Floor plan

“ Often an attractive exterior will be found to conceal a poor arrangement of rooms. This is not the case with the Waverly. Careful attention has been given to details and we believe that every housewife will appreciate the excellent floor plan arrangement. You enter direct from the porch into one of the prettiest living rooms you have ever seen. Triple windows in front and side are among the attractive features of this room, allowing worlds of sunshine and cheer to enter, but still leaving plenty of wall space for furniture. ”

“ One should be careful not to lay oak flooring while the walls and plaster are damp; in fact, if you have to do much remodeling, [Pg 200] the floor should be the last thing attended to, as it is a better plan to get everything else done and thoroughly dried—even to painting, wall hangings, and decorating.
Hard pine is best for the kitchen, as it does not splinter, is more reasonable in price, and has fine wearing qualities. It must be taken into consideration that oak flooring is cheaper in the end than carpet. ”

“ The floor should be the darkest of the three divisions of a room—the floor, the walls, the ceiling, but it should be an even gradation of color value, the walls half-way in tone between the other two. This is a safe general plan, to be varied when necessity demands. In drawing-rooms light and soft colors are usually in better harmony than dark ones, and a wide and beautiful choice can be made among Kermanshah, Kirman, Khorasan, Tabriz, Chinese, Oman rugs, and many others. ”

“ 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. ”

“ A Corner of the Living Room
The only change made in the plan of this floor was in the corner beyond the living-room and at the end of the kitchen. This was originally divided into a tiny chamber opening from the living-room, and a pantry off the kitchen. These were thrown into one, and the openings to living-room and kitchen enlarged. The former bedroom window was changed to a door leading on to the screened veranda, and an attractive group of three casement windows replaced the one in the rear wall, overlooking the charming vista of winding lane and old apple-trees and meadows beyond. ”

“ That settled, in principle, it will be as well to arrange the divisions of this story in the roof. Lay a piece of tracing-paper upon the plan of the first floor. Good: now trace all the thick walls which must of necessity be carried up under the roof, since they contain fireplaces. Draw 3 feet 3 inches within the eave walls—i.e. those which do not carry gables—a line that indicates the space rendered useless by the slope of the roof; thus you will get the space of which you are able to make use. The principal stairs reach to this floor, as well as the servants’ stairs. ”

“ Either plan will provide you with a satisfying, serviceable home—for an investment that is decidedly modest.
FLOOR PLAN "A"
FLOOR PLAN "B"
SPECIFICATIONS
Ceiling height first floor approximately 8 ft. 6 in.
Girders 6 in. × 6 in.
First floor joists 2 in. × 8 in.
Ceiling joists 2 in. × 4 in. Rafters 2 in. × 4 in.
Front door—glazed cottage design, 2 ft. 8 in. × 6 ft. 8 in. and 1-3/4 in. thick. See pages 36-37.
Wardrobes in bedrooms.
Our kitchen cupboard No. 2 included in the selling price. See pages 36-37.
See pages 8-9 for general specifications.
{58}
Delaware 30 ft. ”

“ In whatever grade a wooden floor is used, it has the disadvantage of needing attention. It always needs refinishing. The better the floor the more attention it will need. It will splinter eventually and show marks if things are dragged over it. Although the scraping down and refinishing always make the floor look like new, the wooden floor is better in any room in the house than the kitchen, laundry or pantry. ”

“ A large arch frames a graceful stair, which winds up to the third floor in a circular movement. Newel post and stair ends are carved. While woodwork throughout the house is elaborate, the difference between the first and second floors is marked. That of the first floor is massive, rather more dull than interesting, but the second floor, especially the large room, is startling in that mantel, door trim, chair rail, and baseboard are carved with the delicate lightness of Adam. ”

“ Then comes the entre-sol, with low ceilings, short windows, and dwarf chambers; then succeed a succession of floors, or stories, rising one above the other, to the number of Mahomet’s heavens. Each floor is like a distinct mansion, complete in itself, with ante-chamber, saloons, dining and sleeping rooms, kitchen and other conveniences for the accommodation of a family. Some floors are divided into two or more suites of apartments. Each apartment has its main door of entrance, opening upon the staircase, or landing-places, and locked like a street door. ”

“ Cigar-boxes make excellent imitation hardwood floors, for the halls, the ball-room, and nursery. Select as large pieces as possible, and fit them on the floors with close joints. Nail them down with small brads.
Fig. 95.—Andiron.
Make the door casings from the same material, cutting the strips the shape and size of those used for the outside doors (Fig. 89) . It is not advisable to hang inside doors, as they are easily broken off, and seldom work satisfactorily.
A chair-rail should be made in the dining-room of quarter-inch strips fastened to the walls three inches above the floor. ”

“ If your house or flat is small you can gain a great effect of space by keeping the same colour scheme throughout—that is, the same colour or related colours. To make a small hall and each of several small rooms on the same floor different in any pronounced way, is to cut up your home into a restless, unmeaning checkerboard, where one feels conscious of the walls and all limitations. ”

“ Hight of ceiling 10 feet. The simple arrangement shown provides for each of the above requirements. The front Entrance is through large double doors. The Hall extends through the house. The Living-room, a large apartment adapted to a good-sized family, is centrally situated, and protected on every side from the direct rays of the sun; it adjoins the pleasant and shady verandas front and rear, both being accessible through the folding windows, that open like doors down to the floor. It communicates with the hall through wide double doors, has a large closet and an open fire. ”

