AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
September, 1912 
‘WITHIN THE HOUSE 
SUGGESTIONS ON INTERIOR DECORATING 
AND NOTES OF INTEREST TO ALL 
WHO DESIRE TO MAKE THE HOUSE 
MORE BEAUTIFUL AND MORE HOMELIKE 
RE) ONS: 
The Editor of this Department will be glad to answer all queries 
from subscribers pertaining to Home Decoration. 
should be enclosed when a direct personal reply is«desired 
Stamps 
CANDLES AND LAMPS 
By Harry Martin Yeomans 
T this season, when one’s thoughts are still 
upon “‘the little house in the country,” or, 
perhaps, the house which has been planned 
and dreamed about during the past months 
is about to become a reality, 
one should not overlook the 
subject of those artistic illumination fixtures 
which add so much to the charm of a room. 
Among these we will here touch upon 
candles and lamps. 
Pottery and porcelain vases, having 
openings wide enough to accommodate an 
oil font, make exceptionally handsome 
lamps and can be fitted for either oil or 
electricity. Lamps made from vases in this 
way are by far more beautiful and appro- 
priate than those that are ordinarily seen in 
the shops, and when a shade has been added 
which harmonizes with the other furnish- 
ings, a lamp will result waich is different 
from all others and one 
which will not be alien to its 
surroundings. An oil font 
with a burner can be made 
to order to fit any vase for 
$3.50. It should not be less 
than four inches in diameter, 
nor too deep. 
The writer recently saw a 
high class lamp of good de- 
sign which would be very at- 
tractive in a more or less 
formal Colonial room, espe- 
cially with a cretonne shade 
to match tne general color 
scheme. This lamp was 
priced five dollars, and others 
like them are easily procur- 
able in city shops. 
The dining-room table is 
never so beautifully illumi- 
nated as when shaded 
candles are employed. Can- 
dlesticks of silver, glass or 
porcelain hold first place for 
table decoration and shades 
of yellow or rose-pink give 
the most pleasing light and 
are not trying to th cvs. == 
The _ objection 
sometimes 
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Ma 
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ub ifein niGliGes (i 
Often Lob 
typical example 
made to candles is that they burn down and must be con- 
stantly watched so that the shadeholder can be lowered 
gradually to keep pace with the candle-length. This objec- 
tionable feature is done away with if one uses the imitation 
candle with shadeholder attached. This make-believe candle 
is of a white composition, inside of which the real candle is 
placed, and a spiral spring arrangement pushes it up as the 
ie. 
3 
LOL! PEE 
of Bavarian 
peasant work in kitchen utensils 
A lamp made from a Wedgewood vase 
candle gradually burns away. 
In the illustration is shown a three- 
branched Russian brass candlestick, which 
is suitable for a room having stained wood- 
work or finished in dark tones such as usu- 
ally accompany the Mission style of fur- 
nishing. This candlestick is extremely hand- 
some and such objects can be bought in the 
apiece. 
The two pressed glass candlesticks here 
illustrated cost but ten cents each and are 
suitable for use in a Colonial dining-room 
or in one furnished in mahogany. The 
imitation candles cost fifty cents and the 
little Empire shades not more than thirty 
cents each, so it will be seen 
that any dining-room may 
have attractive candle lights 
at very little expense. 
RED AND VIOLET IN INTERIOR 
DECORATION 
T is true that every color 
can be used in interior 
decoration, if properly em- 
ployed and just the right one 
can be found, which only 
emphasizes the fact that 
some colors are much more 
dificult to handle than 
others. Red and violet are in 
this category and it accounts 
for their being rarely ad- 
vised by decorators when 
the problem of decorating 
the little house is under con- 
sideration. Instead, the 
grays, which are neutralized 
violets, and the rose colors 
and terra cotta, which are 
derived from red, are used. 
Red itself, when employed 
at anywhere near its full in- 
tensity, is an excitable, irri- 
tating, nervous color, and is 
positively injurious to some 
brass shops for as little as two dollars 
