Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 May 1912 — The American Home [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The American Home

WILLAM. RADFORD

Exai'toi-

Mr. IV Uliam A. Radford will answer questions ar<i Bfve advice FREE OF C OST on all subjects pertaining to the subject of building, for the readers of this On account of his wide experience as Editor. Author and Manufacturer, he Is, without doubt, the highest, authority on all these subjects. Address all inquiries to William A. Radford, No 17V We<=t Jackson boulevard. Chicago. 111., and oniv enclose two-cent stamp for reply.

The biggest thing in any man’s life is his home. It is the inspiration and the center of all his ambition, of all his hopes for success. Without a home, a man is a ship at sea without a rudder. A home gives a man a reason for living. Every man craves it, every man needs it. And in these days it is possible for anyone who is paying rent right along to save for himself the landlord’s profit, and own his own home. There are many landlords who are not only making a living, but growing wealthy, by borrowing money, building houses with it, and renting them to people y. i o, if they realized it, could, with little effort, just as well build or buy homes for themselves. One hundred dollars saved up and paid down will be accepted as first payment for a moderate-cost home in almost apv town or city in the United States, and will start you on the road to ownership. The rest always comes easier, for there is now a constant incentive to added effort and thrift. Of course, there should be reason in this, as in other things. One should not buy too expensive a place, any more than he should attempt to "showoff ’ by buying too elaborate and expensive clothing, z The more expensive home will come later if you first “make good" by adjusting your demands io your abilities, and exercising

patience. In the meantime, remember you are saving the landlord’s profit. You are also reaping the “unearned Increment” of increased valuation on. your property, and it is a fact that in a»y live, growing city or town the appreciation in value' of property will more than offset depreciation and cost of upkeep on the improvements thereon. . Then, again, there is the great satisfaction and pride of being under your own roof, which cannot be sold over your head, and the delight of being able to “potter around” and fix things up according to your own fancy, knowing all the while that everything added in the way of convenience or improvement is so much added in dollars and cents to the value of your property. That this is no dream is strikingly demonstrated by the prevailing popu-

larity of the cozy cottage type of dwelling, commonly designated as the “bungalow”—a word of East Indian origin—and the extent to which buildings in this class are being multiplied all over the country. This type of house —built either wholly one-story or with a few rooms directly under the roof in what would otherwise be the attic —is such as to lend itself to a great variety of treatment and arrangement, these features, however, being governed altogether by the individual tastes and requirements of the prospective occupants. A very attractive, cozy and well arranged six room cottage home of the

type referred to is illustrated in the half tone perspective view herewith and the accompanying floor plan. The width of the house is 31 feet; its length 47 feet. The basement extends under the entire house, and there is an attic. The rooms are all well lighted, the three bedrooms, each of ■which has a capacious closet of its own, are arranged along one side of th® house, the other side being devoted to the waking activities of domestic life. The front porch is sufficiently large to provide a shaded outdoor gathering place for the family in fine weather. The front door opens into a vestibule, which, through a door at the left, we enter the cheery living room with its large bay window at the front end. Four small casement window’s also admit light over the library bookcase or other furnishings that may be ranged along the side of the room. The living room opens directly into the dining room through an opening flanked by two columns. At one end. of the dining room another bay w’indow admits ample sunshine and enlarges the view to be had from the inside; at the other end, doors open into the front and middle bedrooms. Connection betw'een dining room and kitchen is through the pantry, which is lighted by a w indow, and provided with a shelved cupboard or buffet for china, glassware, etc. A small closed hallway leads directly from the dining room to the bath room on the middle line of the house, at the rear. This hallway has a linen closet, and opens on the right into the rear bedroom, and on the left into the kitchen. A rear porch of the kitchen gives access to and from the back yard. The cost of building such a house

■ as this would range in different locals ties from $2,300 to S2,E>OO.

Floor Plan.