October, iqi* 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



IX 



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 muter 

 p>ertaining 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 



A PINK BEDROOM 

 4 4 T AM writing you from New Hamp- 

 I shire,"' says Air. J. V., "to ask you 

 to kindly suggest a few ideas that 

 will help me in making my chamber more 

 attractive. Please consider in your reply 

 the existing contents of the room — white 

 painted woodwork, white iron bed, walnut 

 dresser, white matting. The ceiling is low, 

 with slanting beams irregularly placed. 

 Can I use a wall-paper with a border on 

 such a wall? Or must I use a tint? My 

 favorite color is pink, and this I would like 

 to introduce into my room in some way." 



With a ceiling of such irregular lines 

 it is best not to attempt a paper on the side 

 walls with a border. Both the ceiling and 

 walls may be kalsomined in a light color, 

 or, a small lattice-pattern paper may cover 

 them. If the latter plan is preferred, care 

 should be taken to select a design that has 

 no decided up or down to it. A tiny pink 

 rosebud conventionalized with green leaves 

 on a gray diamond-shaped lattice would 

 start a very pretty color scheme for this 

 room, and the cost of this paper for a sin- 

 gle roll of eight yards would be forty cents. 



Small rugs to lay beside the bed and in 

 front of the dresser could be found among 

 the French Wiltons at eight dollars each, 

 in pink, ivorj^ and green. The white dim- 

 ity sold in dry goods stores for summer 

 dresses, costing from thirteen to thirty 

 cents a yard may be used for window cur- 

 tains with an edge of linen lace. 



A willow arm chair may be stained 

 green and the seat cushion covered with 

 pink flowered cretonne, with a loose down 

 pillow for the back covered with the same 

 material. A side chair will also be needed, 

 with a night stand, and sewing table. 

 These pieces of furniture may be of white 

 enamel. The appointments for the dresser 

 may have the favorite color introduced in 

 decorative touches and also any piece of 

 china used in the room. 



COLORS FOR A HOUSE-BOAT 



"A Sportsman" describes the house-boat 

 which he is fitting up for use in the South 

 in the winter, and inquires about adding 

 some decorative features. "The deck is 

 thirty-five feet long by twelve wide. The 

 cabin is eighteen feet long by eight feet 

 wide, and in this there will be two folding 

 bunks hinged low to the wall, book shelves, 

 gun racks, writing table, clothing hooks, 

 fishing tackle, box seats for the bedding. 

 At one end we wish to hang a portiere to 

 divide the kitchen part. The cabin will be 

 built of dressed yellow pine standing ver- 

 tical. Shall we use plain red cotton ma- 

 terial for portiere, window curtains and 

 cushion covers? We would like an attrac- 

 tive combination of color with yellow pine. 

 Also please suggest some chairs and seats 

 for the deck that will give a distinctive 

 touch to our winter vacation home." 



A better combination than the turkey 

 red cotton with the yellow pine would be 

 orange color with green and blue. Some 



of the sun-fast materials could be utiHzed 

 to advantage in the cabin and on the deck. 

 The window curtains of orange color, the 

 portieres of shaded blue and green, the 

 cushion and bench covers of a cretonne in 

 which all three colors are united A com- 

 fortable reclining chair for the deck, can 

 be had in rattan in the natural finish, with 

 an adjustable back and a footstool attach- 

 ment. In this same material one may select 

 an arm chair and an hour glass stand. 

 Folding chairs of white canvas and var- 

 nished frames may be added for visitors. 

 Grass matting rug may be laid on the floor, 

 unless Navajo rugs in appropriate color- 

 ings can be afforded. 



PORTIERES FOR A PHYSICIAN'S OFFICE 



"I am about to replace the old door- 

 hangings between my reception-room and 

 private office, and would like to be advised 

 as to a material that is double-faced, dur- 

 able and appropriate. I am now using a 

 double-faced velour, but do not care to 

 duplicate this as I prefer a less shiny sur- 

 face. I could use either brown or dark 

 red. Is there anything known to your De- 

 partment on House Furnishings to meet 

 my need?" — Dr. B. W. R., New Haven, 

 Conn. 



The best material for a door-hanging for 

 this correspondent is wool damask. This 

 is made with a self-woven pattern that is 

 not aggressive but breaks up the plain sur- 

 face. It hangs in graceful folds and gives 

 substantial service. There is a mahogany 

 red and a tan and a dark brown from 

 which to make a selection, and the price by 

 the yard is $2.85. 



