In 1798, only one American family out of ten lived in a house valued at seven hundred dollars, which was roughly equivalent to a large but plain, two-story central-chimney New England farmhouse with six or seven rooms. At even less of a percent, the richer American families owned a dwelling that a held value of over three thousand dollars or more, which was equivalent to a very large and graceful Federal-styled home with paired chimneys, a spacious central hallway entrance, and ten to a dozen rooms. .
Yet, despite the difference in size and value, the homes all shared a distasteful and bland front yard. The unfenced spaces in front of many dwellings were often times trampled on and bare, littered with uncut weeds. In the first couple decades of the nineteenth century, a great majority of Americans did not see the value of an attractive yard and thus took no care in its upkeep. In the countryside on farms, most housewives would toss even trash and food scraps out whatever door or window most convenient at the time into the yard for the livestock to pick over later. That said, between 1800 and 1840, some Americans began to take care of their homes and yards better by planting tree and flowers or painting their houses. The inside housing interior decorating also began to change and improve as American wealth grew. By the 1830s, furniture such as sofas and softer chairs were seen more and more in homes of merchants and lawyers. With the aid of the power loom, carpets became far more popular, showing up in one out of every four households. The pianoforte, a direct ancestor to today's piano, became an attractive centerpiece to have in the home of every wealthy American household. .
These successful merchants and lawyers, large plantation owners, and other various professional men were at the top of the social scale, followed by farmers, storekeepers, and successful artisans as "higher-middle class" folk, and then came the smaller "hard-pressed" (common farmers and mechanics, landless laborers), and then finally bring up the bottom were the slaves.
