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Show fy W.A. PADKMfej I Mr. William A. Radford will answer questions and give advice FREE OF COST on all subjects pertaining to the Bubject of building, for the readers of thin paper. On account of his wide experience as Editor, Author and Manufacturer, he is, without doubt, the highest authority on all these subjects. Address all inquiries to William A. Radford, No. 178 West Jackson boulevard, Chicago, 111., and only enclose two-cent stamp lor reply. Four rooms downstairs and five rooms upstairs are worked into the house design here shown, which has a width of 26 feet 6 inches and length of 41 feet 6 Inches, exclusive of the porch. . Some families require five bedrooms, something that is difficult to provide In a medium-sized house without squeezing them so small that you haven't room for a set of furniture furni-ture or space enough for necessary ventilation. In this plan there are two stairways, stair-ways, one going up from the front hail, and the other from the kitchen. Under the front stair is a good-sized closet to keep overcoats, rubbers and a good many other things that are not in use all the time a great convenience, conveni-ence, as every housekeeper will testify. tes-tify. A closet like this does away with the necessity for a hall hat-rack, a piece of furniture that should, have been discarded years?1 ago. It usually is unsightly because of the way it is generally cluttered up with an unnecessary un-necessary assortment of wearing apparel. ap-parel. The rear stairway is a combination com-bination which reaches from the cellar cel-lar to the upper bedrooms. The grade door at the side of the house makes a handy outside entrance to the cellar a convenience that is very much appreciated, especially where a good garden supplies fruit and vegetables for , the family. A grade entrance to the cellar saves a great deal of tramping through the kitchen, very often on wet days when considerable soil from the garden adheres ad-heres to one's boots in spite of every precaution. A door like this Bhould always be fitted with an outside fly- T lit tRi" lvrr floof 1 I ' ' ' 1 M rj-'o'ji W First Floor Plan. part of the house. It is bett w to put a little extra expense on the front stair, and tave that much in movable furniture. There is only one chimney necessary neces-sary in this house, but that is a good, big one It answers for the furnace and the kitchen range; also for grates one in the dining room, and one in the bedroom over the dining room. A 1 grate in a bedroom is a splendid thicit in time of sickness. Nothing w-ill brighten up a sick room like, a grate fire, and nothing else will ventilate a room so thoroughly. The gentle draft np chimney caused by a grate fire is the best air purifier ever introduced intro-duced into ft house. There is a passageway in this plan that communicates directly between the front ball door and the kitchen; but It is provided with two doors, which prevents cooking odors from the kitchen from penetrating the main part of the house. There are times when a connection of this kind is very convenient. In some parts of the country, most of the houses have direct communications through from CKT3 Second Floor Plan. the front .hall back to the outside kitchen door, without the necessity of passing through parlor or dining room; but in some houses this cannot be done, because the plan will not admit ad-mit of it without too much of a sacrifice sac-rifice in some other direction. It has become quite the fashion recently re-cently to do away with the parlor and to enlarge the living room in proportion; propor-tion; but there are a great many builders who think this is merely a w fi'. viif f ids '1LB4O ntv' SwFvCiV -X '"wi screen in summer and a storm door in winter. By making the fly-screen door-frame heavy and having it well braced;, the same door will answer throughout the year by having loose panels to screw on over the wire netting net-ting in the fall. It is no more work to put on the panels and to take them Dff than to change doors, and the expense ex-pense is much less. Th front stair is made of red oak. with one and one-half-inch treads neatly housed into the stringers and roundrai with a smooth, neat finish, but without unnecessary fancy work. When carefully put up, the stair is an attractive piece of cabinet work that adds very much to the appearance of the Sous. An open stair well con-Btrucieo- and nicely finished is a large part of the furnishing of the front passing fad and that women will never permit the old-fashioned parlor to drop entirely out of use. Every housekeeper house-keeper likes to have one room that may be fixed up as nicely as possible, where they can shut the door to keep the children out if they want to. keeping the room in good order for state occasions. In such houses the sitting room becomes a democratic institution. It usually is well lighted; as in this case; and it is in the center cen-ter of the house, where it is warm and comfortable in winter. This sitting sit-ting room is 13 by 15 feet, which is big enough to accommodate a number of comfortable easy chairs, and a table ta-ble for a reading lamp, with a shelf underneath to hold papers and magazines. maga-zines. Instead of the old-fashioned couch, the sitting room should be furnished with window seats upholstered to fit the place. There are all kinds of window win-dow seats. Some are broad and comfortable, com-fortable, while others are narrow and stringy; some are liberally supplied with thick, comfortable-looking pillows, pil-lows, While others have one or two skimpy little things that have been used by the children for playthings until clean covers would seem absolutely abso-lutely necessary. Such little details, however, fall to the housekeeper, and of these there are all kinds. Some women will make a very com mon room attractive and pleasant, while others will spoil the best houss you can put them in. Generally speaking, speak-ing, however, American women are quick to see the possibilities of fixing up a good house to make it comfortable comfort-able and attractive. The first requisite is to select the proper plan, then tc watch the building operations to see that all the details are properly worked up to make each room right when finished. A great deal of good building material has been wasted by not securing a good plan to starl with, and also by leaving the details to men who have no personal Interest In the house when finished. |