March, 1909 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS x1 
~ CORRESPONDENCE 
The Editor of American Homes and 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 retum postage will be answered promptly by mail. 
Replies that are of general benefit will be published in this Department. 
Problems in Home Furnishing 
By Alice M. Kellogg 
Author of “Home Furnishing: Practical and Artistic ” 
SIMPLE BEDROOM CURTAINS 
RITING from a small town in Ver- 
mont, M. E. C. asks for some ideas for 
simple, dainty curtains for bedrooms. 
“In your department for advising on matters 
relating to the furnishing of the home you 
mention stencilled curtains. These, however, 
are quite beyond me, as I know nothing of 
paints or painting. Neither am I skillful with 
the needle. I have been using ruffed muslin 
curtains for my bedrooms, but these soon look 
draggled and untidy. Is there not something 
inexpensive but different from what one sees 
everywhere at the windows?” 
A curtain that looks very pretty hung 
straight across the window can be made with 
fine white organdie or muslin, with an inser- 
tion of imitation filet in bands, as shown in 
A simple bedroom curtain 
the illustration, just above the bottom hem. 
The filet comes by the yard, with the squares 
four by four inches. After making the heading 
at the top and the hem at the bottom, two 
bands of the filet are stitched across the bot- 
tom and the muslin cut away underneath. 
This is not a difficult piece of work, but should 
be done neatly. If the window is very high, 
another row of the insertion may be stitched 
asout twelve inches below the top. 
DINING-ROOM FURNITURE 
“The woodwork in my dining-room is fin- 
ished in the light or natural oak. Kindly let 
me know if I shall buy my furniture to match 
this woodwork. I notice in the shops that 
almost everything in dining-room furniture is 
finished in the dark brown. Another point 
that I am disturbed about is whether to get 
two arm chairs or have all side chairs. Also, 
is a round table advisable, or is the square size 
better? If round, what diameter? A side- 
board or a buffet?—W. S., Kentucky.” 
The bright varnish of the natural or golden 
oak is not as desirable as the dull, dark finish. 
It is also easier to find good shapes without un- 
necessary ornament in the dark wood. Round 
tables are so much in demand that it is not 
often one finds a square shape, and the former 
has many advantages over the latter. The 
size of the table depends somewhat upon the 
size of the room. A four-foot table or a four 
foot six inches is the usual size. 
As to the selection of the chairs, the round 
table has made the side chairs more popular 
than the old style of having an arm chair for 
the head and the foot of the table. If there is 
space for a sideboard this piece of furniture 
will be found more graceful and useful than 
a buffet. A side table placed near the pantry 
or kitchen door is a part of the dining-room 
furnishings. 
WALL PAPER FOR A PARLOR 
A southern correspondent, A. A. D., asks: 
“Would you have a paper on the walls of a 
parlor or paint the surface in oil or water 
colors? Is tapestry paper suitable for this 
room? Or, would a plain paper be better? 
Also, please give me some idea of a proper 
color.” 
The conditions of the house have so much 
to do with the treatment of a wall that it is 
difficult to advise in this matter without know- 
ing more about the room and its surroundings. 
What is the woodwork? How many windows, 
and what is the exposure? What coverings 
are on the floor, and what are the predominat- 
ing colors? ‘The colors in furniture coverings 
it is also important to know. How the room 
is used is another point that must be considered 
in the choice of a wall paper. Replying in 
general terms to the question given in the 
above letter it would make a more pleasing 
effect to have a wall paper in this parlor 
instead of a water or oil-paint finish. A tapes- 
try paper, unless light in tone, would not be 
as suitable as a two-toned buff or ecru color. A 
plain paper requires good pictures to give 
interest to the walls. An all-over design, 
printed in two tones of one color, is a safe 
selection. 
BED SPREAD FOR A GUEST ROOM 
“Something newer than the lace spreads 
with flounces around the sides and bottom,” 
is asked for by Mrs. G. A. F., of Michigan. 
As a pretty bed spread contributes so much 
to the appearance of a guest room, the home 
maker will do well to spend time and thought 
upon this detail. If twenty-five or thirty dol- 
lars can be spent on the bed spread, the newest 
and most attractive is one made of cream- 
white scrim, with drawn work and corner ' 
pieces of real filet lace. At a less price, 
(Continued on page xiv) 
Garden Work About the Home 
By Charles Downing Lay 
WHAT TO DO BEFORE THE HOUSE IS BUILT 
5 he summer,’ writes E. H., “I pur- 
chased a piece of land containing five 
acres, on which I expect to build a 
house costing about $5000. Not a mansion, 
but a nice comfortable house. 
“T shall employ a good architect to design 
the house, and I do not want to spoil the entire 
appearance of the place by a poor outside lay- 
out. 
“The lot is barren, with no trees whatever 
on it, and I am.at a loss to know what to do. 
I want to get trees planted at once and give 
them a chance to grow. Last spring I planted 
an orchard of seventy-five trees, but nothing 
else has been done. 
“The lot has a frontage of 800 feet on the 
river, and the highest point is probably not 
more than five feet above the water. “The 
house, of course, will face the river. 
“T want to have the place planted with 
trees and shrubs which will harmonize with 
the house, and I want the place to have some 
style.” 
There seems no reason why a man who is 
wise enough to employ an architect to design 
his house should not at the same time employ 
a landscape architect to locate it on the lot 
and design the grounds. 
The benefits which come from getting the 
advice of trained men are the same in each 
case. 
Both endeavor to get the best work which 
the conditions allow, and to show the client 
how his own ideas may be most effectively 
carried out, in order to give him a place which 
he will be proud of and enjoy. 
The great advantage in employing a land- 
scape architect is to have the place considered 
as a whole, and its future development com- 
pletely arranged for at the start. 
Ordinarily when people work without pro- 
fessional advice, they put the house in one 
convenient spot and the stable in another, with- 
out thinking of their relation to each other, 
or of the means of communication between 
them. After a year or more it may be found 
that both would be better if their positions 
were reversed, and that the present arrange- 
ment is inconvenient and unlovely. 
Such haphazard work as this would be pre- 
vented by employing a landscape architect to 
study the whole problem in advance. 
Another economy which comes from having 
a complete scheme at the start, is that any 
part of the work may be finished with full 
assurance that it will not have to be done over 
again when the adjoining portion is finished. 
No mistakes will be made, and mistakes are 
often the costliest part of amateur work. 
These things are obvious, yet few people 
realize that works of landscape architecture 
can be as carefully planned on paper as any 
house, or boat, or railroad. 
(Continued on page xvt) 
