Illinois News Index

Wilmette Life (Wilmette, Illinois), 21 Jan 1937, p. 62

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sort of a wooucu stair that was littie more thanl an eûlarged and glo ri-fied ladder. Its, walls were probably of brick or cernent blocks usually unsullied C.. lmLi by any vestige of C .Hmhl paint-though' occasÎontally a mnoreý enterprising owner mnay have 'wh ite- washed them bimself-at least Once. More lately the walis were.of potred concrete, rough just. asý the, wooden forms into whicb they were poured had left thern. The floors in .the old days were simply of goocl old 'Mother ýEarth: later brick might have been uised. to cover the dirt floor. When the use. o cncte became universal, çVileIit floors were used, and the general ob- noxiousness of cellars -began to de- Chue f rom that point on.' Nmmneous Had Bumpers *Cellars were usually guiltless of plaster. The wooden first floor joists and the bridging bracing the joists laid overhead like the ribs of sorne prehistoric monster long defunct. ITatin nioes. iaYfrr pipes, nlurnbinig clucts irom the not air îuuîîace ros from it and extended upward and' outward like the tenacles of' a giant octupus. And the place xas probably ightedi by a few snal windows, becauise noQ onîe would think particularly of liglit - ing up 'just a cellarY" Little thouglht a .in-lliiiy it .gr th t nloisture proof and shrinkage proof, laid in oone of varjous pleasing pat-, terns and.color combinations, a last.- itigfloor covering eminently suitable* for dancinig.1 Light aind.air- wil1 be ad- rnitted through large casernent win-ý dow-s ufrUfded 1 by. concrete area- wa s or "windowý wells.." Far frôni, being',a dnk. and dismal place, the, basernent bas becorne one of the most cheerful and pleasing roorns ini the wbole bouse. You xost certainly would not know that it hadl for its most imniediate ancestor the old unsigbtly cellar. The change of tbe caterpillàr.into a butterfly shrinks into insignificance by comp arison. And so w hen you are planning your own bouse give a thought to the basement. Your house will flot bc ctffnleite uflket5you h~ae sme.of the things ini it which we bave men- tioned. It need flot be too elaborate if your. proposed outlay is flot suffi- cient to include it. But reinember that you can always provide when you build the space and the room arrangement so that you can put iii tbe finishing touches later as you want them. Don't be înisied by any of the misinformed and fail to exc2ý- vate the hasement under the entire a littie money anid trhe exercis.e ox'a littie judgrnent, youi can add a feature to .Your bouse that will .greatly e- hance its livability. desirability, and,, last but flot least, its salability. C ConditionedAir . It might also have wood very extravagant. ris. No where w ill 'you sec Cor- J j

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