around the four walls of
the room will do the job adequately.
And here is where the feature of cost
well applies-in the larger home the
room is larger, more outlets are need
ed; but because of the smaller room
in the less expensive house the cost
the fewer running feet of base
board"
Must Relieve Labor.
The second duty of the electrical
installation in the living room is to
provide for the use of labor -Sa wing
devices and for proper switch control
of the entire equipment. For the
vacuum cleaner which is used each
day, there should be an outlet three
feet from the floor. to eliminate stOop-
ing once a day to plug in the little
servant and put it to work. This same
outlet can be applied from the chair
of the hostess, when she is entertairs
ing the bridge club in the afternoon
and serves dainties electrically pre-
pared on the serving table. For other
devices which are constantly being
used, the fans, the heaters and a num-
Der of others which are not moved
frequently, the Dashboard outlets al
ready provided for will be available
If it is remembered to always install
duplex outlets-which have double
utility About the switch control.
wherein many a step may be saved
and often many bumps and bruises
avoided.
First, of course, for the main light
ing of the room there should be Il
switch at the entrance in the hallway.
There should also be a switch to con-
troll the auxiliary lighting, of which
more will be said little later. In
all living rooms there are at least
two entrances or exits. It should
never be necessary to cross this i'm
portant room in the dark. and should
never be impossible to turn off the
lights when leaving the room, no
matter which door is taken. There
fore, there should be a switch con-
trolling the main lighting at each
door leading into the living room.
Decoration Is Important.
The third of the electrical jobs in
i- IN Mt