JOURNEY THROUGH THE HOUSE.--PORCH.--VESTIBULE.--HALL.--LONG HALLS
AND SQUARE HALLS.--THE HALL THAT IS A ROOM.--RECEPTION
HALL.--PARLOR.--SITTING-ROOM.--DINING-ROOM.
In this section of the book we will make a journey through the house,
stopping at various points of interest long enough to give general
consideration to the details. From the principles herein derived, the
plans subsequently given are constructed.
Every house should have a front porch. It should be wide,--if possible,
eight feet, that one may sit at a distance from the railing and afford a
space for others to pass behind. The porch is a protection to the front
part of the house from the sun, wind, and, partially, from the cold.
Nothing can be pleasanter than to sit on a shady porch during the warm
part of the day or in the evening. It is an auxiliary to the vestibule.
The front door should be wide--three or three and a half feet. Double
doors look very nice from the outside, but they are not as convenient or
as easily handled as the single door. The door-bell should be at the
right-hand side. The threshold should be elevated from three to six and
a half inches above the porch floor.
VESTIBULE.
In the plans that are given, various arrangements of vestibules are
shown. In a few instances, direct entrances into the hall and
reception-room are indicated, but such an entrance is not as desirable
as where there is a vestibule. The arrangement of a vestibule for
hat-rack, umbrella-stand, and other conveniences, changes the hall into
an available room. Take, for instance, plan No. 16, page 153. At the
right, as one enters, is a little closet; in it are hooks. At one side
is an umbrella-stand; on the floor is a place for overshoes. Here one
may arrange himself before going into the hall or reception-room. This
is altogether better than having to pass across to one side of the hall
or room, in order to find a place to deposit overshoes, wraps,
umbrellas, etc. It saves work. If this vestibule have a hard-wood floor,
and on it is placed a rug, one may stand there and divest himself of
that which he would not carry into the house, and go into the room in
good order, leaving the muddy overshoes, and the possible dampness of
his umbrella and overcoat, behind him. This arrangement saves work; mud
is not carried into the room. It is a very simple matter to care for the
vestibule; the rug on the floor may be taken to the outside, and the
deposit of mud and dust readily removed. It is well to have a small
mirror at the side, or in the rack. The plan mentioned is merely
suggestive, and does not apply to all houses. By looking through the
plans given, various arrangements may be seen. In some of them there is
no vestibule. Not all housekeepers want the same arrangement. Again,
others do not care to pay for a vestibule. In other instances, the hall
is too small to admit of one. As said before, a good vestibule changes
the hall into a room. It makes a reception-hall tolerable, because it is
not necessary to deposit there many things which should have another
location. A vestibule does not properly serve its purpose where there is
no room or arrangement for depositing wraps, etc. The closet part of the
vestibule, shown in the cut, can, perhaps, be omitted, and hooks
arranged around the wall sides. A curtain could be hung across the space
occupied by the closet door: however, all these details are matters of
taste and disposition. In the opening between the hall and vestibule may
be placed tapestry curtains; these are sufficient storm protectors from
the outside door, especially if the hall register is placed near it. No
one who has not tried it, can realize the amount of protection from the
weather that is afforded by a heavy curtain. It is not necessary or
desirable that a door be placed in the opening from the vestibule to the
hall.
HALL.
This part of the house may be hall, reception-hall, or room. It is a
hall or passage frequently, and not provided with a vestibule. It may be
a hall from its shape; it may be a room for the same reason. It may be
of no use as a room, if the stairway is improperly placed. The house
arranged with a long, narrow hall, having the stairway at the side, is
essentially wasteful of room. Such hall space is usually dark and gloomy
as well as crowded. A hall eight feet wide and twenty feet long,
contains one hundred and sixty square feet of floor-surface, though only
a limited portion of it is available, on account of the shape of the
space which remains after the stairway is placed. A hall twelve by
thirteen feet contains one hundred and fifty-six square feet, but a
great deal more available room. The space not occupied by the stairway
is in better shape. A hall of this shape partakes of the nature of a
room, and may be used as such. In the plan referred to a window-seat is
shown. This window-seat may be used as a seat in warm weather, and, if
the front is in the proper direction, as a conservatory in the winter.
There are many such arrangements as this shown in the book.
The hall, in most of the plans, is a key to the whole arrangement. It
has been a common, objectionable practice during the past few years to
build houses of moderate cost, so that the hall is along one side with
its entrance to the front, and the parlor next to it; back of the parlor
is the sitting-room, and the hall opens into the dining-room; back of
the dining-room is the kitchen, and so on to the extreme rear with
summer-kitchen, pantry, etc. This makes a long house with only one room
in front on the first floor, and one chamber and alcove facing the
street on the second. Thus the hall serves only as a passage-way. The
living-room has no front view. To obviate this, the halls in the plans,
that are considered with most favor, are arranged to be used as rooms,
and the vestibules are built so that such a thing is possible. If the
hall is to be used as a vestibule, the hat-rack and other arrangements
for hanging wraps, and the umbrella-stand, etc., are placed as near the
front as possible. Where this is not done there must necessarily be a
track from the front to the back, as a mark of travel.
The stairway may start at one side, and should lead towards the centre
of the house. The nearer it can be started to the rear of the hall, the
better; this gives more room in front. Sometimes the stairway is started
immediately in the rear of the reception-hall, or from an alcove space
at one side; these are good arrangements, depending, of course, upon
other conditions. Upon one side, or in the rear, should be placed a
grate. Nothing can be pleasanter when coming in from a disagreeable
outside than an open-grate fire; this needs no argument. Under the
stairway, or in some convenient nook, it is well to have a lavatory. The
hall should be arranged as a centre from which to pass to the parlor,
living-room, and dining-room. It is important to consider in this
connection that the hall, and the stairway in it, should be placed so
that the stair-landing above is in the centre of the house. Thus we have
in the centre of the building only a small hall as a starting-point;
hence less waste room. When the stairway lands near the front wall on
the second floor, a passage must be provided to the rear of the house.
