May, 19 10 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



173 



An old four-post bedstead 



the hit-and-miss pattern, but the latter often suits the 

 passageways and hallways of an upper floor. 



Wall papers were a luxury in the days when they were 

 brought by sailing ships from France and England, and 

 so carefully cherished through successive generations that 

 they have been in some few instances kept intact to the 

 present time. Sometimes an original paper that especially 

 suited its location has been reproduced in design and 

 coloring. 



Hall papers in landscape effects, gray and white, with 

 some slight accent of color, are attractive with white- 

 painted woodwork and mahogany stair rail, and from this 

 neutral avenue one may introduce buffs and yellows in the 

 rooms with north and east exposures, and blues and 

 greens in the sunny outlooks. 



Two treatments are open for the walls of the sleeping- 

 rooms — to make a background of agreeable color with a 

 striped, chambray or dimity paper, adding chintz at the 

 windows and for furniture covering, or, to adopt a flow- 

 ered wall paper with muslin curtains and white bed spread. 



Perhaps the quaintest charm in Colonial furnishing is 

 centered in the bedroom, with its four-poster bed, with or 

 without a canopy top, its tall chest of 

 drawers, its wing chair, sewing table and 

 candle stand. 



Fortunately there are reproductions 

 of these pieces of furniture in cheap 

 as well as expensive woods, prepared for 

 stain or for paint. Strict adherence to 

 the Colonial tradition need not, however, 

 bar out such modern comforts as a lounge 

 and rocker, hair mattress and box 

 springs. 



In the living-room, also, one may well 

 supplement the older, more austere furni- 

 ture with a Morris chair and Davenport 

 sofa. The English gate-leg table is a 

 capable one for the library lamp, books 

 and magazines. The card table with 

 folding leaf and serpentine front exacts 

 so small a wall space that it recommends 

 itself for the hallway. A low-boy that 

 originated for bedroom use may be 

 transferred to the dining-room for a serv- 

 ing table. In the illustration the side 

 chairs of Windsor type have been clev- 

 erly adapted for the dining-room by the 

 addition of loose cushions. The Windsor 



arm chairs are favorites in almost any 

 part of the house — hall, living-room, den 

 or piazza, and some miniature copies for 

 children's use are quite authentic in their 

 lines. The rocking chair of our fore- 

 father's time hardly meets the standard of 

 twentieth century comfort, and our late 

 improvements may well be accepted for 

 the informal sitting-room. 



On the curtaining of the windows the 

 home - maker may lavish considerable 

 thought, as there is abundant provision for 

 materials of all grades in quality and 

 price, and tasteful expression is of more 

 advantage than a rigid following of the 

 more restricted resources of the past. 



In homes where a moderate income 

 must cover the furnishings, a white mus- 

 lin curtain may be adopted for the second 

 story rooms, with net or lace for the liv- 

 ing-rooms. If the yard goods are made 

 up in the house, they may be embellished 

 by the addition of insertion or edging. 

 Shirred on small brass rods that are screwed into side 

 brackets without balls or ends, and caught back at the sides 

 of the casement with white cotton loops, this simple window 

 curtaining is practical and attractive. 



If an over-curtain may be added, the interior will look 

 more finished and comfortable, particularly in the colder 

 months of the year. Usually a curtain of thick material is 

 lined and hung to the floor, but this rule, as in everything 

 pertaining to a sensible furnishing of the home, may be 

 adjusted to fit the situation. 



Curtain material for the living-room may be sought 

 among wool damask, taffeta, velvet, repp or the many 

 novelties that are each season produced by our own manu- 

 facturers and those in foreign countries. In the library 

 and dining-rooms, if the wall covering is unfigured, some of 

 the needlework tapestries would make an interesting selec- 

 tion. In the drawing-room the silks, brocades, damasks 

 and shadow taffetas form a fascinating array, if expense 

 need not be considered. For the bedroom there are cotton 

 materials printed on the machine that are almost as lovely 

 as a water color painting, and charming, quaint designs 

 of birds and flowers printed from blocks by hand. 



A chintz paper for the bedroom 



