Isnt it amazing, how many varieties there are in the design of a simple family home, particularly in older houses. Back when such houses were being built, architects and builders tended to stick more to the established old details, which were often built into the house for specific reasons, though many are no longer relevant now or were never really effective in the first place.

Take the bay-window for instance. Ive been trying to figure just what advantages this feature was supposed to provide and all I can think of is that a bay window allows you to look horizontally to each side, so you could see friends approaching, or the milkman on his way. It also gives an extra half-meter or so on the size of the room, a space that is often filled with some sort of window seat anyway, so that advantage is easily lost.

Some people have told me the bay effect means that extra light floods into the room, but of course this is a false supposition. The actual size of the hole on the wall of the house is still the same, whatever size the bay is made jutting from it. There is a slight disadvantage in bays too, of course; it takes more expensive curtain material to cover than a simple flat window would, set in the wall!

Another oddity of older homes is the best front room. My parents had one, as did most other householders in the 1930s and 40s. It was the room where the best furniture was set out, where the most expensive wallpaper and luxury curtains were hung and where the thickest carpet was laid. Then the door was closed and, apart from giving the room a weekly (mostly unnecessary) clean, it was never used.

I believe it was actually a throwback to Victorian times, when houses were five stories high and the ground floor was the reception area (the original concept of what became the front room, once homes were no longer built so high). It was supposed to be where you entertained guests, but in modern homes, most guests were more comfortable in the living room next door, so that wasnt much use at all.

The idea of the front room has now all but disappeared. Floor space is much too valuable to have a special room, which rarely gets used. We have tended to go the opposite way these days, with home plans demanding open living, with no separate rooms at all everything, from the kitchen to the study, if you have one, in one vast open space like a cave. The nature of the furniture determines what the enclosed space is supposed to be used for, arm chairs and sofa = living room, large wooden table = dining room, sinks and marble benches = kitchen and the inevitable computer = study.

I guess this idea does make the best possible use of the available space, but I cant help wondering how anyone can get a bit of privacy when required. I shall always remember, in my parents home, when I lived there, how useful the front room was, when I brought home a girlfriend! Privacy was vital then, as Im sure a lot of people would agree now!

The larder is another room that doesnt appear much these days. When I was growing up, the larder was one of the most important spaces in the home. Refrigerators were a comparative rarity then and the larder was a place specially designed to circulate as much air as possible, with windows and holes in the floor covered in anti-fly wire to allow as much air movement as possible, but keep insects and vermin out.

This was then backed up by a wood-framed box on one of the shelves, its sides comprising more fly-wire, as big as could be afforded, or would fit in a space on one of the larder shelves. This was where the meat, cheese, butter and other perishables were kept and a damp towel was thrown over the top of the box so that the evaporation caused by the free movement of air, caused the interior of the box to stay quite cool, stopping the contents from deteriorating.

Of course now we have large fridges and freezers to do the job, while many other food items are freeze-dried and can be kept safely at room temperature. But the larder was a vital home unit for perhaps hundreds of years.

How things, old and tested things, have changed in the last 80 years! I wonder what other changes we have to look forward to in our homes?