Before talking about house plan, let's talk about cars. Perhaps the ideal way to buy a car is to go down to the dealer, select the one you want, write a check for it, and drive away in a new Cadillac, Continental, or Imperial; but many of us have to be content with a second hand Chevrolet or Ford, and that on the installment plan of dollars per month for eighteen months.

Something similar may occur in getting posses­sion of a house. The ideal way is to employ a good architect to help select the lot and to prepare com­plete house plan and specifications. Then get a reputable contractor to build it while you take a tour of Eur­ope. When you return, he will hand you the key, and the van will move you in and set the furniture in place under the direction of an interior decorator. Of course, in the meantime, the landscape architect and the nursery men have completed planting the shrubbery and have the lawn under control. Just write a few good healthy checks and all is yours. Alas, most of us have to be content with considerably less luxury.

Look at it another way. It is really fun to build a house (especially when you have a house plan), and the above method deprives one of much of the joy of accomplishment and pleasure that comes from successfully completing a good piece of hard work.

Almost any energetic young woman can build herself a house, if she gets a house plan and enough help from her husband. Even if she may not get quite the elegance available to the affluent, it is surprising what a little imagination coupled with considerable hard work can accomplish in building an outstanding house, well adapted to gracious living. Sometimes she can have even more luxury in a house that the family builds than is usually possible where the house is already built, or where the work is all done by hired help.

That's where this book comes in. Although it should be of considerable help to anyone considering building by the above method, or any method, or buying a house, it is intended primarily for the fam­ily that wants a good home, but finds it necessary to study the costs very carefully and to keep within a restricted budget.

We shall now assume that having already select­ed the lot you are ready to begin the drawing of your dream house plan. First, take a blank sheet of paper on which you write the items that must abso­lutely be in the new house. Then make a second list of the things you would like to have if the budget, or other relevant considerations, makes them pos­sible.

When rooms are mentioned, write down the ap­proximate size desired, either in square feet or give the desired dimensions in feet. These will be only ap­proximate, as they must all eventually be fitted into the completed house plan.

You might begin with something like this:

Living Room

350 to 400 square feet
carpet floor
fireplace
large picture window
space for grand piano
wall space for furniture
quiet corner for reading



economical and convenient house plan for a retired couple or for any couple without children. A modernfold door would close off the den or guest room from the living room.

Entrance Hall

50 square feet
tile or slate floor
coat closet, 6 to 8 square feet
room for small table and chair

Kitchen

140 square feet
large double sink with waste disposal unit
separate stove top and oven
large refrigerator with deep freeze compartment
plenty of working areas, heights 36" and 32"
well-arranged cupboards, both below working surfaces and above
plenty of light, both natural and electric special attention to light on working surfaces convenient to front door close to family room which may have to double as dining room
breakfast nook to seat four or a well-arranged bar storage room 4' x 5' for canned fruit, cases of tin-canned goods, etc.

Family Room

about 300 square feet
not too far from kitchen
cupboards for toys
book shelves
television outlet
outside door
oak floor
room for large table for children to use for study table
may occasionally be used for dining room

Master Bedroom

about 200 square feet
two 6' wardrobes with rods and shelves, shoe racks
walk in closet, 4' x 6'
cross ventilation
private bath with shower, no tub
dressing table in bath
linoleum floor in bath
oak floor in bedroom
heat light in bath ceiling

Girl's Bedroom

11' x 13'
wardrobe 8' long, with rod and shelves

Boy's Bedroom

11' x 13'
wardrobe 5' long with rod and shelves
book and toy shelves with doors

Bathroom

opening from hall tub with shower over
linoleum floor
built-in around wash bowl
medicine cabinet

Utility Room

space for washer and dryer single china laundry tray cupboard for supplies place to hang work clothes broom closet outside door

Continue the list until you have included the things you consider essential to a satisfactory house for you and your family. Other people would have different lists. A statement of this kind would be of much more help than a partially drawn house plan in case you decide to get a professional planner to assist you in making your final plans. If you draw your own plans, you will find the list indispensable. You can check your drawings against the list to find out what you are omitting in time to correct the plan.

The second list of things that would be desirable should be consulted once in awhile to see if any of those items can somehow be included in the house plan. Possibly a few luxuries will not carry you too far beyond your budget.

