422 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



November, 1910 



larger pieces, such as the bedstead, bureau, washstand and 

 work table or writing desk. Such a rule, however, must 

 be controlled by the specific circumstances. 



After the solution of the floor covering is finished, the 

 next largest consideration is the wall decoration, and as this 



are bits of Dutch and Swiss scenery. For the girl who pre- 

 fers a more general color effect on her walls, the chintz pa- 

 per is the most satisfactory, showing a variety of flowers 

 in different colors, either scattered over the paper irregu- 

 larly or strung together in upright lines. With a chintz 



is quite a permanent feature its exactions are not to be dis- paper one may keep to an almost severe treatment of the 



regarded. The style and 

 finish of the woodwork, 

 the shape of the room, 

 the number of windows 

 and doors, the amount 

 of light and the direction 

 from which it comes, the 

 furniture and its cover- 

 ings — all these enter into 

 the choice of the wall 

 paper, and makes it 

 needful to secure some 

 mature help in the mat- 

 ter. 



Usually, the wall pa- 

 per follows the favorite 

 color of the occupant of 

 the room — pink, laven- 

 der, primrose, or green 

 — and with this plain 

 tone is mingled others 

 of a harmonizing char- 

 acter. While gray sounds 

 rather sombre for the 



walls of a young girl, it nevertheless appears in such charm- 

 ing shades, with colored borders to add the touch of dis- 

 tinction, that it is a popular choice this season. Then, too, 

 it affords the opportunity for vi\Id cretonnes at the win- 

 dows and for the dressing of the bed. 



The wall papers to imitate dimity, chambray and linen 

 are very much liked when a border is to be added, as the 

 surface is slightly broken up without becoming in any way 

 a pattern. The 

 newest borders are 

 very narrow, and 

 these are used to 

 form panel effects 

 on the four sides of 

 the room. 



Some years ago 

 there originated the 

 idea of adapting a 

 striped paper as a 

 border, cutting out 

 the edges with a 

 scissors, and then 

 pasting it under 

 the picture mold- 

 ing. So much was 

 this amateur at- 

 tempt liked that 

 the manufacturing 

 firms undertook to 

 print borders that 

 could be cut out by 

 hand and used in 

 the same way. 

 Now, an electric 

 needle does the 



work rapidly and inexpensively and every one may have a 

 cut-out border at eight cents and upwards a yard. 



In a room used more as a sitting-room than a bedroom 

 the picture borders help to decorate the walls in a dignified 

 manner. For the nature lover there are landscapes show- 

 ing trees, brooks and mountains, and for the traveler there 



Window seats and bookshelves 



Window curtains with valance 



rest of the room, with- 

 out a loss of interest. 



As the window drap- 

 eries are so closely allied 

 to the wall coverings 

 they bespeak the next at- 

 tention. Here it is wise 

 to bring in the element 

 of contrast, and not, as 

 so often is mistakenly 

 done, repeat the pattern 

 on the walls. For an 

 example of the former 

 way, one may cover the 

 walls with a flowered pa- 

 per showing pink roses 

 with green leaves, and, 

 at the windows, hang 

 some plain pink crepe or 

 one of the novelty ma- 

 terials in the desired 

 color. Or, one may use 

 a plain pink paper on 

 the walls and hang the 

 windows with a rose cretonne. 



A school girl, who took a few lessons in stenciling, 

 copied the pattern of the flowered border on the walls of 

 her room and applied it with tapestry paints to cream-white 

 cheese cloth. This was hung in straight lengths at the win- 

 dows, with a short valance across the center, completing 

 the decoration of the room very successfully. For a long, 

 low window this arrangement of a valance with side lengths 



is often the very 

 best. 



In the large 

 pieces of furniture, 

 bed, bureau, divan 

 and writing desk, a 

 girl may not have 

 the power to 

 choose, and must 

 often content her- 

 self with undesir- 

 a b 1 e shapes and 

 materials. In these 

 days of the ready 

 adaptability of ma- 

 terial things to im- 

 proved ideals in 

 good taste, one may 

 stain or paint a 

 piece of furniture 

 into harmonious re- 

 lations with its fel- 

 low pieces, or even 

 change its outlines 

 and so amend its 

 lack of artistic 

 value. In one home 

 an old set of walnut bedroom furniture with aggressively 

 prominent carving was first denuded, by the carpenter, of 

 its superfluous portions and then painted with white enamel 

 paint toned to a soft cream. Over this foundation some 

 tiny rosebuds with green leaves were painted from a sten- 

 ciled pattern, on such places as the head and footboard of 