“ In country inns the floor in the front [pg 195] of the house is often of plank. Matted floors are, however, universal from the extreme north to the extreme south of the Empire.
Fig. 175.—The best fireplace. In houses of traders bordering the street the matted floor properly terminates a few feet within the sill, the space between being of earth. The floor being raised, the space between the edge of the floor and the earth is generally filled with plain panels of wood, though sometimes designs of flowers or conventional figures are cut in the panel. ”

“ But having shown that certain rules are applicable to both, and indeed necessary to success in both, we may choose within these rules any tint or colour which is personally pleasing.
Rooms with an east or west light may carry successfully tones of any shade, without violating fundamental laws.
The first impression of a room depends upon the walls. In fact, rooms are good or bad, agreeable or ugly in exact accordance with the wall-quality and treatment. No richness of floor-covering, draperies, or furniture can minimise their influence. ”

“ Where a very small vestibule is substituted for the reception hall a parquetry or tile flooring would be left uncovered. Over a cheap floor a good quality of linoleum, costing about 50 cents per square yard, may he placed. A small mat of neat design, if such can be found, will take care of those persons who have the foot-scraping habit, regardless of what they scrape upon, though the mat outside should do the important work. Serviceable mats are seldom things of beauty. ”

“ Yes, one flat; not a pile of flats one above another, as they are built in cities, but one large flat raised high enough to be entirely removed from the moisture of the ground, to give a pleasant sense of security from outside intrusion and to afford convenient outlooks from the windows. One or two guest rooms, that are not often used, might be on a second floor, under the roof, if there was space enough. ”

“ If your floors are old and you intend using a large velvet square, paint the edges of the floor white, or some pale shade to match the colour of the walls. Or, use filling all over the floor. If you cannot afford either and must use small rugs, stain or paint your floors a dark colour, to be practical, and use only necessary rugs; that is, one before bed, bureau and fireplace.
Sofas are always expensive. That is one reason for advising that beds be treated like "day-beds." ”

“ Flooring is formed by joists or strong beams of timber reaching from wall to wall, where they rest upon other beams, called wall plates, which are built into the [38] walls themselves. The floor boards are nailed over the upper edges of the joists, and the lower edges receive the laths and plaster, which form the ceilings of the rooms beneath. Large buildings are sometimes fitted with double framed floors, with two sets of joists, and building joists resting on girders ”

“ The floor of most rooms, being permanently covered with the mats already described in previous chapters, has no special attention bestowed upon it; at all events, the floor is often of rough boards laid in such a way that irregular spaces occur between them. When the house has a proper hall or vestibule, the floor is composed of wide planks ”

“ Imagine an exquisite room long and narrow. The walls are painted white or light gray—a warm golden gray for the relief and pleasing of the eye. The floor is comfortable to the feet, sanitary, easily cleansed and durable. There is an iron ring in the floor where the cover to the chute is lifted down which the dust is to be thrown. There is another for the ash chute, lined with metal for protection from fire by [Pg 138] means of the hot coals that may sometimes be left in the ashes. ”

“ A light railing runs round it, and a cool resting-place is thus made. The house-floor is a raised platform, as in Japan, a small portion of which is cut away just within the door, to form a cavity in which, on entering, the shoes or sandals are deposited. ”

“ No rug will ruck on it, no slipper stick to it. Needs no weighted brush. Self-shining. The only perfect Floor Wax known. One box will do all the floors you have."
Indeed, half a box did all the floors we have. No slipper would stick to the paste, but the paste would stick to the slipper; and the greasy Prince did in spots all the floors we have: the laundry floor, the attic floor, and the very boards of the vegetable cellar.
I am young yet. I have not had time to collect my twelve two-horse loads. But I am getting them fast. ”

“ The third and top floors are taken up by two women photographers—their reception room on the third floor, their operating-room, and that sort of thing, on the top floor, with no less than two sky-lights and a transom opening directly on the roof. I arranged for a sitting with them. That is the floor we ought to have, but the building is full. Three doors below, though, there was a top, back studio to let, and I’ve taken it for a month. There we have a transom opening on the roof. ”

“ A second set of shorter posts, similarly supported bv partially buried stones, holds up the platform that is the floor, a wooden deck of closely fitted planks set about two feet above the earth. The outer perimeter of the flooring becomes a veranda or walkway, called the engawa, and the inner space is partitioned into rooms by light walls of paper, plaster, and wooden grillwork. The outer walls of the house, which serve no structural purpose, are sliding latticework panels called shoji, which are covered with translucent white rice paper, bathing the exterior rooms in a soft daytime light. ”

“ In houses with deal floors, where nailed-down carpets are used in all the rooms, a restful effect is produced by covering the whole of each story with the same carpet, the door-sills being removed 102 so that the carpet may extend from one room to another. In small town houses, especially, this will be found much less fatiguing to the eye than the usual manner of covering the floor of each room with carpets differing in color and design. ”

“ On the second floor, a refreshing simplicity has been observed in the bedrooms. The dormers that have been cut in the roof add not only to their comfort but provide charming little bays and alcoves, giving unexpected opportunities for interesting furnishings. Quaint, old-time papers and hangings and coverlets on the four-poster beds, matched in rugs and cushions and candle-shades, contrast gaily with the spotless white paint. Considerable ingenuity has been necessary in planning this floor, as the original rooms were so tiny and space so very limited under the long slopes of the roof. ”