CHAPTER V.
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.