DECORATION 241 



appropriate place. The rule was to tack several strips from ceiling 

 to floor and test for a few days the effect of both sun and artificial 

 light. 



In plastering in some cases colors were mixed in the mortar, the 

 unevenness of tone so produced being at least novel. 



In one room walls and ceiling were unhygienically rough as gold 

 nuggets, and we copper bronzed and gilded until it fairly blazed with 

 iridescent rays. 



In a twelve foot ceilinged room a pictured side wall extending 

 from the six foot wainscot to the cove made a finish in appearance 

 antedating Colonial days. 



Pictures in Wood. 



In another was a rare wainscot of Circassian walnut, unpaneled, 

 boards closely matched to form an almost imperceptible joining, and 

 kiln-dried to the calcine point. Crowned by a bit of molded capping, 

 these pictures in wood rivaled in beauty the work of the frost king 

 on the window panes, but its well being meant drying out days 

 throughout the year. Heat, sun, and ventilation can alone balk the 

 destroyer that always lurks in a closed or partially closed house. 



A touch of realism was given the lofty raftered studio den by 

 suspending from the ceiling a trio of stuffed wild geese headed exactly 

 north, rivaling the rich patina colored copper arrow inset in the 

 loggia floor. 



On the vaulted ceiling of a tower room an artist friend painted 

 a flock of circling swallows, half hidden in fleecy clouds, while in 

 another treated by a past master in the art was a wealth of rococo 

 decoration whose delicate tracery seemed spun by fairy fingers. We 

 banished from every room heavy dust gathering draperies that make 

 one pant for fresh air and sunshine, substituting in the gala rooms 

 non-dust-clinging silk and satin. 



A Real Wall Covering. 



The originator of burlap-covered walls smoothed many an 

 awkward "thank you marm" that once marred the decorator's best 

 efforts, and burlap covers many a crack, nail hole and blemish. One 

 excellent effect was obtained by a new treatment of this old-time 

 wall covering. A gray white burlap was glued to the wall, painted 

 an apple green and rubbed down before it was thoroughly dry. The 

 color thus removed unequally, as the cross threads on the surface 

 received harder rubbing than the back threads, the green of the 

 untouched sunken threads showed through the fainter green in spots, 

 giving a Japanese silk effect, minus the raveled microbe dust-catching 

 ends, forming a wall almost as hard as flint, an absolutely hygienic 

 surface that could be redecorated again and again. Restful green 

 and restless red were not forgotten. Green, combined with white 

 enamel trim seemed almost as refreshing as the shade of a huge tree 



