198 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



May, iqio 



Decorations and Furnishings for the Home 



By Alice M. Kellogg 



III. — The , Combination of Wall Papers and Window Curtains 



iHE successful selection of a wall-paper does 

 not meet all of the decorative require- 

 ments of a room. Window hangings are 

 so closely allied to the wall coverings that 

 a consideration of one must necessarily 

 include the other, and a happy combina- 

 tion determines the general attractibility 

 of an interior. Even with the restrictive conditions of the 

 kitchen and bathroom there are opportunities for bringing 

 the walls and windows into unity. At present the largest 

 variety of materials on the market for collective use at win- 

 dows and on walls is designed for the bedrooms. 



The illustration at the top of this page shows a section of 

 a six-inch border to be applied over a striped paper. The 

 ribbons are printed in blue, pink or yellow with tiny white 

 flowers and green leaves, and the cost by the yard is twenty- 

 five cents. If one wishes to cut out the upper and lower 

 edges of the border it looks a little better when pasted 

 against the background. As a complement to this wall 

 decoration there is a pretty cretonne, "Ribbons and Roses," 

 at forty-five cents a yard. 



Duplicate designs for both wall-paper and curtains have 

 been for some time in vogue, but this is a combination for 

 the advocate of harmonious surroundings to avoid. (The 

 material, however, is helpful in covering tables, beds and 

 furniture.) The space that is constantly in eye range de- 



mands relief from too much pattern, and a nice balancing of 

 the parts will give a figured drapery with a plain wall, or a 

 curtain with unaggressive pattern to companion a decorative 

 wall covering. Following this principle, the manufacturers 

 have produced curtain materials to match the border of the 

 paper (see illustration) not only in cotton but in linen and 

 silk goods. 



The union of a set pattern with a naturalistic one is 

 always interesting when the motive is the same in each, as 

 in the apple blossom paper and the flowered chintz. A 

 lattice background may take the place of a plain effect, 

 either in paper or fabric, and, for further variation, there 

 are fine stripes or tiny, allover designs that are almost as 

 simple as the plain surface. 



Glazed chintz is not used as much in this country as in 

 England. A novel use was made for it in an old-fashioned 

 country home on Long Island by attaching it to the rollers 

 of the window shades in place of the white Elolland. White 

 muslin curtains were tied back at the sill and a two-toned 

 paper was chosen for the walls. 



Cretonnes have reached such perfection that they can 

 appear in other than the sleeping-rooms. The "Peacock 

 Chintz" illustrated took the grand prize at the Paris Ex- 

 position. Its rich coloring and distinctive pattern requires 

 an equally handsome wall covering in plain grass cloth, 

 Japanese leather paper or silk fiber paper. As this same 







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Border to match cretonne 



A peacock chintz 



Cretonne to match border 



