The following is taken from The Register of Rural Affairs, published in America in 1855. I think it holds up pretty well :)
1. Always compare the cost with the means, before deciding on the plan. It is much better to build within means, than to have a large, fine house, hard to keep in order, and encumbering the owner with a heavy and annoying debt. A great error with many is an attempt to build finely. Attend to real wants and substantial conveniences, and avoid imaginary and manufactured desires.
2. Study a convenient location rather than a showy one: a house on a lofty hill may make a fine appearance, but the annoyance of ascending to it will become greater on each successive day.
3. Build of such good materials as are near at hand. An interesting index is thus afforded to the resources and materials of that particular region, with the addition of great economy over the use of such as are “far brought and dear bought."
4. Prefer lasting to perishable materials, even if more costly. A small well built erection, is better than a large decaying shell.
5. Discard all gingerbread work, and adopt a plain, neat, and tasteful appearance in every part. Far more true taste is evinced by proper forms and just proportions than by any amount of tinsel and peacock decorations. A marble statue bedizened with feathers and ribbons, would not be a very pleasing object.
6. Proportion may be shown in the smallest cottage as well as in the most magnificent palace - and the former should be carefully designed as well as the latter. However small a building may be, let it never show an awkward conception, when a good form is more easily made than a bad one.
7. Where convenient or practicable, let the plan be so devised that additions may be subsequently made, without distorting the whole.
8. More attention should be given to the convenient arrangement and disposition of rooms in constant daily use, that those employed but a few times in the course of a year. Hence the kitchen and living-room should receive special attention.
9. In all country houses, from the cottage to the palace, let the kitchen (the most important apartment,) always be on a level with the main floor. It requires more force to raise a hundred pounds ten feet upwards, whether it be the human frame or an assortment of eatables, than the same weight one hundred feet on a level. To do it fifty times a day is a serious task. If the mistress superintends her own kitchen, it should be of easy access. For strong light and free ventilation, it should have, if possible, windows on opposite or nearly opposite sides.
10. There should be a set of easy stairs from the kitchen to the cellar. Every cellar should have, besides the stairs within, an outside entrance, for the passage of barrels and other heavy articles.
11. The pantry, and more especially the china closet, should be between the kitchen and dining room for easy access from both.
12. The bathroom should be between the kitchen and nursery, for convenience to warm water.
13. Let the entry or hall be near the center of the house, so that ready and convenient access may be had from it to the different rooms; and to prevent the too common evil of passing through one room to enter another.
14. Place the stairs so that the landing shall be as near the center as may be practicable, for the reasons given in the preceding rule.
15. Every entrance from without, except to the kitchen, should open into some entry, lobby, or hall, to prevent the direct ingress of cold air into rooms, and to secure sufficient privacy.
16. Let the partitions of the second floor stand over those of the lower, as nearly as possible, to secure firmness and stability.
17. The first floor of any house, however small, should be at least one foot above ground, to guard against dampness.
18. Flat roofs should be adopted only with metallic covering. Shingles need a steeper inclination to prevent the accumulation of snow, leakage and decay - more so than is frequently adopted. A steep roof is, additionally, cheaper, by admitting the use of a less perfect material for an equally perfect roof, and giving more garret room.
19. The coolest rooms in summer, and the warmest in winter, are those remote from the direction of the prevailing winds and from the afternoon sun. Hence parlors, nurseries, and other apartments where personal comfort is important, should be placed on this side of the house where practicable.
20. Always reserve ten per cent. of cost for improvement and planting. Remember that a hundred dollars in trees and shrubbery produce a greater ornamental and pleasing effect than a thousand in architecture.
21. Lastly, never build in a hurry; mature plans thoroughly; procure the best materials, and have joiner-work done at the cheaper season of winter, and the erection will be completed in the most perfect manner, and with the greatest practicable degree of economy.