104 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



March, 1913 



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WITHIN THE HOUSE 



SUGGESTIONS ON INTERIOR DECORATING 

 AND NOTES OF INTEREST TO ALL 

 WHO DESIRE TO MAKE THE HOUSE 

 MORE BEAUTIFUL AND MORE HOMELIKE 



The Editor of this Department will be glad to answer all queries 

 from subscribers pertaining to Home Decoration. Stamps 

 should be enclosed when a direct personal reply is desired 



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HARDWOOD FLOORS 



By Harry Martin Yeomans 



HE almost universal use of rugs as a floor 

 covering has resulted in hardwood floors be- 

 coming a subject of great concern to all 

 home-makers; a matter which was not of 

 such paramount importance in the old days 

 when a snugly fitted carpet was considered 

 the only proper floor covering. At first, only large rugs, 

 showing a couple of feet of floor space about their edges, 

 were used, and then the question of the hardwood floor was 

 not so troublesome. But when the smaller-sized Oriental 

 rugs began to be imported in such large quantities, both the 

 antique and the modern ones, they created a demand for 

 hardwood floors of the highest excellence. By using several 

 small-sized rugs in a room, placed in front of the larger 

 pieces of furniture, or where the most walking takes place, 

 large sections of the flooring were left exposed to view, and 

 consequently a great deal of thought has been given to the 

 laying and finishing of hardwood floors, and many houses 

 can boast of very beautiful ones. 



The hardwood floor for all parts of the house has much 

 to commend it, both from an aesthetic and a sanitary point 

 of view. The old-fashioned nailed-down carpet, coming up 

 close to the baseboard, never could be thoroughly cleaned, 

 and never was really freed of dust and dirt, although it 

 may have looked so, and the periodical trouble of having 

 them taken up and beaten, added to the terrors of the Spring 

 and Fall housecleanings. But with rugs, hardwood floors, 

 and a hand-power vacuum cleaner, one can feel assured that 

 all the dust has been eliminated from a room. Artistically 

 hardwood floors make a big appeal, as the narrow units of 

 which they are composed, whether laid straight or in a pat- 

 tern, give texture to the floor and add to the constructive 

 quality of a room, which cannot be obtained by a carpet no 

 matter how costly it is. 



It should be borne in mind that hardwood floors should 

 be a background for your rugs or whatever form of floor 

 covering is to be used, and in common with all good back- 

 grounds, its design should not be so elaborate as to attract 

 undue attention. As a floor it may be beautiful, but still it 

 is only a floor to be walked on, and to fulfill that purpose 

 properly it should keep its place under foot and not assert 

 itself. 



One great defect noticed in hardwood floors, from an 

 artistic standpoint, is that they are not dark enough in color. 

 Floors should be oiled or stained so as to make them suffi- 

 ciently dark to form a background for rugs, and so that 

 they will not be too prominent. 



I have seen rooms that have been decorated and fur- 

 nished in perfect taste, but the occupants felt that there was 

 something about the rooms that was not right. It turned 



out to be that the floors were too light in color, and they 

 threw the whole decorative scheme out of key. When they 

 were stained and darkened, the difficulty was remedied and 

 the floors assumed their proper place in relation to the 

 balance of the room. 



When a floor is laid in a perfectly plain design, it can 

 afford to be lighter in color than when a more elaborate 

 pattern is employed. 



About twelve families of trees give all of the flooring that 

 is trod upon in this country; but maple, the hard pines 

 known in lumber yards as Georgia, Carolina and Southern 

 pine, and white oak, are those most commonly used in the 

 average house. 



Maple is light in color, economical, very hard, makes a 

 fine dancing floor and you can roll pianos and heavy furni- 

 ture over it with impunity. It is excellent also for utili- 

 tarian floors, such as kitchens, laundries and in servants' 

 bedrooms. This wood is too hard to take a stain. 



The pine floors are light in color and take an excellent 

 polish, or they can be varnished. Staining is not a success, 

 as the wood is so full of sap that the stain will not penetrate, 

 but remains on the surface and wears off. To darken pine 

 floors successfully, they should be treated to applications of 

 linseed oil, to which some stain has been added so as to 

 hurry the darkening process. When pine floors are going 

 to be laid, "comb grain" should be specified so that they will 

 not splinter or "rise." 



Of all the woods used for flooring, white quartered oak 

 stands head and shoulders above the rest, and gives the 

 utmost satisfaction, although red oak is sometimes used. 

 "Quartered white oak" should be specified, as it has the 

 beautiful "silver grain" not found in the straight stock. Oak 

 must have a filler to seal up all of the pores of the wood and 

 make it ready for the finishing process. Oak can be stained 

 to any desired shade and a good plan is to put some stain in 

 the filler. Hickory is also a good floor wood and takes a 

 good polish. Beech makes an ideal floor, is light in color, 

 hard, and has the rare quality of wearing smoother with 

 age. 



In the house of moderate cost, the floors are either laid 

 perfectly plain or with a simple border effect, when a large 

 rug is to be used. When more expensive and more elabor- 

 ate designs are desired, there are various geometrical rug 

 effects and patterns that can be worked out in hardwood 

 floors and which are very handsome. The herring-bone pat- 

 tern is very attractive. With these more elaborate designs 

 small rugs should be used. 



These attractive designs for hardwood floors have been 

 made possible by : the use of the small units — boards of nar- 

 row width. In old floors where wide boards were used, 

 they spread apart and showed unsightly cracks, which in 

 time became filled with an accumulation of dust and dirt. 

 This defect has been done away with, however, by employ- 



