Evening star., 1936-04-19

lmost anything from putting on fresh paint
choosing wall papers, or having some of
ne furniture re-upholstered, to tearing the
Dof off or pulling some of the walls down.
z Between these two extremes - the first of
Rhich requires no more ability than choosing
sa&hat one thinks attractive, and the last of
'hich should be attempted only by an expert
are hundreds of midway remodelings that
an be done by almost any owner who knows
hat he wants, assisted by good builder
Or, let us say. that you are rather forced
ITO being your own architect because the
ob is too small to be worth while for a
professional. Since altering small house can
axe as much of an architects time as build
lg new big one. and end in being an actual
financial loss to him. there are lots of things
hat owners of taste but with not very deep
ocketbooks should, if they are wise, learn to
10 for themselves.
So, let us say you have for a long time been
alking to a local carpenter and contractor
about putting an addition on your house
perhaps enlarging your living room and giving
you an extra bedroom or bath and closets, or
whatever, over it. And the contractor shows
you an elevation which gives an impression
of what the result will look like to Just about
one person in thousand. At least |, for one,
have my whole life long been used to archi-
tectural plans of all descriptions. Yet even
to me the apparent oversize of the roof and
all absence of perspective make about as un-
appealing a picture of house as is an ana
tomcal chart of person.
My own pet plan, as some of my readers
know. is to take snapshots of the house as
it is, face on both side faces, and back. Then
have dozen prints made - enlarge them if
your camera takes tiny ones and expert
ment by cutting away with scissors whatever
is to come off, and then drawing on what is
to be changed or added. 1t is extraordinary
how accurately the results can be seen. BY
cutting the picture off at the roof edge and
either pushing it up or pulling it down, you
can'see perfectly what raised or lowered roof
will do. You can see how it will look with
dormer windows or new door drawn and
pasted on.
In fact, you can see astonishingly well with
the toughest sort of outlines drawn right on
the photographs with pen and ink. If you cut
away porch, you can get the effect of plain
wall behind by pasting pieces cut from the
plain wall of another photograph behind the
cut places Then, of course, draw whatever is
1 to go in place of the porch. Or if you have no
suitable pieces, then use white paper and with
grey pencil you can tint to match the print
You can try cutting off, adding on, and re-
making to your hearts content.
If you succeed in getting what you like,
then when it looks right, find out how big it
must be by seeing where the height or width
comes on the building. At all events, you can
come close enough to decide what can - or
can not - be done. Perhaps this is reckless
advice = but it seems to me safe to go on with
the building because myself have done this
smany times.
q My own very irregular house had COM
zpletely changed roof and second story built
ION, with nothing for the contractor to go by
except few definite measures supplemented
by scribblings in ink upon snapshots. And yet.
in case this sounds misleadingy easy, must
hdd that roof lines should be placarded with
Ia warning: Take Care!," since nothing is
more important to the beauty of house than
/ Its roof detail, and nothing is more exacting
bf skill
IA The right heights, the right pitch, the right
width of cave, the right cornice, the right
oofing, and the perfect adjustment of one
ApUIo to apothar fheSo are not within the