CHAPTER XVI.
A SMALL POCKET-BOOK AND A LARGE IDEA.—AMBITION, DOLLARS, AND A GOOD HOUSE.—THE GROWTH OF THE HOUSEKEEPER’S IDEAS.—POINTS ABOUT THE HOUSE.—$2,900.
It is frequently said of those who would build, that their ideas are larger than their pocket-books. It is certainly not discreditable to any one that his ideas should be larger than his immediate resources. Such a condition causes the enlargement of the individual and his pocket-book at the same time. The man who says that he wants two thousand dollars’ worth of house does not get as much for his money as he who in effect says, “I want three thousand dollars’ worth of house for two thousand dollars.” The latter is an ambitious man; the former has only a little ambition. He merely wants a house. Fortunately, however, there are few such people. It is more likely to happen that a man and his wife, who have worked hard for several years, get enough money together to build a home, and it is possible that this home has been talked about for several years previous to their building. In fact, they have been educating themselves in house-building. They have acquainted themselves with all of the modern conveniences. They have studied porches, vestibules, and stairways; they know how many rooms they want on the first floor and the bedrooms that they will have above. At first this house presents itself in a very crude form; but in the course of time the plan shows itself more clearly to them. They begin to place the furniture in the imaginary rooms, and as they do this their ideas enlarge. They add at first inches, and then feet, to the size of the various rooms. At first their ideas of a kitchen were quite moderate; in time a sink begins to assume certain vague outlines, then it takes definite form on one side of the room; then a pump is placed beside it; afterward the wife says, “How nice it would be if we could have a hot-water faucet over the sink.” At first they shake their heads and say that it would cost too much; but in the course of a few evenings’ talk on this and kindred subjects, they come to the conclusion that if the hot-water arrangements do not cost too much, they will have them; and that as things are so much cheaper than they used to be, they certainly ought to get all of these for about what they originally expected to pay for the house. Their ideas have been of slow growth, but continuous, and in the aggregate the growth has been great. During all the winter months, previous to the time when they would build in the spring, many sketches are made, of the floor-plans of the house that is to be. Finally the net result is handed to a builder or an architect,—more frequently the former, as most small houses are built without professional service. The figures from the builder come in, and are very much higher than was expected. It is quite a shock, for certainly there is nothing there that they can well do without. Everything has been thought of so much. Nothing that their plan contains appears to them to be less than a matter of necessity. Other builders are asked to figure with results little more satisfactory. In the end there must be a compromise; the builder and the owner both yield, and, as a result, a very satisfactory house is built. There are little things which they would have different, but, in the main, the house is satisfactory.
This is the universal experience, and the effect upon the domestic architecture of this country has been very pronounced. We can now get a better house for a given sum of money than ever before. Better not only as to general construction, but as well on account of external appearance, and the convenience of its internal arrangements. One may get more of what are regarded as the little conveniences, which mean so much to the housekeeper. This is not altogether the result of lower prices of the material and labor which go to make a house, but is as well on account of the skill which has been developed in planning and arranging buildings, with reference to economy in space, and cost of general construction. The planning of houses has undergone a revolution within a few years past; and instead of having the long, narrow halls at the side and in the middle of a house, and the long halls and narrow passages through the upper floor, all of which was ugly and inconvenient, we now have the same area thrown in large square rooms, so as to be available.
It may be known that chimney stacks are quite expensive. For this reason an effort has been made to group them, so that they may be made to answer for a number of rooms; and the success with which efforts in this direction have been attended has been wonderful indeed. The modern floor plan is altogether different from that of the past; it is more convenient and less expensive to build; and, as said before, this is largely the result of efforts of the owner, who has ideas larger than his pocket-book, and the architect or builder, who exercises his ingenuity to bring the ideas and the money together.
