36 FARM HOMES, LN-DOORS AND OUT-DOORS. 



house and make wall-papering and other decoration an 

 easier and less expensive operation. 



An excellent way to dispose of the wood-work in kitch- 

 ens, dining-rooms, halls, and pantries, is to oil and var- 

 nish the natural wood. Such treatment is more durable 

 and less expensive than paint, and the varnished surface 

 is easily cleaned, and enriched and mellowed, rather than 

 damaged, by time. 



If preferred, a walnut-stain can be applied in dining- 

 rooms and halls, in place of oiling the wood. The sta'n 

 can be bought at a drug store ready for applying, or it 

 can be made by stirring the powder of burnt umber into 

 hot vinegar, regulating the quantities according to the 

 amount of surface to be stained. Apply it with a paint 

 brush, evenly in up and down strokes, and when dry 

 varnish with the best turpentine varnish. 



Mahogany color for staining book-shelves, tallies, 

 drawers, chests, etc., is obtained by using burnt sienna 

 in place of umber. 



If one has time and it is worth while to take time 

 a very neat hall floor can be made by staining alternate 

 boards with walnut-color and then varnishing the whole. 



Or the floor may be stained in blocks by tacking down 

 alternate six or eight inch squares of pasteboard and 

 applying the stain between them. 



This inexpensive treatment is also desirable for dining- 

 room floors especially for borderings around them, since 

 a happy fashion in carpets nowadays is to lay thorn in 

 the form of large rugs, leaving a space of two and a half 

 or three feet on all sides of the room. 



One charm of this sf-yh- lios in tho fact that the carpets 

 are easily taken up and cleaned without much moving or 

 lifting of heavy furniture, which can ror.i;i!n <>n the 

 boards next the wall. In a dining or any other much 

 used room, those "rug" carpets are the only kind that 

 should be endured ; and in such rooms a wide bordering 



