The Houses of Deir Al Madina

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The houses in the village opened directly to the main street , the original houses built on virgin soil , had no foundations , and were composed of mud-brick .
Later houses built on rubble , or less favored ground , had basements of stone or brick , and stone walls up to 2 . 5 meters in height topped by mid-brick . The houses varied from 3 to 5 meters in height and consisted of only one story .
The roofs were flat and made up of three trunk sand palm leaves with spaces filled by pottery fragments and then plastered . The roof served as a protection during the heat of the day and as a terrace during the cool weather of the evening . There were some small holes left in the roof , at selected place , to let in light to the rooms .
The design of the houses followed a similar pattern throughout the village with variations due to the social status and wealth of their owners .
The house was painted , white on the outside , apart from the wooden door which was red , the door jambs and lintels often were inscribed with texts identifying the owner of the house , they were made of stone of wood and the hieroglyphs were painted red .
The floors were composed of hard-packed earth . For the higher-rank residences , the floors and the walls might be plastered and painted white or red .
The 1st room was to be entered directly from the street and was 40 to 50 centimeters below the level of the street . The chief feature of the entrance hall was a large-brick structure , in one of the corners of the room which was generally rectangular in shape and it was to be approached by flight of 3 to 5 stairs .
The block was surmounted by brick super-structure reaching almost to the ceiling , It looks like a canopied poster bed in brick , the exterior of the block could be plain or decorated with frescoes .
The most common decoration shows god Bes , who is associated with child birth . The decoration also shows that the "brick-bed" was being used by women of the house for bearing their children however , it is conceivable that the brick structure was only an altar .
This 1st room also contained niches for offering tables and stelae ,
The 2nd room was loftier than the 1st , it’s roof was supported by columns made of limestone or the trunk of a palm tree , the main feature of this room was low platform or divan , sometimes made of stone . It served as a dining area by day and a bed by night , it also contained a false door , stela , dedicated to the favored deity .
Underneath the divan , a small divan might be located for storing the goods .
In a few houses , there were child burials beneath this living room .
Off this main room , there were 1 or 2 small rooms used as store rooms , work area and sleeping quarters for the female members of the household .
At the back of the house , there was walled open area which served as the kitchen as we find a small oven of brick or pottery , also , there was another cellar here , a stairway , from this back court led up to the roof .
The whole house was sparsely furnished with only few stools and tables .