April, 1 9 10 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



XI 



CORRESPONDENCE 



The Editor of American Homes a.nd 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 Furnishings 



FURNISHING AN UP-STAIRS SITTING- 

 ROOM 



IN MAKING the front bedroom on the 

 second floor," writes a Philadelphia sub- 

 scriber, D. C. R., "into a family sittinjj- 

 room we are at a loss as to the floor treat- 

 ment. Of course, we would prefer a hard 

 wood floor with rugs, but as we do not own 

 the house we would not put this expense 

 into a permanent fixture. Unfortunately, 

 the boards are not in condition to leave ex- 

 posed and the question is how to cover 

 them tastefully and also at not too great 

 an expense. The floor space is fifteen by 

 eighteen feet." 



A room of this size will require thirty 

 yards of floor covering if it is a yard wide, 

 and for the narrower width of twenty-seven 

 inches a larger amount will be necessary. 

 Matting costs from thirty-five cents a yard 

 to seventy-five cents, and the most substan- 

 tial variety is the Chinese at fifty-five cents 

 a yard. For a sitting-room that is occupied 

 during the winter it is better, however, to 

 have something heavier than matting. A 

 heavy cotton filling that comes in the yard 

 width at forty-five cents a yard may be 

 made a plain background for rugs ; or, the 

 wool filling at ninety cents will give a more 

 lasting wear. The wool nichols is another 

 plain filling in a heavy weave at $1.25 a 

 yard. 



An attractive floor covering at $1.25 a 

 yard, in the twenty-seven inch width, is a 

 mottled brown tapestry Brussels. This 

 looks almost Hke a wood carpet. Mottled 

 velvets at $1.75 a yard are liked where a 

 plain color is too deHcate. Wilton carpets 

 will endure the hardest wear and the pat- 

 terns are the most interesting of any domes- 

 tic carpets. These cost $2.75 a yard. 



A QUESTION ABOUT WINDOW 

 CURTAINS 



From Brooklyn, N. Y., comes an inquiry 

 about window curtains. S. W. H. writes : 

 "We are in a state of perplexity with the 

 different shapes and sizes of the windows in 

 a house we have rented for a term of years. 

 The hall and living-room are divided by 

 pillars only and therefore we would like to 

 curtain all of the windows alike; but there 

 are French windows to the floor, low win- 

 dows to accommodate window seats, case- 

 ment windows with leaded glass opening 

 outward, besides the ordinary kind with 

 sliding sash." 



The idea of curtaining this hall and liv- 

 ing-room alike is a good one, but the varia- 

 tions in shape and size will necessarily re- 

 quire some modification of the plan. An 

 ecru net of as good a quality as may be 

 afforded Tfilet is the most expensive), may 

 be shirred on the window-doors, and also 

 hung to the sill at the other windows, with 

 the exception of the casement windows. 

 The best way to treat the casement win- 



dows — as shades are not practical — is to 

 hang a short curtain of an opaque silk or a 

 sun-fast material, at each side, drawing this 

 across the glass at night. At the other 

 windows a thick over curtain may be added 

 for the winter months, unless there are too 

 many windows to make this undesirable. 



WOODWORK FOR A BUNGALOW 



"In the bungalow that I am building on 

 very simple lines the dining- and living- 

 room open into each other in such a way 

 that they almost seem like one room. My 

 dining-room furniture is mahogany and for 

 the living-room I have dark or fumed oak. 

 This makes the problem of the color for the 

 woodwork difficult. What shall I do?" — 

 F. D., Long Island. 



Mahogany is too fine a wood for a sum- 

 mer home of the bungalow type, and it will 

 be impossible to secure a really harmonious 

 interior with the present arrangement of 

 the two rooms. If the dining-room furni- 

 tur could be of fumed oak the woodwork 

 could be the same in this room and the liv- 

 ing-room. If the mahogany furniture must 

 be retained the woodwork may be stained 

 a weathered gray, and hangings put up to 

 soften the difference in the woodwork, as 

 the living-room should be made a back- 

 ground for the brown furniture, using there 

 a stain as nearly like the latter as possible. 



