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The house itself usually has one or two storeys. A popular style
is the ranch house - a one-story house with a low roof and an open-
plan design inside. However, there are many styles of houses,
which often vary according to region, and as you drive down an
American street you will notice that few of the houses look the
same. They may have a similar basic style, but the facade and front
yard of each house will be as individual as its owner.
It may seem that many houses are very new and not very well
built, but newer houses are not really intended to last more than
fifty years. However, older houses are becoming more popular,
provided they are old enough to be considered charming, and are
built well enough to be worth fixing up. It is unlikely that a family
will live in a house forever, let alone that the children will continue
to live in it once they are grown up.

BEDROOMS AND BATHROOMS

Bedrooms tend to be fairly large, if only to fit the extra-large
beds Americans are fond of. The most common sizes for beds are,
from largest to smallest, king-size, queen-size, full-size (or
double), and twin-size. Most bedrooms have built-in closets. Walk-
in closets are not unusual, and are not just for movie stars and other
glamorous types. Stand-alone wardrobes are rarely used. When
they are used, they tend to be more decorative than a practical
place for storing clothes. Smaller articles of clothing are also
stored in dressers, bureaus, or chests of drawers.
Your wardrobe refers to the clothes you own. The large piece
of wooden furniture for storing clothes is usually called an
armoire, but clothes are more likely to be kept in a closet.
The average family home has three bedrooms, with the master
bedroom having its own bathroom. There is another full bathroom
for the occupants of the other bedrooms to share. Sometimes there
will also be a guest or half bath(room) (just a toilet and sink),
especially if the house is built on more than one floor.
Americans don't like using the word "toilet," and only use it to
refer to the toilet bowl itself. A bathtub can be called a tub, but not
a bath. A bath is what you take when you get in the bathtub.
Americans prefer showers to baths, so there isn't always a bath-
tub in the bathroom. If there is a tub, though, there will nearly
always be a shower fixture above it, with the shower plumbed in