Feb 



ruary, 19 lo 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



XI 



CORRESPONDENCE 



The Editor of America.n Homes and Gardens desires to extend an invitation to all its readers to send to the Correspondence Department inquiries on any matter 

 pertaining to the decorating and furnishing of the home and to the developing of the home grounds. 



All letters accompanied by return postage will be answered promptly by mail. Replies that are of general benefit will be published in this Department. 



Problems in Home Furnishing 



By Alice M. Kellogg 

 Author of " Home Furnishing : Practical and Artistic." 



FLOOR COVERINGS FOR A NEW HOUSE 



FROM a reader in South Carolina, G. 

 F. D., comes a question that is almost 

 impossible to answer in any specific 

 way, as only general conditions are men- 

 tioned in the letter: "What kind of floor 

 coverings shall I use in my new home, 

 which is now nearly ready for occupancy? 

 There is the entire hall throughout, with 

 stairs and landings. Then there is the en- 

 trance hall and living-room, the dining- 

 room and den on the first floor. Upstairs 

 there are four bedrooms on the second 

 floor, with two bathrooms and two bed- 

 rooms on the third floor for servants. I 

 understand that the Oriental rugs are the 

 best, as they wear the longest. Would you 

 advise these rugs all over the house?" 



Oriental rugs are undoubtedly very ser- 

 viceable as to wear, but there are other 

 hand-tufted rugs made in Ireland and Scot- 

 land that deserve the same praise. The 

 cost of an Oriental rug may put it entirely 

 out of reach, as one should reckon from ten 

 dollars a square yard upwards, according to 

 the quality, design and coloring. As the 

 entrance hall has usually the maximum 

 wear, the Oriental rugs may be selected for 

 this position, in such sizes as suit the spaces, 

 leaving an even margin of the flooring 

 around the edges. Oftentimes the hall is 

 so irregular as to its floor lines that it is 

 really better to use several small rugs, re- 

 versing this rule for the other parts of the 

 house. 



In the living-room, whatever amount may 

 be expended for the floor covering should 

 be put into one large rug if the greatest 

 amount of comfort is desired. If necessary, 

 a carpet may be made into a rug, with or 

 without a border, choosing a pattern that 

 makes up well in the proper shape. 



For the dining-room there are a number 

 of domestic rugs that can be had in Brus- 

 sels, Wilton, Axminster and woollen mix- 

 tures. One of the recent achievements in a 

 lovf-cost rug for the dining-room is a Chi- 

 nese motive that suggests an interesting 

 color scheme of yellows and blues in the 

 wall hangings and curtains. 



In carpeting the stairs, it should be re- 

 membered that a plain carpet of dark hue 

 will need a careful attention with the broom 

 to keep it in condition, while neutral colors 

 or mixed shades prove less exacting for the 

 housekeeper. Often the guide to the stair 

 carpet is the covering on the wall, as it is 

 in such close proximity. 



In the bedrooms where single beds are 

 used, a large rug is sometimes the best 



choice, as a small bed can be easily moved 

 on cleaning days. With a heavy double 

 bed the spaces of the floor may be fitted 

 with rugs, laid so that only a minimum 

 amount of wood is left bare. The import- 

 ance of wise selections in the floor cover- 

 ings is urged on this correspondent, as they 

 will be the most enduring of the furnishings 

 in the new home. A safe rule is to make 

 the rug the starting point for the color 

 scheme, bringing the wall-papers and other 

 accessories into harmonv with it. 



WHAT TO USE FOR A LOUNGE SPREAD 



'Tn my sitting-room," writes a college 

 girl, "I have a wide, comfortable divan 

 (really a cot with a thick hair mattress), 

 which I make up for an extra bed when my 

 sister visits me. But usually this divan has 

 a lounge cover in tan colors, like the tones 

 of the wall. My difficulty is to find a warm 

 spread to keep on the outside that will not 

 look like a bedspread and yet that will be 

 of use for an extra covering when the cot 

 is made up for sleeping. Most of the girls 

 here use the Italian blankets for this pur- 

 pose, but the colors are too glaring for my 

 room, and they are not warm enough. Have 

 you a suggestion for my problem?" — F. 

