There is a china-pantry between the kitchen and dining-room. It is lighted by a small window at one side. It serves as a passageway between these two rooms, and thus keeps the odor of the cooking from the front part of the house. The pastry pantry is immediately back of the china-pantry, and is entered from the kitchen. It is also provided with a small window. In the kitchen is a sink with a swinging table at one side, and room for a portable table on the other. At one side of the sink may be the cistern-pump, and on the other side the well-pump. It should be placed back against the wall, and with handles that are well out of the way when not in use.
It is entirely unnecessary to place the pumps in the yards of low-cost houses, as is so common. If a driven well is used, it could be driven so as to be next to the kitchen sink. If it is a dug well, it may be placed on the outside, and connected through lead pipes with the sink on the inside. The cistern may be connected in the same way. The entrance to the cellar stairs is conveniently placed in one corner of the kitchen. The cellar itself is under the sitting-room. The side-porch is large enough to be used as a summer kitchen.
It is to be noticed that there is no waste room in the upstairs hall. There is merely wall space enough to admit of doors leading into the various rooms. There is a small window which lights this hall; the window may be reached for cleaning from the stairway. This plan illustrates as clearly as possible the advantage of having the main stairway land in the middle of the house. There is no better way to economical use of space. From the second-floor hall there is a stairway leading to the attic. This passage is lighted in the same way as the second-floor hall.
It may be said that the bedrooms of this house are not large. The house is not large. The problem involved a low-cost, roomy house. We get a large number of rooms within a small enclosure, and, necessarily, some of them are small. It is to be borne in mind, however, that the value of a room is not dependent upon its size. A room may be of respectable dimensions, but yet not have the necessary wall space for the furniture. Such a room would not be as satisfactory as a smaller one, had care been taken to provide this space. In each bedroom there should be space for a bed, a wash-stand, and a dressing-case. The latter should be near a window. It will be found that there is room for such furniture in each of the bedrooms shown on this plan. All are provided with ample closets. In one of these houses which was built, there was a door between the bedroom in front and the chamber. In another case, there was a door connecting the two larger rooms. All these things are matters of personal preference, or special family requirements, depending upon the age and number of the children, and other family conditions.