• IN WHAT KINDS OF
HOUSES do rural North Carolinians
live? And how well do
these houses meet their needs?
Our answers to these questions
are based upon visits to 450 homes
of young rural families in Piedmont
North Carolina.
Seventy-one per cent (319) of
the families were white; 29 per
cent ( 127) were Negro. An average
of six persons lived in each
house and each family had at least
one child under school age.
Two-Thirds Not Satisfied
Almost two-thirds of the families
were not satisfied with the
number of rooms in their houses.
About 30 per cent planned to add
rooms; 15 per cent plamoed to
build, buy or move.
More bedrooms or social rooms,
or both, topped the families'
"want" lists-46 per cent desiTed
one or the other, while 30 per cent
planned for them. Bathrooms
were desired and planned for by
22 per cent of the families.
Three Types of Houses
We have classed the houses into
three types: (1) those with no
social Toom, (2) those with one
social To om, and ( 3) these with
two or more social1·ooms.
Houses witl-1 no social roc m: Thirty
per cent of the families fell into
this category. These houses consisted
of a kitchen-dining room,
a bedroom-social room and one or
more bedrooms.
The kitchen-dining room was
used for food preparation and
service, food preservation, laundry
in some cases, grooming and
some of the play of younger children.
The bedroom-social room
was used for the sleeping of parents
and younger children, for
the dressing of all the family in
cold weather, as a family living
area and as the children's major
play center.
Other rooms, usually unheated,
were used for sleeping of older
children and guests. Toilet facilities
were a privy or outside.
Houses with one social room: For-
Typical house with one social room .
A Look at:
Hura
Houses
Josephine Kremer
and Savannah Day
ty-one per cent were in this
group. The room used only for
social purposes in these houses
was a living room, dining room,
parlor, den or playroom. About
two out of three families u3ed
this social room as the major
living area. Others used it to supplement
a bedroom-living room
or a kitchen-dining-living room.
Eleven per cent of these houses
had a bathroom.
Houses with two or more social
rooms: Twenty-nine per cent of
the houses were of this type.
Roughly two families in three had
dining rooms, but only slightly
more than a third ,regularly ate
family meals there. Forty-one per
cent had a bathroom.
SuggesH~ns Offered
To make good use of the space
they have, families who live in
small houses must use a lot of
ingenuity. In rooms having several
uses, it is especially important
to have organized centers for
the various activities and enough
storage space for possessions used
in these activities.
Furnishings need to be more
flexible, well placed or easy to
move, and easy to clean. More
families might consider heating
and making full use of all room ~
throughout the year.
Fo1· families who desiTe to build
la1·ge1· houses all at one time, 6 or
7-room house plans designed for
farm living are needed. They
should include a kitchen with eating
area, living room, a second
social room (dining room, par lor,
den or playroom), 3 or more bedrooms,
bathroom, central heat,
open front porch and screened
back porch-utility area.
Fo1· families ~uho could build
a small house and improve it later,
there is a need for more plans for
3, 4 and 5-room houses which will
serve the family's present needs
as well as possible.
More families plan to enlarge
the present house than to build
new houses. Yet expansible house
plans are the exception rather
than the rule. Houses that grow
with little planning seldom are as
satisfactory as they could be.
Also, in such house plans, original
rooms which will be used
heavily should be large.
Provisions for adding a living
room and/ or one or more bedrooms,
central heat and a bathroom
should be included in original
plans.
Special needs of farm families
seem to have been considered in
very few house plans. Points deserving
special consideration include
(1) large kitchen-utility
area, (2) work area with a passageway
which does not interfere
with work space, (3) wash-up
area near back door, (4) storage
space for work clothes, (5) a
place to relax in work clothes,
(6) a farm business center, (7)
entrances from driveway to both
living and work areas, and (8)
space for entertaining and guests.
Reprinted from "Research and Farming", Vol. XVI, No. 3, Winter, 1958
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Martha Blakeney Hodges
5PECIALCOlU:CI10NS & UN IVERSITY ARCHIVF5
W ALTER CLI NTON j A c .:soN LuaA.aY
T HE U NIVERS ITY 01' NO liTH CAkOLINA AT G ltt:EN S80 1t0
HOME E CONOMICS pAMPHLETS COLLECTION
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