Classic exterior
Notice anything strange about the floor plan compared to the picture of the house? (Left click to see a larger view.)
Before I give away the answer, note that the only place for a dining table is in the living room. Tiny area. One bedroom is really small, too. There isn't an inside wall for a piano, either.
I haven't actually researched this, but at a quick glance it looks like $10.00 was the going price for plans for a two bedroom house.
Answer: no stairs to the second floor. So many older homes had large to huge unfinished attics without access to them. Strange.
6 comments:
But I wonder if in 1908, this was more standard, than it would be today? Size of rooms, no actual dining room table space, and etc.
Don't know but...
What was considered adequate in the past, wasn't nearly what's considered adequate, today. Just a thought...
Happy Mother's Day!
Gentle hugs,
'Aunt Amelia'
Dear you,~
Aunt Amelia's Attic
If you check the floor plans for many pre-1917 bungalows, there was no separate dining room. The family ate in the kitchen.
A really good resource is AmericanDailyBungalow's photostream on Flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/americanvintagehome/collections/72157606545916819/
You'll also find very few bungalows with more than 3 bedrooms and a lot(like ours) had only two, with one bathroom as the norm. 1500 square feet was considered a very comfortably-sized house. This is why so many people who have purchased older bungalows are expanding up into that unused attic space or adding a modern kitchen/bath wing on the back.
Hi there,
I'm popping over from the haven of home blog. I saw your comment there and just had to check out your blog -- love it so far!
I also like the name of your blog -- so much like life :)
Take Care,
Trixie
Aunt Amelia and Shay - you are right in that they made do. One of the houses that my grandmother grew up in had a formal dining room, but it was used more as the living area with the formal parlor being closed off (so it didn't have to be heated in the winter). The family did eat in the kitchen where it was warm. My great-grandfather added a stairway so that the attic was usable for a bedroom, but the staircase was in the great-grands' bedroom! This house even had a bathroom, but the family wasn't allowed to use it! (The family moved back and forth between town and the ranch. I don't ever remember Grandma saying much about the ranch house. Although there is a small house at the ranch now, I'm guessing it wasn't much more than a line shack in the early 1900's.)
Trixie - thanks for stopping by and for the kind words.
I see so many cute older homes like this and used to think I wanted one. We did view several and the rooms in them were a nice size but as with this one not many of them. The family had to be together in the front room mostly as the bedrooms were only good to sleep in etc. That is the way they were though. Our home had a dining room but it also had the piano in it. But then our kitchen did not have any place to eat in it. We did have an attic though. My house is just as small {no dining room either} but one can dream of a house with a laundry room and a den and library ...and... :) Jody
Reminds me of the Nixon family homestead in Yorba Linda. Dining room table in the living room, near the kitchen. There was an upstairs (which the public couldn't see, because access was small. The bedroom for most of the boys. THey also had a piano, and most of the family would have spent most of the time together in the living room. The historians who were doing research on the house, knew it was something that was a prefabricated house, shipped out from back east, but they never were able to find out from what company.
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