You will express yourself in your house, whether you want to or not, so
you must make up your mind to a long preparatory discipline. You may
have only one house to furnish in your life-time, possibly, so be
careful and go warily. Therefore, you must select for your architect a
man who isn't too determined to have _his_ way. It is a fearful mistake
to leave the entire planning of your home to a man whose social
experience may be limited, for instance, for he can impose on you his
conception of your tastes with a damning permanency and emphasis. I once
heard a certain Boston architect say that he taught his clients to be
ladies and gentlemen. He couldn't, you know. All he could do is to set
the front door so that it would reprove them if they weren't!

Who does not know, for instance, those mistaken people whose houses
represent their own or their architects' hasty visits to the fine old
_châteaux_ of the Loire, or the palaces of Versailles, or the fine old
houses of England, or the gracious villas of Italy? We must avoid such
aspiring architects, and visualize our homes not as so many specially
designated rooms and convenient closets, but as individual expressions
of ourselves, of the future we plan, of our dreams for our children. The
ideal house is the house that has been long planned for, long awaited.

[Illustration: IN THIS HALL, SIMPLICITY, SUITABILITY AND PROPORTION ARE
OBSERVED]

Fortunately for us, our best architects are so very good that we are
better than safe if we take our problems to them. These men associate
with themselves the hundred young architects who are eager to prove
themselves on small houses. The idea that it is economical to be your
own architect and trust your house to a building contractor is a
mistaken, and most expensive, one. The surer you are of your architect's