August, 1905 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



109 



these countries, as well as manufacturers, have been giving 

 their best thought to this room. Perhaps it would be interest- 

 ing to mention one or two of them. 



There is a Scandinavian artist, Karl Larsson by name, 

 who has, of late years, been turning his talents into the chan- 

 nel of home decoration. The keynote of his style is variety 

 and individuality. He scorns to follow fixed rules, and 

 decorates his walls in panels and sections, employing a great 

 variety of patterns, though the colorings always harmonize 

 and the patterns in a single room always show a certain 

 kinship of type. Like the Japanese, he decorates his dark 

 jogs and corners in lighter tones than those employed in the 

 spaces on which the full light of the windows falls. The 

 panels of his doors are decorated fancifully, and over doors 

 and windows he likes to arrange a little special decoration, 

 breaking the monotony of the frieze. 



None of Larsson's rooms are more delightful than his 

 nurseries. He seems to know what the little people like, and 

 he varies his dainty floral patterns with an occasional figure 

 of droll grotesqueness or fairy grace. And his color sense 

 is superb. The children get as much of his skill in harmony 

 and blending as the grown-ups. 



In England, where the decorative profession is of great 

 importance, there are several well-known firms which have 

 been doing notable things in the nursery. One of the fore- 

 most, Waring & Gillow, of London, exhibited at the St. 

 Louis Exposition last year, together with other rooms, a 

 fully decorated and furnished English nursery. It was full 

 of individuality and artistic charm, and should have made 

 a lasting impression on the minds of the American parents 

 who saw it. 



In England, child-loving artists have been giving their 

 attention to wall paper designing. Everybody knows Kate 

 Greenaway's picture books. Her wall papers are no less 

 highly prized in England. Walter Crane is another artist — 

 the last survivor of the pre-Raphaelite school, by the way — 

 who does not disdain to work for the little ones. He, too, is 

 better known in this country for his charming illustrations 

 of fairy tales and Christmas books, but he has employed the 

 same dainty grace in his wall paper designs. And now Cecil 

 Alden is drawing some of the most fascinating panels and 

 friezes that were ever designed for children. 



Fortunately the work of these English artists can be ob- 

 tained through the importers, and there are plenty of good 

 English nursery wall papers now on the market. Our do- 

 mestic designers and manufacturers are also going into it 

 gradually, and there will be plenty of good, low-priced 

 nursery wall papers to be had as soon as the demand in- 

 creases. 



But this is America and the present, and we must con- 

 sider what can be done to-day in fitting up a nursery with 

 the materials at hand. It is a room which is bound to become 

 popular soon, and it is high time that we gave it a little 

 thought. 



In general, the furniture should be strong but not ugly, 

 for we must never forget that no one is more open to the 

 subtle influences of the beautiful than a child. The room 

 should be bright and the colors pleasing. The walls should 

 be given careful attention, and also the draperies and cover- 

 ings. Cretonnes and cotton prints can be obtained, bright 

 with flowers and fantastic figures especially designed for the 

 nursery. A figured chintz or flowered muslin is better for 

 window curtains and draperies than white lace or tapestries. 

 Variety and brightness and pictorial interest are what the 

 child loves. 



The wall papers may be floral, or Mother Goose, animal 

 and kindred subjects, or both. The pictures should be se- 

 lected with the same care, and may be either simply amusing 

 or embody some educational idea. Historical and geo- 

 graphical subjects need not be uninteresting simply because 



they teach something. But we should never permit poor art 

 or poor taste to creep in, merely because the child won't 

 know the difference. He doesn't know, but he feels. 



Perhaps it will prove helpful to some reader if we describe 

 a sort of model nursery that will not cost a fortune. We 

 will assume that it is a room of fair size, with two or more 

 windows; the nursery must be well lighted. If it is used as 

 a bedroom as well as a playroom, of course there are the beds 

 or cribs. If the windows can be darkened with an extra set 

 of green shades it will often help to keep the baby asleep 

 in the morning until his elders want to get up. 



We can use a carpet on the floor, though bright rugs are 

 better; they are so much more easily cleaned, and the nursery 

 must be kept clean to be healthful. Window draperies are 

 not a necessity, but something bright and pretty, draped back, 

 adds to the general effect. 



At each of the windows, or part way around the room, we 

 will build a window seat, not too high, but high enough so 

 that little faces can look out, and broad enough so that little 

 legs can be stretched out comfortably. We will make it 

 simple and won't try to give it such a high polish that we 

 shall have to make annoying rules to prevent scratching. 



For the rest of the furniture we will buy whatever we can 

 that is small enough and strong and pretty. Willow rockers 

 are plenty, and there is one manufacturing firm in New York 

 which makes a line of little chairs and tables and desks, in 

 the mission style, strong and dark colored, and just the right 

 size. We'll buy some of those, if we can find them. 



Now for the walls. We'll find out how far up little fin- 

 gers can reach, and just above that point we'll run a narrow 

 shelf around the room. On this we can put ornaments and 

 bric-a-brac, of the sort that children love, out of harm's way. 

 By all means get one of those old-fashioned barometers, with 

 the quaint man and woman in the cottage door. 



Below the shelf or plate-rail we will use something very 

 durable and not easily soiled. Suppose we use a dark green 

 burlap. We can add to the durability and decorative effect 

 by paneling it off with flat, vertical cleats a couple of feet 

 apart. All the woodwork should be stained a dark color, so 

 that we won't have to be continually on the lookout for 

 finger-marks. If we use the black or brown mission furni- 

 ture, the woodwork stained to match will produce a most 

 satisfactory result. 



Now above the shelf we must bring in our color, and we 

 have placed the shelf as low as possible in order to get in 

 as much color as possible. Never be afraid of using plenty 

 of color; discord is the only thing to be avoided. Just above 

 the shelf we will use a Mother Goose or an animal frieze. 

 Friezes are generally hung at the top of the wall, to be sure, 

 and your paperhanger will doubtless insist on the prescribed 

 method, but there is no law to prevent our hanging this one 

 nearer the level of bright eyes, and if we try it I think we'll 

 be rather pleased with the result than otherwise. 



Above the frieze we'll use a floral wall paper in natural 

 colorings. We'll taboo blue roses and pink violets. If we 

 haven't many pictures, we can use quite a gaudy floral. Or 

 we can use something quiet and dainty, and depend more 

 upon the hanging pictures or poster panels. There's a good 

 series of such panels for the nursery on the market called, 

 " Morning," " Noon " and " Night." Wherever there are 

 many pictures in a room, it's always well to use a quiet paper. 

 Too pronounced a pattern is always fighting with the pic- 

 tures for supremacy. 



Now, then, we have a room that serves a number of prac- 

 tical ends, and which Gerald and Irene will go into ecstacies 

 over when we let them in and tell them it's theirs. Won't it 

 be worth the trouble and expense? 



We shall undoubtedly find many ways in which to improve 

 on this pattern, but it will do for a working basis. Some of us, 

 though of modest means, must make the experiment. 



