THERE is a fascination in making over old houses which is seldom attendant upon the planning of new. Thrift is, indeed, the mother of many charming inventions. The presence of the merest outer shell seems to unloose the fancy and suggest liberties which would probably never have been dared or thought of on paper.

For a number of years old houses have been a drug on the market, but with the cost of building soaring skyward and the environs of the city gradually becoming divested of their choice sites for summer and suburban homes, we can no longer afford to consider them as negligible factors. An old house can usually be purchased far below its original cost and far, far below what it would cost to duplicate it in a modern structure. In the country many a fine old house whose excellent state of preservation has been concealed by neglect and by the disfiguring renovations of intermediate generations of owners, is often included gratuitously with the purchase of a fair sized acreage. Some of the most charming modern homes have been achieved through a maximum expenditure of ingenuity and a minimum of money upon derelict houses which have frequently been rescued from beneath the very hammers of the wreckers.

On an untraveled road amid the Cantitoe Hills of Westchester County, New York, stood a small house, once the center of a prosperous farm. The subsequent introduction of the railroad at a point a few miles distant, had gradually drawn the farming away from the less accessible districts and this old house remained untenanted for a number of years, finally deteriorating into a temporary shelter for a day laborer's family.

There was not much in the dilapidated exterior of the old house with its ugly sprawling piazza in several stages of decay, to attract the attention of the passer-by, but in the rear a grassy terrace sloped gently down to a small natural lake surrounded by fruit-bearing trees and replenished by a rocky stream which gurgled away into the woods. From the rear, too, one caught a glimpse of the peaks of distant hills above which the glow of the summer sky lingered to greet the stately ascent of the moon. Such a situation was well worth the application of both faith and energy to the restoration of the old house.

To the exterior very few changes were found necessary after the disfiguring piazza was entirely ripped off and the bare stoop covered with an inconspicuous lattice work arch. The piazza had been a later addition, and without it the original lines of the house appeared surprisingly simple and good. With a smart new dress of white paint and trim green shutters, it once more put up a pleasant and friendly front to the road.

Within, the problem was somewhat more perplexing. A small dining-room and an extremely narrow parlor flanked the dark entrance hall. The whole rear of the floor was given over to closets, a long windowless back hall, and a staircase, necessitating the location of the kitchen in the basement.

In order to provide a more practical and desirable place for the kitchen, the dining-room had to be sacrificed, leaving a single small family room on the main floor. It was found that by taking down the partitions of the closets and cutting three windows in the rear, a goodly amount of space could be added to the parlor and a pleasant nook provided for bookcases and a broad window-seat. By taking down the partition between the front hall and the parlor, also, and allowing the entrance to be directly into the latter, an increase in breadth was gained which very much improved the proportions of the room. Where to place the dining-room was the problem!

By cutting windows in the back hallway and substituting a smaller stairway, it was discovered that a room eight by twelve feet could be obtained. Impossible for a dining-room? Perhaps, but in this particular case it turned out to be the most charming room in the house.

Upstairs, the three bedrooms were left as they were and a modern bathroom installed.

In decorating and furnishing all precedent was cast aside. The aim was toward a modern, tasteful, refreshing, and livable home to be attained as simply and inexpensively as possible. The result was little less than magic.

The floors whose old boards were too worn to appear well, were covered with heavy plain brown linoleum, shellacked and waxed, producing much the same effect as wood and very easy to be kept in condition. The walls of the dining-room and living-room were stippled with water colors on a neutral tinted paper, taking away the hard flat effect and lending to the backgrounds a luminous and atmospheric quality.

The living-room was treated in various tones of yellow. The neutral yellow wall-paper was stippled first with light brown and then orange water-color. The woodwork was all bright yellow including the bookcases and the built-in mantel, over which hung an old time oblong gilt mirror with three divisions.

Two oblong tables were placed parallel at opposite sides of the wall. One was Jacobean in design and the other Italian, and both were made out of ordinary white wood by a local carpenter after the design of the owner and stained English-walnut color. Two large lamps with pottery bases and homemade shades of plain brown paper yellowed with water-color and touched with blue and purple rested upon them. The chairs were simple English rush-bottoms with the exception of one arm-chair upholstered in brown velveteen. The cushions and pillows of the window seat were, also, of brown velveteen. The curtains were yellow sunfast and the rugs were of an inexpensive variety dyed a dark brown. Two vases of rich Persian blue pottery and a few sepia prints completed the decoration of this thoroughly original and delightful room.

The grayish blue wall-paper of the diminutive dining-room was stippled first with dark blue water-color and then light green, producing a shimmering blue-green resembling the waters of the Mediterranean. The woodwork, including the built-in dresser at one end and the tiny partially visible staircase at the other, was painted a bright apple-green with ordinary house paint. This produced a superb effect against the brilliant blue wall. When the mistress of the house consented to an eight by twelve foot dining-room she, of course, foresaw the impossibility of a regulation dining-table, but was little daunted by it. A refectory table seven feet long and two feet wide was introduced, with a bench against the wall, so that the diners could sit facing the windows which overlooked the charming rural vista. Two green rush-bottom armchairs were stationed at either end of the table when needed. All the serving was done across the table. This table was also made by the local carpenter and lacquered a bright light green. No cloth was used and it was rubbed daily with cotton seed oil.