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  A HOMELIKE AND BEAUTIFUL CRAFTSMAN FARMHOUSE
IF there is any one style of house
    that we enjoy planning more than
    others, it is a farmhouse,<a home
    that shall meet every practical re-
quirement of life and work on the
farm, and yet be beautiful, comfort-
able and homelike.   This is our first
farmhouse and we endeavored to make
it characteristic in design, plan, deco-
ration   and the  materials used  for
building.   As a rule, we do not advo-
cate the use of clapboards for sheath-
ing the walls of a frame house, for the
reason that the small, thin, smoothly
planed and painted boards generally
use(l for this purpose give a flimsy,
unsubstantial effect to the structure
and   a  characterless surface to the
walls.   However, clapboards are often
preferred,  especially in building  a
farmhouse, and it is quite possible to
use them so that these objections may
be removed.   In this building the clap-
boards are unusually broad and thick,
giving to the walls a sturdy appear-
                                                 ance of permanence.  They
may be
                                                 of pine, cedar, or cypress,
and may
                                                 be stained or painted according
to
                                                 individual taste and the
character of
                                                 the environment.  If the
house is to
                                                 be rather dark and quiet
in color~
                                                 the boards might be given
a thin
                                                 stain of moss green or brown;
or a
                                                 delightful color effect
may be oh-
                                                 taine(l by going over the
boards with
                                                 a wash of much diluted sulphuric
                                                 acid.  With  either one
 of these
                                                 colors a good effect would
be ob-
                                                 tained by paintilig the
timbers of
                                                 the framework a light cream
so that
                                                 the structural features
are strongly
                                                 accente(l.
                                                    We regard this house
as having
                                                 in a marked degree the comfort<
                                                 able and inviting appearance
which
                                                 seems so essentially to
belong to
                                                 a  home<particularly
 to a  farm
                                                 home.   It is wide and loxv,
with
                                                 rather a shallow pitch to
the broad
                                                 roof, the line of which
is unbroken
                                                 by the large dormers set
at different
SECONI) FLOOR PLAN.
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