The Complete Home | Page 2

permanent abode. We believe in harmony of surroundings, but after
living, within a period of ten years or so, in seven different apartments
with seven different arrangements of rooms and seven different
schemes of decoration, we lose interest in suiting one thing to another.
Harmony comes to mean simply good terms with the janitor. Or if
(being beginners) we have some such prospect of nomadic living facing
us, and we are at all knowing, we realize the utter helplessness of
demonstrating our good taste, purchase any bits of furniture that a
vagrant fancy may fasten upon, and give space to whatever gimcracks
our friends may foist upon us, trusting that in the whirligig of removals
the plush rocker, the mission table, and the brass parlor stand may each
find itself in harmony with something else at one time or another. Some
day we shall be freed from the tyranny of these conditions and then----!

RESPONSIBILITIES
But when the time comes to declare our independence of landlord and
janitor, or at least to exchange existence in a flat for life in a rented
cottage, we find that freedom brings some perplexing responsibilities as
well as its blessings. Even if our hopes do not soar higher than the

rented house, there is at least the desire for a reasonable permanency,
and we have no longer the excuse of custom-bred transitoriness to
plead for our lack of plan. Where the home is to be purchased for our
very own the test of our individuality becomes more exacting. A house
has character, and some of the standards that apply to companionship
apply to it. In fact, we live with it, as well as in it. And if we have a
saving conscience as to the immeasurability of home by money
standards we are not to be tempted by the veriest bargain of a house
that does not nearly represent our ideals. To blunder here is to topple
over our whole Castle of Hope.

RENTING, BUYING OR BUILDING
But the test is most severe of all when good fortune permits us to
choose locality, site, and building plans, and to finish and furnish the
house to suit our tastes, even though less in accordance with our full
desires than with our modest means. Now we may bring out our theory
of living from its snug resting place. It will need some furbishing up,
maybe, to meet modern conditions, but never mind!
Whether we mean to rent, to buy, or to build, the problem of where and
what and how is before us. As folk of wholesome desires, we insist first
of all upon good taste, comfort, and healthfulness in our habitats; and
since we may agree upon the best way to attain these essentials without
ignoring our personal preferences in details, we may profitably take
counsel together as to what the new home should be.

LOCATION
Thought of a location should begin with the birth of the home idea,
even if the purchase-money be not immediately available. We should
not only take sufficient time to study conditions and scheme carefully
for the home, but must sagaciously bear in mind that where real estate
is in active demand anxiety to purchase stiffens prices. To bide one's
time may mean a considerable saving. However, life, as we plan now to

live it, is short enough at most, and we should not cheat ourselves out
of too much immediate happiness by waiting for the money-saving
opportunity.
The question of neighborhood, if we decide to remain within city limits,
is a difficult one. In most of the larger places no one can accurately
foretell the future of even the most attractive residence district.
Factories and business houses may not obtrude, but flats are almost
sure to come. Few cottages are being constructed in cities, partly
because of lack of demand, but principally because they do not pay
sufficient income on the investment. Consequently the houses that are
to be had are seldom modern. Sometimes they pass into the hands of
careless tenants and the neighborhood soon shows deterioration. Still, if
we are determined to remain in the city and take our chances, it is
possible by careful investigation to discover congenial surroundings.
Many of the essential tests of the suburban home that we shall discuss
hereafter will apply also to the house in a strictly residence district of a
large city; practically all of them to the house in a smaller town.

CITY OR COUNTRY
The chances are, however, that we shall choose the suburb. But before
we desert J 72, or whatever our shelf in the apartment building may be,
we may well remind ourselves that we are also to desert some of the
things that have made city life enjoyable. For one thing, with all