Where the landing is in the centre, we have only to pass into rooms
without extra steps through long halls. For example, see plan No. 1,
page 110.
Not every one cares to use the front hall as a reception-room. There is
certainly no objection to naming and using it otherwise.
RECEPTION-HALL, PARLOR, AND SITTING-ROOM.
During recent years there is more of a disposition to live all over the
house; one reason for this is the improved heating arrangements. The
terms sitting-room, parlor, reception-room, mean less in a distinctive
sense, and are used largely for the purpose of classification. We will
consider the parlor and the sitting-room in the same connection. The
parlor has lost the awful stiffness of times past. It is now a
reception-room.
In a house where there is a reception-hall in front, and the
sitting-room to one side, both having a distinct front view, as is shown
in many of the plans, a lady may occupy the front room and have her
children and work around her, if desirable. A caller may be received in
the reception-room; these, however, are matters of individual
preference. The vestibule may be planned so that it will have an
entrance to both reception-room and sitting-room.
In some instances the arrangement of sitting-room and reception-hall are
reversed. The hall is the sitting-room, and the other room the parlor.
If doors are used between hall and sitting-room, they should be
sliding; the effect is better, and the separation of the rooms as
complete as necessary. Such doors should always be hung from the top.
The sitting-room should certainly be as good a room as any in the house;
as well located. There should be a closet on the first floor, and, if
possible, it should communicate with this room; if not that, with the
dining-room or reception-hall next to it. Certainly the sitting-room
should always be provided with a grate.
A window-seat in the hall, parlor, reception, or other room, is really a
great addition in more ways than one. It is not only attractive, but it
adds to the availability of a room. Where there is space for three or
four people to sit, in case of necessity, it is like seating that number
of people outside of the room. They are comfortable, and the room has
that much added to its seating capacity. A bay window arranged in this
way is pleasant indeed.
Wall space is of great importance in these rooms. In planning a house,
the piano, pictures, lounges, book-shelves, book-cases, bric-à-brac,
etc., should be in mind. In a house of moderate size, it is, ordinarily,
not necessary that the reception-hall, parlor, or sitting-room should be
wider than thirteen and a half feet, and from fifteen to eighteen feet
in length. However, this is not wide enough for those who entertain
largely. A room thirteen and a half feet, with much furniture in it, is
not wide enough for dancing.
A house arranged with a reception-hall, parlor, sitting-room,
dining-room, etc., is used when it is desired to entertain a great deal;
but for those who are living economically, whose means are limited, one
of these rooms may be omitted. In many of the modern houses the number
of rooms on the first floor has been decreased and their size increased.
Oftentimes there is a reception-hall, a small library, and a
dining-room only, as belonging to the living part of the house on the
first floor. An arrangement of this kind belongs more particularly to a
house which is occupied during only a part of the year; say as summer
cottages in the North, and winter houses in the South. Modern ways of
living make a larger number of rooms less desirable.
When it is possible, it is pleasant to have a little room off from the
library as a study, or for a doctor as a reception-room or office. Where
one does work at home, it is advantageous to have a private room that
insures isolation, be it never so small. Often the library, so called in
an ordinary sense, is not a library at all. There may be a few books in
it, but it is used as a sitting-room or passage, and has no distinct
necessity or use.
Additional rooms require more work than the same amount of floor space
in a less number of rooms. The addition of rooms multiplies corners,
windows, doors, etc., and adds more cost and labor, than does mere
additional space. The availability of a room is not always dependent
upon its size. A good deal depends upon the arrangement of wall space. A
room may be large and still have no room for the furniture that is to go
into it. It may be small and still have room enough.
DINING-ROOM.
A good width for a dining-room is thirteen feet. Where one can afford
it, it should be from fifteen to twenty feet in length; larger than this
is a luxury. Its location, for the most part, is back of the
sitting-room or hall. A grate in the dining-room is not altogether
desirable; it is always at somebody's back. Again, a grate does not heat
a room uniformly. It is very common to provide sliding-doors to connect
the dining-room with other parts of the house, even with the parlor; but
they are not the best kind to use. Sound and the odors of the food are
more readily communicated through sliding-doors than others. For that
reason they should not be used. A large, single door, three and a half
feet wide, is preferable, though it does not always give the desired
opening. Generally speaking, it is easier to provide wall space when
planning a dining-room than in any of the other rooms in the house. A
large number of windows is not necessary, and one of them can be placed
high, and thus afford space for a sideboard. This sideboard should be
placed at the end of the room nearest the entrance to the kitchen and
china-closet, where such is used. The sideboard has various uses,
according to the plans of the housekeeper. In some cases it is merely a
place to display dainty china and other table furniture. Below are
places for linen and table cutlery. In other cases, the sideboard is
used as a buffet; as a place from which to serve the food. Sometimes
this is carried to the extremest degree, and includes the carving, and
the serving of that which goes with the meats.
It was very common in times past to use a slide connecting kitchen and
dining-room. A passage is much better. The slide is worse than a door in
communicating sounds and odors. In some of the plans in this book, doors
are shown opening directly into the kitchen. This is done under protest;
the owner of the house would have it so. The sideboard may be built as a
part of the house. This is well enough when the question of cost is not
important.
From the dining-room we will pass to the kitchen.