April, 1912 
The result was a homelike, cheerful, livable room, embody- 
ing all of the restful qualities which one expects to find in a 
room intended for Summer use. The gray tapestry papers 
after Colonial originals are an ideal wall-covering for halls 
and dining-rooms, and, as they were originally designed to 
be used as a background for mahogany furniture, they are 
most appropriate in the Colonial type of house and make a 
beautiful setting for furniture of Chippendale, Sheraton and 
Hepplewhite design. To controvert the theory that gray 1s 
only suitable for boudoirs and bedrooms, the owner of a 
recently completed bungalow thought he would try a dif- 
ferent color scheme than the brown-stained trim which one 
instinctively associates with a bungalow. A gray and yellow 
scheme was decided upon, and all of the woodwork was 
stained a silver-gray, which brought out the grain and texture 
of the wood. The rough plaster walls were tinted a slightly 
lighter tone of this color and had a soft velvety appearance. 
Most of the furniture was of a simple type, stained gray 
and having tapering legs, which resembled those used by 
Hepplewhite on his furniture. Two of the comfortable 
Chinese hour glass chairs were added, as they seem to be at 
home in any company. The curtains were of gray cotton 
crépe, sill length, with a narrow band of silver galloon three 
inches from the bottom. Gray rag rugs were laid on the 
floor, as their texture combined well with the gray-stained 
wood. A large chimney breast of gray fieldstones at one 
end of the room helped along the color scheme. Brown 
corduroy was used to upholster the window-seat, and two 
vases with a matt glaze had been made into lamps and fitted 
with yellow opalescent glass shades, which added materi- 
ally to the attractiveness of this room. Here was an interior 
having all of the strong structural characteristics of the 
bungalow type of house, but which had lost none of its 
dignity and strength on account of being decorated with a 
gray color scheme. 
A CANDLE-LAMP 
HERE is a good substitute for the candle to light the 
dining-room table in the lamp shown in the illustration. 
It has the virtue of not burning out during a long dinner, 
which is not always the case when the imitation candles are 
used. The candle part is of porcelain, and holds sufficient 
kerosene oil to burn for twelve hours. The top is a minia- 
ture lamp, which simply has to be lifted off to be refilled, so 
that the top does not have to be unscrewed. It is simplicity 
itself, and, as the illustration shows, when the shade has 
An ingeniously devised and attractively designed built-in couch arrangement 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
£39 
been placed over the little lamp it has the appearance of a 
candle, but is far more convenient. They cost fifty-nine cents. 
AN INTERESTING COUCH ARRANGEMENT 
T is often desirable to have a couch in a living-room, espe- 
cially in small houses or apartments, where it could be used 
for sleeping purposes in case of emergency, but the detached 
appearance of an ordinary couch when placed in a corner or 
in the middle of a long wall-space is not very pleasing. A 
couch can, however, be treated in such a way as to make it 
an agreeable piece of furniture and make one forget that it 
is a couch, as shown in the accompanying illustrations. 
Two box-like affairs, measuring 30 inches high by 32 inches 
deep by 20 inches wide, were built by a carpenter and placed 
at each end of a box couch. They were fitted with doors 
and shelves and made convenient storage places. Across 
the back they were connected by a flat board, extending down 
only as far. as the top of the couch, which formed a back 
against which the sofa pillows were arranged. ‘This back is 
not really necessary, as the pillows can be placed against the 
wall and will effectually hide the place where the couch and 
wall meet. These pillows were not made of odds and ends, 
arranged in hit-and-miss fashion, but were designed for this 
special couch and exactly fitted the space. There are five of 
them in all, arranged in a formal manner—three across the 
back and one at each end, the middle one at the back being 
a little longer than the others. They are of crimson velour 
decorated with bands of gold galloon across the ends, and 
blend harmoniously with the red tones of the Oriental rug 
which covers the couch. ‘This unique couch arrangement is 
placed against a verdure tapestry, the blue-green tones of 
which make a most beautiful background. In place of the 
tapestry, three brown prints framed in flat moldings could 
be hung over the couch, a large one exactly in the center and 
two smaller ones on either side, which arrangement would 
compose well with the couch underneath. The tops of the 
boxes make convenient places for books, and a lamp would 
be a desirable adjunct. Another feature about this couch 
arrangement is the fact that it was built in such a manner 
that it could be moved from place to place, as occasion re- 
quired, without having to rip it out of its place as one would 
have to do were it a bit of the usual sort of “built-in” furni- 
ture. Undoubtedly a number of different adaptations of 
this arrangement will suggest themselves to the ingenuity 
of the home decorator, such as having the box sides 
serve as book shelves, or as cabinets fitted with drawers. 
Te SSE 