Adapting the House Plan to the Lot

Every successful house plan is made to fit a specific lot. First consider the approach to the prop­erty; how will the driveway and the car affect the arrangement? Consider the view; don't let the gar­age obstruct it. Think of the drainage, the utilities, the use of the land, the public lawn, the private out­door living, the swimming pool, and all the features desired in a modern up-to-date establishment.

Where is the best view from the kitchen win­dow? Which is more important, to be able to super­vise the play yard from the kitchen window, or to get a view of the lake, or can both features be in­cluded in one kitchen? Is there a view, or must you create your own view by wise and careful planting, to shut out the undesirable by a row of tall ever­greens, and to create a scene of beauty by a con­sidered choice of shrubs and flowers?

How are you going to control the sun to get the light and heat where you want them and to shut them out from places where they are unwelcome? Do you want the living room on the back or at the front? Does your pattern of living call for large outdoor areas, or do you live mostly in the house? Then you will need to decide how much room you need in the house, and keep it in mind creating your house plan. Keep it as small as you can be comfortable in, as every square foot costs money, and it all has to be kept in condition. Instead of at­tempting to keep up with the neighbors, build what you yourselves need and build it well, making it beautiful both inside and outside.

A house that is too small, especially if it lacks storage space, is harder to keep in order than one that is adequate in size. When you are creating a house plan, beware of large porches and verandas. Give study as to who is going to sweep down the cobwebs twice a week, and who will sweep the leaves off every day in the fall, and who will mop or hose off the dust occasionally. Space that is not useful is worse than wasted. You have to pay taxes on it and keep in cleaned. You have to light it, heat it, and paint it occasionally. So do not build more house than you really need.

It is possible that the modern trend toward trail­er houses for permanent residence is a revolt against too much house. Everybody seems to want larger and larger houses, more and more rooms, until suddenly the overworked people ask, "What is the use? Why not reduce living to a simpler form, and get a trailer house?"

It is wonderful to have many large rooms in your house plan, but if you have a large living room, adequate eating space, and a good-sized master bedroom, perhaps you will not feel too much circumscribed if the den is not large and the other bedrooms are reasonably small. Perhaps the family room and the dining room can be combined, especially if you have a nice break­fast nook. It is entirely possible to get too much house. Every square foot has to be paid for and taken care of.

If you are creating a house plan with the idea of sell­ing it in two or three years, you will consider the resale possibilities more than if you are planning to keep it the rest of your life. For resale nowadays a house should have at least three bedrooms and two baths; perhaps you want this anyway, as it makes a very convenient house. Sometimes two bedrooms and a den is better, because the den can easily be con­verted into a bedroom. If it meets your needs to plan it that way, the den should have a storage space that can easily be made into a clothes closet. It can just as well be not too far from a bathroom, and will make a good bedroom if it is a good den.

It is a good idea to keep the bedrooms from get­ting too large so that you can save the space for the family room or the living room in your house plan, or someplace where you really need it. Although what we actually need in a house is really very little, what we would like to have or feel we need is probably something quite different. Consider the modern trailer house, in which many families get along very well with less than two hundred square feet of floor space, and even the large luxury trailer houses have less than five hun­dred square feet, and that strung out in a narrow line.

There was a time in the history of this country when a log cabin was considered pretty good hous­ing, when many families had to be content with a dugout in the side of a hill or with a sod shanty.

The real physical necessities require only a very little space. Why couldn't you sleep just as soundly in a bedroom 6' x 8' as you could in one 16' x 18' and save 240 square feet of floor space?

Perhaps the soul requires something more: a feeling of spaciousness, an artistic expression of one's personality, a variety of living space to suit our various moods, room to entertain without embarrass­ment over the crowded condition of the place, places to display treasured possessions, or to store them, room for music and hobbies, room so the children do not need to be under foot all the time, a place where one part of the family can escape from the other part once in awhile, room to do the necessary work without stepping on each other's toes, in short, room to live and let your soul expand.

We may not need quite so much house as we think we want. After all, it must all be kept clean and in order, heated, lighted, painted, and the taxes have to be paid on the assessed valuation. Let us try to keep our house within reasonable bounds. It is an equally egregious error to fail to build enough house to make living easy and gracious, and keep it in mind creating your house plan.