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Furnishing the 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
October, 1909 
Nursery 
By Edith Haviland 
N NO part of the home is there so little 
thought given to appropriate furnishings as 
in the rooms devoted to the children’s use. 
And yet the active interest in this direction 
was strongly in evidence the past winter in 
New York City when a set of rooms with 
up-to-date furnishings was on exhibition. 
The nurseries for night and day were the chief points of 
attraction, holding the attention of thousands of spectators 
who commented audibly on the interior fittings. 
The permanent influence of a child’s surroundings is em- 
phatically recognized in the kindergartens that are carried 
on in the true spirit of Froebel, for here one sees a provision 
for sunlight and fresh air, furniture of suitable size and 
weight, pleasing wall-colors and attractive decorations. Of 
much greater importance, however, is the child’s own room 
at home where so much more of his time is spent. 
Now that every phase of household art is coming to the 
front and receiving some measure of popular education, the 
claims of the nursery for intelligent treatment must be met. 
The essential requirements of this room need not be carried 
out on an elaborate expenditure, as simplicity in this room 
has its undoubted merits. In fact, some of the happiest 
achievements in nursery furnishings have been made by a 
clever adaptation to existing limits of money and'spaces. 
Of course, the ideal arrangement is a subdivision of 
rooms, or a children’s apartment of bedroom, sitting-room, 
kitchenette and bath, in which each detail is as thoughtfully 
planned as in the larger home in which it is built. In the 
illustration, showing a table set before a fireplace, this idea 
has been carried out with great success. In the sitting-room 
there are cupboards within easy reaching and casements 
that when opened wide take in the entire outlook. The 
fireplace is a simple artistic design, and the mantel orna- 
ments have been carefully chosen. The furniture is of dark 
oak of the Mission type made on a miniature scale. A large 
wool rug is laid on the floor. For the wall decorations, a 
wide frieze, showing Dutch children at play, is placed above 
the lower wall of plain crash. In the night-nursery, the 
bathroom and kitchenette there is the same good taste in 
every detail. 
In the children’s suite of rooms a definite color-scheme 
may be created by either of two methods: One is to keep the 
fundamental furnishings — floor-coverings, wall-hangings, 
woodwork and furniture—alike in all of the rooms; the 
other is to make each room independent but harmonious in 
itself. The choice of the method will naturally turn upon 
the conditions that are to be met. 
When a night and a day nursery are to be fitted up, a 
sunny exposure should be allotted to the latter, if it is not 
possible to provide it for both rooms. If the woodwork is 
new, the prettiest finish is a silver-gray stain that shows the 
grain of the wood. Or, if paint must be employed, an ivory- 
white may be adopted instead of a pure white. 
Rugs are now considered indispensable for hygienic liv- 
ing, and in the nursery that is used in the daytime only, 
where the little ones are much of the time playing on the 
floor a rug of large size is the most practical. In the night- 
nursery this rule is reversed, and small rugs are laid beside 
the bed and at the foot. As a waxed or varnished floor is 
difficult to wash, a new sanitary finish lately introduced from 
Canada may be adopted for the cleansing it endures with 
soap and water. 
In the selection of rugs for the nursery the large rug 
for the one room may be thicker and warmer than those 
that are placed in the sleeping-room. If the right sizes 
can not be obtained ready-made, strips of carpet made up 
with or without borders may be the alternative. 
There is now quite a variety of pretty rugs in small sizes 
in Brussels, Wilton and Axminster. Some of the heavy 
