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are figured on a proper basis, a satisfactory site
for a moderate-priced home can be purchased for $1,000 in the town of
our choice.
We have made it clear to ourselves that a home--anyone's
home--should be much more than a house plumped down upon any bit
of ground that will hold it. When we come to consider the house itself,
we are confronted by the knowledge that here the tastes and habits, as
well as the size and resources of the family, must govern the decision
of many problems considered. Numbers alone are not always a fair
guide, for sometimes the man or the woman of the house, or the baby,
counts for much more than one in figuring space requirements.
We have in mind here that we are a family of four, that we have an
income of from $1,500 to $2,500, and that we are prepared to spend or
obligate ourselves to spend from $2,000 to $3,500 for a house to go on
a lot to cost $1,000. The house we think of would be not too large for

two and certainly would comfortably accommodate five or even six,
depending upon their relations to one another. The extremes of income
mentioned would scarcely affect our plans, and the difference in cost is
accounted for by the choice of nonessentials and not by differences in
the principal features of the house.

STYLE
Now, if we have already set our hearts upon having a house just like
that "love of a place" we saw in Wayout-on-the-Hill the other day, we
shall have to reconsider the entire lot proposition. We may as well face
the fact that the house which is everything appropriate and artistic in
one place may in another be simply grotesque. In this phase of the
selective work we will profit by the advice of the architect, if he be
something of an artist and not simply a draughtsman. At any rate, if we
have the lot, let us decide what style of house should be on it; if we are
surely settled upon the house, then by all means let us get a lot it will
fit--and have a care, too, with regard to the style of architecture (or lack
of it) in our prospective neighbors' houses.
There have been two extremes in later American home
architecture--overornamentation and absolute disregard for appearance.
The first arose from a feeling that every dollar spent in the interest of
art (!) should be so gewgawed to the outer world that all who passed
might note the costliness and wonder. The second extreme had its birth
in an elementary practicality that believes anything artistic must be
both extravagant and useless.
None of us can afford to build a house merely for its artistic qualities.
Yet we feel that we owe it to our neighbors and to the community to
make the house sightly. Most of all, we owe it to ourselves, for the
product of our plans will be the concrete expression of our personality.
Fortunately showiness is neither necessary nor desirable; while artistic
qualities are not so much a matter of money as of thought. A few days
ago, in a suburb of a Western city, I passed two houses recently
constructed. One was simply an enlarged drygoods box with a few

windows and doors broken into its sides--altogether a hideous
disfigurement to the charming spot on which it was erected. Across the
way stood the other cottage, with the same number of rooms as its
vis-à-vis, but really exquisite in its simple beauty. And the latter, I was
told, though equally spacious, cost less than the monstrosity across the
way! Into the one, there was put thought; into the other none. Can we
resist an opinion as to which home will be happier?

SIZE
Should we be somewhat limited in funds, we may have to make a
selection between a large house finished in cheaper materials and a
small house of the best quality all through. Doubtless much of the
"hominess" that attaches us to some houses is due to their snugness, but
not all of it. Size is secondary to adaptation to the family requirements.
Waste space is an abomination, because it adds unnecessarily to the
burden of the housekeeper; yet to be so cramped that everything must
be moved every day is not a satisfactory alternative. There should be
some reserve not only for emergencies but for future needs that may be
foreseen. As the children grow up they will demand more room, and we
shall want to give it to them. If we do not care to maintain surplus
space for possible needs, the house should at least be planned with a
view to making additions that will be in keeping with the general effect
and