FLOOR COYKRIN GS. 





rain MU\ swirling winds,&quot; and St. Mark s at Venire, all &quot; set in pillars of variegated stones, jasper and 

 porphyry, and deep-green serpentine spotted with Hakes of snow, and marbles, that halt relu&amp;gt;e and half 

 yield to the sunshine, Cleopatra-like, their bluest veins to kiss, &quot; which may not have very much to do 

 with carpets, yet is well worth remarking, in so far as it touches on the colour clianutenMic-, of North 

 and South. It may be as well to touch also on the necessity of restraint not only in colouring, but in 

 pattern. Assuming that there is much elaborate detail in the carpet, then chair coverings, curtains and 

 the like may be allowed in simple colours ; or, vice versa, a plain under-carpet, with rugs displayed thereon, 

 should form a good background for chintz coverings to chairs and the like material for curtains. To 

 have instead patterns on floors, coverings, curtains, walls and ceilings, is the certain way to rob the home 

 ot that feeling of quietude and peace that is a necessity 

 in these stirring times of hustle and rush, if we are to 

 preserve our sanity. 



\Ye conn- now to colder forms of floor covering, 

 such as parquetry and linoleum. If parquetry is the 

 more stately of the two, reminding one of Versailles, 

 tor instance, linoleum has its uses, its most distinct 

 uses, and so it must be considered. It is a humble 

 brother, but oilers one solution of that most difficult 

 problem what to do with the floor. An architect was 

 described in a recent novel as &quot; a man who quarrelled 

 with women about their kitchen sinks,&quot; which, if a 

 little undignified, at least shows interest in that 

 important fitment, and is more thinkable than the 

 other one, in Mr. Galsworthy s &quot;Man of Property,&quot; 

 who makes love to his client s wife. This is quite 

 unbelievable, and of the two we prefer the one who, 

 shall we say, had the temerity to maintain his views 

 about the sink. Hut to leave sinks and to return to 

 floor treatment. If the client s wife quarrelled with the 

 architect because he had views about sinks, it is with 

 considerable trepidation that the present subject is 

 approached, as it can be safely affirmed that every 

 woman has her own idea and recipe about staining 

 floors and the way to do it. To suggest, then, that 

 such ideas and methods are antiquated is to risk 

 rebuke. Yet so it is. and the writer has had his 

 experiences with the homely permanganate of potash 

 and other equally ineffective remedies for those signs 

 of wear that will appear at the doorways. 



The staining of floors probably started about 

 the time of the nineteenth century Gothic revival ; in 

 the better work the floors were, of course, of oak, with 

 rugs displayed thereon, and so the fashion of cutting 

 the carpet close all around the walls went out in some 

 measure. From the artistic, as well as the hygienic. 

 point of view, the square or oblong carpet that is a 

 complete piece of design in its own borders does not 

 suffer from the mutilation of its pattern in the irritating 

 way that the cut carpet does, and has the great 

 advantage that it can be readily taken up to be 

 cleaned, and not only cleaned, but thoroughly sweetened by being put out on a sunny lawn. Floor- 

 staining, then, has filled its useful purpose, but does not do its work so satisfactorily as parquetry or 

 linoleum. As to the history of the former, it seems to have been first used in France during the sixteenth 

 century, and since that time the very general way it has been employed suggests that the French 

 housewives find it so economical in the long run that they do not mind spending the additional 

 money that is required at the outset. Certain it is that in France the floors of palace, house, 

 or hotel seem invariably to be of parquet. It is probably this question of upkeep that holds 

 the solution to the problem. \Ye have already touched on the difficulties encountered with stained 

 floors, and the like holds good of painted margins. Assuming that, instead of being stained, the 

 margins are felted, there is a certain expenditure necessary, and felt is the most difficult material to 

 keep clean. Matting, again, soon wears, and the fitted carpet now is seldom seen outside a dressmaker s 



IIO. A MORRIS CARPKT. 



