At this point of our remarks a word or two may be offered on the general
subject of inside finish to farm houses, which may be applicable more or
less to any one, or all of the designs that may come under our
observation; therefore what is here said, may be applied at large.
Different sections of the United States have their own several _local_
notions, or preferences as to the mode of finish to their houses and
out-buildings, according to climate, education, or other circumstances.
In all these matters neither taste, fashion, nor climate should be
arbitrary. The manner of finish may be various, without any departure
from truth or propriety--always keeping in mind the object for which it
is intended. The _material_ for a country house should be _strong_, and
_durable_, and the work simple in its details, beyond that for either
town or suburban houses. It should be _strong_, for the reason that the
interior of the farm house is used for purposes of industry, in
finishing up and perfecting the labors of the farm; labors indispensable
too, and in amount beyond the ordinary housekeeping requirements of a
family who have little to do but merely to live, and make themselves
comfortable. The material should be _durable_, because the distance at
which the farm house is usually located from the residences of building
mechanics, renders it particularly troublesome and expensive to make
repairs, and alterations. The work should be _simple_, because cheaper
in the first place, in construction, and finish; quite as appropriate
and satisfactory in appearance; and demanding infinitely less labor and
pains to care for, and protect it afterward. Therefore all mouldings,
architraves, _chisel_-work, and gewgawgery in interior finish should be
let alone in the living and daily occupied rooms of the house. If, to a
single parlor, or _spare_ bedchamber a little _ornamental_ work be
permitted, let even that be in moderation, and just enough to teach the
active mistress and her daughters what a world of scrubbing and elbow
work they have saved themselves in the enjoyment of a plainly-finished
house, instead of one full of gingerbread work and finery. None but the
initiated can tell the affliction that _chiseled_ finishing entails on
housekeepers in the spider, fly, and other insect lodgment which it
invites--frequently the cause of more annoyance and _daily_ disquietude
in housekeeping, because unnecessary, than real griefs from which we may
not expect to escape. Bases, casings, sashes, doors--all should be
plain, and painted or stained a quiet _russet_ color--a color natural to
the woods used for the finish, if it can be, showing, in their wear, as
little of dust, soiling, and fly dirt as possible. There is no poetry
about common housekeeping. Cooking, house-cleaning, washing, scrubbing,
sweeping, are altogether matter-of-fact duties, and usually considered
_work_, not recreation; and these should all be made easy of
performance, and as seldom to be done as possible; although the first
item always was, and always _will_ be, and the last item _should_ be, an
every-day vocation for _somebody_; and the manner of inside finish to a
house has a great deal to do with all these labors.
In a stone, or brick house, the inside walls should be firred off for
plastering. This may be done either by "plugging," that is, driving a
plug of wood strongly into the mortar courses, into which the firring
should be nailed, or by laying a strip of thin board in the mortar
course, the entire length of each wall. This is better than _blocks_
laid in for such purpose, because it is effectually _bound_ by the
stone, or brick work; whereas, a block may get loose by shrinking, but
the nails which hold the firring to the plug, or to the thin strip of
board will split and _wedge_ it closer to the mason work of the outside
wall. This is an important item. It makes close work too, and leaves no
room for rats, mice, or other vermin; and as it admits a _space_--no
matter how thin--so that no outside damp from the walls can communicate
into, or through the inner plastering, it answers all purposes. The
inside, and partition walls should be of coarse, strong mortar, _floated
off_ as smoothly as may be, not a _hard finish_, which is fine, and
costly; and then papered throughout for the better rooms, and the
commonly-used rooms whitewashed. Paper gives a most comfortable look to
the rooms, more so than paint, and much less expensive, while nothing is
so sweet, tidy, and cheerful to the _working_ rooms of the house as a
_lime_ wash, either white, or softened down with some agreeable tint,
such as _light_ blue, green, drab, fawn, or russet, to give the shade
desired, and for which every _professional_ painter and whitewasher in
the vicinity, can furnish a proper recipe applicable to the place and
climate. On such subjects we choose to prescribe, rather than to play
the apothecary by giving any of the thousand and one recipes extant, for
the composition.
Our remarks upon the strength and durability of _material_ in
house-building do not apply exclusively to brick and stone. Wood is
included also; and of this, there is much difference in the kind. Sound
_white_ oak, is, perhaps the best material for the heavy frame-work of
any house or out-building, and when to be had at a moderate expense, we
would recommend it in preference to any other. If _white_ oak cannot be
had, the other varieties of oak, or chesnut are the next best. In
_light_ frame-timbers, such as studs, girts, joists, or rafters, oak is
inclined to spring and warp, and we would prefer hemlock, or chesnut,
which holds a nail equally as well, or, in its absence, pine, (which
holds a nail badly,) whitewood, or black walnut. The outside finish to a
wooden house, may be _lighter_ than in one of stone or brick. The wood
work on the outside of the latter should always be heavy, and in
character with the walls, giving an air of firmness and stability to the
whole structure. No elaborate carving, or beadwork should be permitted
on the outside work of a country house at all; and only a sufficient
quantity of ornamental _tracery_ of any kind, to break the monotony of a
plainness that would otherwise give it a formal, or uncouth expression,
and relieve it of what some would consider a pasteboard look. A farm
house, in fact, of any degree, either cheap or expensive, should wear
the same appearance as a well-dressed person of either sex; so that a
stranger, not looking at them for the purpose of inspecting their garb,
should, after an interview, be unable to tell what particular sort of
dress they wore, so perfectly in keeping was it with propriety.
In the design now under discussion, a cellar is made under the whole
body of the house; and this cellar is a _shallow_ one, so far as being
sunk into the ground is concerned, say 5-1/2 feet, leaving 2-1/2 feet of
cellar wall above ground--8 feet in all. A part of the wall above ground
should be covered by the excavated earth, and sloped off to a level with
the surrounding surface. A commodious, well-lighted, and well-ventilated
cellar is one of the most important apartments of the farm house. It
should, if the soil be compact, be well drained from some point or
corner within the walls into a lower level outside, to which point
within, the whole floor surface should incline, and the bottom be
floored with water-lime cement. This will make it hard, durable, and
dry. It may then be washed and scrubbed off as easily as an upper floor.
If the building site be high, and in a gravelly, or sandy soil, neither
drain nor flooring will be required. The cellar may be used for the
storage of root crops, apples, meats, and household vegetables. A
partitioned room will accommodate either a summer or a winter dairy, if
not otherwise provided, and a multitude of conveniences may be made of
it in all well arranged farmeries. But in all cases the cellar should be
well lighted, ventilated, and dry. Even the ash-house and smoke-house
may be made in it with perfect convenience, by brick or stone
partitions, and the smoke-house flue be carried up into one of the
chimney flues above, and thus make a more snug and compact arrangement
than to have separate buildings for those objects. A wash-room, in
which, also, the soap may be made, the tallow and lard tried up, and
other extraordinary labor when fire heat is to be used, may properly be
made in a cellar, particularly when on a sloping ground, and easy of
access to the ground level on one side. But, as a general rule, such
room is better on a level with the main floor of the dwelling, and there
are usually sufficient occupations for the cellar without them.
All cellar walls should be at least 18 inches thick, for even a wooden
house, and from that to 2 feet for a stone or brick one, and well laid
in strong lime-mortar. Unmortared cellar walls are frequently laid under
wooden buildings, and _pointed_ with lime-mortar inside; but this is
sometimes dug out by rats, and is apt to crumble and fall out otherwise.
A _complete_ cellar wall should be thoroughly laid in mortar.
[Illustration: FARM HOUSE. Pages 101-102.]