 D. S. 



The best kind of a spread for the double 

 need of this room is one of the Scotch tra- 

 velling rugs in browns and olive greens. 

 Those of pure wool are quite expensive, 

 but their wearing qualities make them worth 

 paying the seemingly large outlay. Then, 

 too, they are lighter and warmer than 

 those made of mixed materials. Such a 

 rug can be used with a steamer chair out- 

 of-doors or on a sleeping porch, for driving 

 or motoring, or for travels abroad. 



PICTURES FOR AN ENTRANCE HALL 



Rather an unusual request comes this 

 month from a subscriber in the West, who 

 wishes to make the entrance hall in her 

 home more attractive. "The hallway in our 

 home is rather of the old-fashioned type, 

 neither large enough for a reception room, 

 nor small enough to be merely a passage- 

 way. The wall spaces are noticeably bare 

 and plain. I have just had a new paper 

 put on that is a success so far as a pleasant 

 tone is concerned, but it has hardly any de- 

 fined pattern. Could I improve the appear- 

 ance of the walls by adding pictures ? I do 

 not care for the carbon copies of celebrated 

 paintings, but I cannot think of anything 

 else. I would prefer colors, but cannot 

 aflFord either oil or water-color paintings." 

 — A Philadelphian. 



Some of the German colored prints, cost- 

 ing about thirty-five dollars, are wonder- 

 fully effective in idea and boldness of color 



effect. If these cost too much, the colored 

 prints by Jules Guerin are interesting. 

 These cost five dollars each. One of the 

 best is the artist's conception of Independ- 

 ence Hall, which might appeal to this 

 reader. Another good one is the Library 

 at Washington. There is also a series of 

 French chateaux, and of these the most at- 

 tractive are Luynes and Amboise. 



WALL-PAPER TO IMITATE WOOD VENEER 



"I have heard that there is a wall-paper 

 made to look like old oak, and if I could 

 find this it would help me to carry out an 

 idea I have for my dining-room. I have 

 some good old blue china that I have kept 

 in a closet, as it is too old for use, and I 

 have no place to show it. Many of the 

 pieces are rather small in size, and my plan 

 is to run a plate shelf around the room, 

 in line with the top of the mantel shelf, 

 which is five feet six inches from the floor. 

 Instead of filling in the space below the 

 shelf with burlap or fabric, I would like this 

 paper that looks like oak. AA'hat do you 

 think of this? And what is the cost per 

 roll of the paper?" — R. T., New Jersey. 



The oak veneer paper comes in dull tones 

 of brown that look well as a wainscot. The 

 price of an eight-yard roll of the usual eigh- 

 teen-inch width is $1.50. The tones of this 

 paper are very different from the old-style 

 grained oak, and the effect on the vrall is 

 refined. It is an excellent substitute for 

 the real thine. 



CHOCOLATE SET 



"With my intimate friends I have found 

 that afternoon chocolate was more popular 

 than tea. The chocolate cups I find in the 

 department stores, however, are so small 

 that I have been using my tea cups. Xow I 

 want to buy a pretty chocolate pot and 

 bowl for whipped cream. AMiat shall I 

 get?"— A Bride. 



The chocolate cup now in use is the Em- 

 pire shape, tall and straight, with the handle 

 projecting above the rim. While this is of 

 fairly good size, it is not as graceful as a 

 tea cup, nor as practical. The tea cup 

 that is used for afternon tea could also be 

 used for afternoon chocolate. A set of six 

 or more could be selected among designs 

 showing garden flowers, pinks, roses, 

 daisies, corn flowers, roses and violets, to 

 give a little sentiment to the set, and the 

 chocolate pot may be of English china in 

 ivory-white, with a gold handle and narrow 

 edge of gold around the top. A silver por- 

 ringer would be a quaint holder for the 

 whipped cream, and an old Dutch spoon 

 may be used for a ladle. Possibly the lat- 

 ter articles may have been among the wed- 

 ding presents. 



