THE HOUSE AND ITS EQUIPMENT. 



showroom. So the French parquetted floors, which give such a finish to the rooms, may in the long run 

 prove the best of bargains to the economical French housewife. 



French parquetry is generally thicker than English, being seldom less than one inch thick, pre 

 pared in squares that form the multiples of the design, and once laid they undoubtedly make a very 

 permanent floor. Any other woods which may be introduced are usually inlaid with the oak. The 

 oak used is Austrian, but cut for straight grain, rather than figure, as with us. Many of the French 

 floors are very beautiful examples of design and workmanship ; but such elaboration does not seem 

 necessary for the living-rooms of a house which are to have their due complement of carpets, rugs, chairs, 

 tables and so on. In a ballroom, though, where the floor is to be displayed, some of these beautiful 

 designs seem very appropriate, and in the old days such work was not thought below the dignity of an 

 artist, though even in Yasan s time the production of the often useless painted picture was esteemed the 

 real criterion. It is probable that the early French craftsmen were influenced by the intarsia work of 

 Italy, and some of the elaborate floors are inlaid as beautifully as a fine cabinet. So far as English 

 parquetry is concerned, it has not had a life of much more than about sixty years, or from the time of 

 the Great Exhibition. A Russian floor was shown there which excited comment at the time ; the craft 

 was, of course, known, but, as has been stated, the almost universal method of carpeting all over the 

 floors did awav with any necessity of making the floor itself beautiful. Evelyn quotes in his Diary for 



August 2jrd, 1678, &quot; The rooms are 

 wainscotted, and some of them 

 parquetted with cedar, yew, cypress, 

 etc.&quot; In 1816 Murray gives a quota 

 tion for parquetry as a name &quot; given 

 to boards of fir intersected by pieces 

 of walnut tree, or disposed in com 

 partments of which the walnut tree 

 forms the frame or border.&quot; This 

 must evidently have been for a floor, 

 inlaid in much the same way that 

 the Swiss inlay their pine panelling, 

 and is so distinct from the French 

 and Italian method of inlaying in a 

 hard wood. Evelyn s quotation takes 

 us back to the heyday of Sir 

 Christopher Wren s work. He had 

 been to Paris to escape the Plague 

 in 1665, and was thus familiar with 

 the colossal wafj^fcouis XIV. had in 

 hand. It &quot;jfe e that the floor 

 Evelyn saw wa^a French innovation 

 introduced by Wren. 



Leaving the historical side of 

 the subject, one may turn to the 

 present-day uses of parquetry and 

 ^^oor should be 

 on with parquetry. 

 fixed, because, even 

 indows being opened 

 rinking, will 

 the thicknesses 



III. CORNER OF AN ENGLISH CARPET OF l6o_|. 



the method of its application to new and existing floors. Just as it is essential 

 bone-dry before linoleum is laid down, so is it very necessary to take the same prec 

 In the case of new work it should be left till the last possible momeiii lu-ioiv 11 

 assuming that the house is quite dry, if it is left unoccupied for ;m\ tune \\iihmii 

 and so on, the dry wood will absorb any moisture there may be in the air, and, in 

 swell up in unsightly blisters. In England, a quarter of an inch and half an inc 

 generally used, and the floor is veneered with these, being glued and bradded, and the tiny nail-holes 

 stopped before polishing. The simplest form of parquetry is the plain herring-bone pattern, and it is 

 possible to obtain this in oak a quarter of an inch thick and have it laid for eightpence-halfpenny per foot 

 super. Another form is long battens, three inches wide and a quarter of an inch thick, laid the reverse 

 way to the floor-boards under, and the effect is simpler and perhaps better than the herrim^bon^ If this 

 sort of parquetry is used in a long room with windows at the end, the battens should run the on \\;i\ 

 of the room, and it is not necessary to have more than a one-inch deal flooring under wlHp tyP 6 costs 

 rather more than the herring-bone, as longer lengths of stuff have to be used. If^roperly laid, the 

 parquetry should be quite solidly attached to the under floor, without any suggestion of springing or 

 creakiness in it. The half-inch thicknesses make a better job, but there is endless wear in the quarter-inch. 

 For dining-rooms, or where a large carpet covers the central area, there is no need to parquet more 

 than the borders, and the cost being kept down in this way, the one initial expense settles the problem 