A BEDROOM SCREEN 



A subscriber living in New Jersey de- 

 scribes her bedroom and asks about hav- 

 ing a screen made to suit the furnishings. 

 "My wall is covered with a pale blue tex- 

 ture paper, with a cut-out border of pink 

 roses and green leaves. Over the white 

 muslin curtains I have hung some cre- 

 tonne with roses and blue ribbons in the 

 pattern. On the floor I have some green 

 velvet carpet made into rugs. Now I wish 

 to add a three-panelled screen to stand in 

 front of the door in the place of a portiere. 

 The burlap screens with dark frames seem 

 to me too coarse looking, and the ones 

 made in Japan do not suit the coloring of 

 the walls and hangings. What else is 

 there that will be pretty and not cost over 

 ten dollars?"— C. S. W. 



An attractive bedroom screen to fit the 

 conditions described in this letter could be 

 made of the same cretonne that is already 

 used for over curtains, tacking this on one 

 side of the frame, and a plain or self- 

 woven blue material on the inner side. 

 There are numberless novelty materials 

 from which to choose the latter, but the 

 aim should be to match the tone of the 

 wall-paper. The edges of the materials 

 should be covered with blue guimp. An 

 ordinary screen frame can be made by a 

 carpenter or cabinetmaker if it cannot be 

 bought ready-made at a furniture shop. 



Garden Work About the Home 



BULBS FOR FALL PLANTING 



CJ. S. asks for suggestions about bulbs 

 to plant this autumn. 

 * Among the hundreds of bulbs 



offered in the retail catalogs, there are many 

 which are little known but which are very 

 lovely. 



Allium Moly is an uncommon plant, yet 

 its yellow flowers on a straight stalk are 

 charming in April. 



Alliiun Mutabile has white flowers turn- 

 ing to pink. It also blooms in April. 



Allium Azureum with blue flowers in June 

 is another good one. All are hardy and 

 lasting. They can be planted in the garden 

 or at the edge of the shrubbery, in last 

 masses. 



The poppy flowered anemones, so called, 

 varying in color from white to scarlet and 

 blue, are very beautiful, though somewhat 

 difficult. They bloom in April and May 

 and have flowers a couple of inches across. 



The mariposa lilies are Californian bulbs, 

 blooming in June and July. They need the 

 protection of several inches of leaves or 

 pine needles in winter. Like all tender 

 bulbs the rain seems to harm them more 

 than the cold, so they should have a wooden 

 shtitter over them in winter. All bulbs 

 should be planted in a sandy loam and in 

 a well-drained location. "Well drained" 

 meaning that water must neither soak the 

 roots nor stand on top of the frozen ground. 



The largest bulb and the tallest flower is 

 that of Eremurus Robnstiis, which has a 

 stem six to ten feet high, bearing a raceme 

 of pale pink flowers. It is slightly tender 

 and needs some protection. 



Ixias can be grown out of doors if they 

 are covered with about a foot of leaves. 

 and they seem finer than in the house. The 

 covering must be taken ofi^ early and per- 

 haps put back on cold nights. 



One of the greatest delights in garden- 

 ing is to grow things which are a little bit 

 difficult and therefore unusual. 



It is so exciting in the spring to see a 

 bulb, planted months ago, growing and get- 

 ting ready to bloom, and it is so interesting 

 to see how near the plant comes to our 

 mental picture of it ! Then as a further 

 delight there is the critical sti:dy of the 

 flower while one decides whether it is really 

 worth growing or not and in what charac- 

 teristic its chief beauty lies. 



BULBS IN THE HOUSE 



It is fun to try dift'erent bulbs in the 

 house, particularly new ones, so if you 

 buy a number of different things plant one 

 of each in a pot for indoor use. Some of 

 them will do well, others will fail, but the 

 results will all be instructive. 



The more unusual and more difficult 

 things to grow in the house are the bulbous 

 Irises (English. Spanish and Dutch) the 

 early iris (/. Jiistrioidcs and /. reticulata). 

 and the tender irises, such as /. alata and 

 /. susianus. Dodecatheon I have tried in- 

 doors and found worth while. Blood root 

 is easy, and Trillium excellent. 