AN INTERESTING PARLOR 



A suburban reader, H. F. K., is desirous 

 of making her parlor more attractive. De- 

 scribing this room, she says : "We have 

 bought fairly expensive furniture for this 

 room, but the effect as a whole is decidedly 

 unattractive. No one stays in the room and 

 even the most formal caller is immediately 

 brought into another part of the house. 

 There is an Oriental rug on the floor show- 

 ing dark blue, mahogany color and yel- 

 low. The woodwork is painted white, 

 and the fireplace tiling is a sliaded 

 yellow. The chair seats are of French 

 brocade of different colors and the 

 wall paper is a flowered effect. We are 

 willing to make some changes if you can 

 assure us they will be for the better." 



Taking the rug with its touch of yellow 

 and the tiles around the fireplace that accent 

 this color as a starting point, the color 

 scheme for this room may be changed to ad- 

 vantage, using a Japanese grass cloth on the 

 wall in a warm yellow tone. The lace cur- 

 tains are worth retaining, adding long over 

 curtains of shadow taffetas (about three 

 dollars a yard), in yellows, old red and 

 ivory. These would look well hanging in 

 straight lines at the sides of tlie windows. 

 /\ lamp of good design with a pretty silk 

 shade would also bring color into the room. 

 The coverings on the chair seats could be of 

 brown panne velvet. 



Garden Work About the H 



ome 



WE HAVE read catalogues until we 

 dream -of climbing vines, weeping 

 trees, and hideous dwarfs, and in 

 despair we come to you for advice. What 

 shall we use about our small house? All 

 our neighbors plant hydrangea, Japanese 

 barberry, and red spiraea — must we do 

 the same?" 



To this call for help the editor of 

 American Homes and Gardens replies as 

 follows : 



SOME UNCOMMON SHRUBS 



There are a number of shrubs, native in 

 the Northern States, which are seldom seen 

 on small places (unless by chance they are 

 growing wild), but which should be used 

 instead of the more gaudy plants which are 

 so common in the nurseries. Perhaps the 

 reason for this is that we have not reached 

 the point where we admire a shrub for its 

 beauty as a whole, but demand large and 

 showy flowers, which often go with an un- 

 interesting habit, or thin foliage. 



The whole aspect of a shrub throughout 

 the year should be considered, when .>^elect- 

 ing it, rather than its casual beauties when 

 in bloom. 



The bayberry, for instance, has incon- 

 spicuous flowers, yet it is one of our hand- 

 somest shrubs because of its deep rich 

 color, lasting well into November, the soft, 

 reddish gray of its dense branches in 

 winter, and the solid, picturesque masses of 

 its foliage in summer. The althea, on the 

 other hand, has little to recommend it, ex- 

 cept its brilliant flowers. The foliage is 

 poor in color, and thin. It comes out late, 

 and falls early, without much change of 

 tint. The branches are stiff", and. worst of 

 all, it never mingles with its neighbors, but 

 is as marked in the shrubbery as a coun- 

 try gawk in the ball-room. 



Native shrubs, of course, have a more 

 complete harmony with the landscape than 

 the exotic plants. They blend with the 

 grass and the trees and with their com- 

 panion shrubs more perfectly. This is 

 especially noticeable in winter, as one may 

 see by comparing the soft haze of purple 

 in an old pasture wliere the grav bushes 

 are sprouting with a plantation sav of 

 Forsyfhia Z'iridissiina. The bushes seem to 

 suit our atmosphere, all but the Forsythia. 

 The native shrubs also endure the hardship 

 of our seasons with better grace. 



The choke cherry, P\]-iis arbiififolia. is 

 a charming shrub, growing five to ten feet 

 high, sending up many suckers from the 

 roots and forming thick clumps. The 

 leaves are small, upright, good in color. 

 The small white blossoms coming from the 

 leaves cover the branches, and are followed 

 by little red fruits (black in P. iiigro), 

 which persist through the winter. In 

 autumn the leaves begin to turn early, and 

 pass through wonderfully brilliant shades 

 of crimson, scarlet and red. 



f Continued on page xii J 



