attic ceiled and partitioned for use as a bedroom. Very often an old
boxed-off stairway, built in the days when it was thought unseemly to
show a connection with the upper bedrooms, can be relieved of its door
and walls, to the increase of space in the lower room, and of the beauty
of its appearance. Indeed, as a rule, there are too many doors in an old
house. Some of these can be altered into open arched entrances, making
one large commodious room out of two little inconvenient ones. Unused
out-buildings can be turned into playrooms for the children, and even
sleeping quarters. All these are changes that make for the beauty no
less than the utility of home, as proved by the fact that many artists,
especially those who have studied abroad where old country houses are
more or less of this unconventional character, go into the country and
alter in this fashion old and even abandoned houses into houses admired
for their charming individuality. Illustrations of such "hermitages"
frequently appear in the magazines, and may be studied for suggestions.
Sometimes the alteration is of the exterior only. The repainting in a
proper color, or the simple creosote staining of a weather-beaten house,
with the addition of a rustic porch or the breaking of a corner bedroom
into a balcony, will sometimes so transform an old house that it looks
as if it were a new creation.




CHAPTER VI

FURNITURE AND DECORATION

The Qualities to Be Sought in Furniture--Home-made Furniture--Semi-made
Furniture--Good Furniture as an Investment--Furnishing and Decorating