Читать книгу One Thousand Ways to Make a Living; or, An Encyclopædia of Plans to Make Money - Harold Morse Dunphy - Страница 90

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A lawyer in a western city had only a small practice but his wife possessed good business judgment. They had just cash enough to purchase a small house, with a good-sized lot, in a modest side street occupied mainly by the homes of working men. This lady possessed good taste in the matter of furnishings and decorations, and exercised her talent in this direction by turning this property into an attractive little home. By a most skillful arrangement of the furniture, and not having too much of it, she gave all the rooms the appearance of being much larger than they really were, while dotted Swiss curtains admitted sufficient light to impart a most cheerful atmosphere. Everything was made to contribute to the coziness of the place, and give it a homelike air that was very inviting. In a few months they were offered $350 more than the property cost them, and they accepted the offer.

Plan No. 82. Industry has its rewards

They next bought an older house, that was badly in need of repairs, gave it two coats of white paint, added green shutters, and the wife improved the interior with home-made book-cases, window seats and kitchen conveniences of many kinds, and put blue and white lace paper on the pantry shelves. A retired farmer and his wife, who wanted to move to town, was greatly impressed with the pattern of that paper as well as with the large back yard, where quantities of garden products could be raised, and readily paid them $500 more than the cost of the place.

They then bought a nine-room house, converted it into two apartments, that rented for $45 a month each, and a little later sold it at a profit of $1,150, making their total profits in two years $2,000.