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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



October, 19 13 



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 



REVIVING THE HOUSE FOR AUTUMN 

 AND WINTER 



By George Crane 



FTER a long Summer's nap, the reviving of 

 the house is a task that befalls us all, some- 

 times with little trouble, but for the greater 

 part it is a duty filled with innumerable un- 

 expected details. It is with great care to the 

 details that work afterward is lessened and 

 the keeping in order and putting into place is reduced to a 

 minimum. The putting up of a house for the Summer has 

 as great a variety of methods as the keeping of one, and 

 quite as much depends on so doing for comfort as upon good 

 care during the time the house is lived in. 



A carefully shut-up house requires as much thought and 

 care as one gives to the weekly cleaning and one often won- 

 ders when one sees houses closed and boarded up, if one 

 could open the little door in the big wooden frame and 

 step inside what would greet the eye. Some think that all 

 that is necessary is to put papers up at the windows, board 

 up the lower floor and leave the key with a trust company 

 or a neighbor, and that in the Autumn all will be as it was 

 left. This is quite true, but how do you suppose the house 

 will look after three or four months of such a "put away?" 

 Let us imagine and not go into detail for the majority of 

 housewives do not simply turn the key and walk out, but 

 give their cherished belongings the care due them and, after 

 all, what we care for we wish to keep and what we wish to 

 keep we must care for. It's the same whether it be in putting 

 up a house for the Summer and its reviving, or the attention 

 necessary to the growing child, care must be given if we wish 

 the future to be productive of the desired results. "Noth- 

 ing succeeds like success" and the success we derive from 

 one thing or another depends upon what energy of purpose 

 we bring to the tasks set before us. The house, like every- 

 thing else, must have careful treatment during the sleeping 

 period or else it will not respond to the treatment that it is 

 to receive when the awakening takes place. 



A house that is carefully put away for the Summer is just 

 that much easier made ready for the Winter, and thrice 

 blest is he who puts his house in good order by those who 

 are to do the reviving later on. The first thing to do is to 

 have the boards removed and all the windows opened, so 

 that the fresh air may circulate freely through the house 

 and drive away all the lingering reminders of Summer. 

 Too much stress cannot be laid on the importance of thor- 

 ough airing. The floors are all hardwood, so nothing is 

 left to do but give them a good cleaning after numerous 

 other things have been attended to, for the floors are one of 

 the last things to be done. In the drawing-room a hand- 

 some rug has been covered with a linen covering. This, too, 

 is left down till the rest of the room is in complete readiness. 



So it is all over the house, the floors are left to the very last. 



Several days before the family are ready to come into the 

 house, the servants are sent in ahead and are kept busy 

 getting things in a ship-shape condition. From attic to 

 cellar the house must be put to rights and not a room 

 neglected, a task which indeed few of us would care to per- 

 form, and yet it has its charms, for what is more satisfying 

 than to see the home alive once more and to realize that 

 it has been your hands that have done the work? The ser- 

 vants' quarters at the top of the house have been put in 

 order, first simply as a place for them to live in and be com- 

 fortable while the other rooms are being done. Of course, 

 they would be put in order too, but in this case it is wise 

 to give that floor the first attention as a sort of incentive 

 for them to do good work elsewhere. 



The cellar is thoroughly cleaned and the bins well filled 

 with coal that has been put in during the Summer and what 

 ash pit there is is empty, made ready for accumulations. 

 The kitchen is put in a semi-orderly condition, later on to 

 receive its share of a thorough cleaning but at present 

 merely enough so that the servants' meals may be prepared 

 with as little hindrance as possible. The bedrooms are 

 aired, the mattresses taken out of their heavy covering and 

 beaten on the air porch and the pillows treated the same 

 way. The woodwork is all gone over, notwithstanding the 

 thorough Spring cleaning, and the closets washed out with 

 a mild disinfectant simply as a customary precaution that 

 has become more and more the rule and not the exception 

 in recent years. The walls are all rubbed down with a soft 

 brush, care being taken not to mark the paper. 



Should the walls be papered with oatmeal paper, care 

 should be taken in rubbing as a very fine powdered fibre falls 

 over everything and will very soon add more labor than 

 is really necessary. All the mirrors are washed, the furni- 

 ture, if white, cleaned with a damp cloth and if mahogany, 

 oiled and rubbed. The rugs are unrolled and beaten so as 

 to air them of the odor of camphor. The bric-a-brac is 

 uncovered and washed and put in the customary place. The 

 various little linen covers are put about after a visit to the 

 laundress or laundry, as the case may be. The finishing 

 touches of the room are left to the occupant who has 

 cherished things under lock and key. The pictures are all 

 uncovered and dusted, and those that have been taken 

 down and folded in paper are hung up again with new 

 picture wire. The bathrooms are thoroughly scoured and 

 every inch gone over as only they should be treated. The 

 windows are washed and fresh white curtains hung, the 

 beds are made and the bedrooms are ready for the long 

 Winter occupancy. 



The halls are all carefully gone over, floors painted, walls 

 and stairs with the white spindles are all cleaned and put 

 in order. The various closets in the halls are all put in 

 order and nothing is forgotten. It is possible by a little 





