8o 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



February, 1908 



Window and Bookshelves for Library or Den 



wood used is chestnut, stained a silvery gray. The clock 

 face is of unstained whitewood, and the figures are of brass, 

 nailed to the face with small brass nails, which are also 

 used to form a circle outside the figures. The hands are of 

 iron. The cost of wood and labor employed in constructing 

 this clock is estimated at seven dollars, while a weight 

 movement of suitable size may be obtained of a manufac- 

 turer for from eight dollars up. One without weights costs 

 five dollars, but the weights are an attractive feature of the 

 clock. The metal figures and hands may be purchased at 

 small cost from a clockmaker, and a metal pull is also neces- 

 sary. The clock is built in this instance to conform in height 

 to the picture molding in the room. The figures on the 

 clock face might be inlaid either in metal or in wood of a 

 different color from the face, by any manufacturer of inlay 

 or marquetry work. 



The fitments for a dining-room were constructed in a 

 house built in the architectural style in vogue thirty-five years 

 ago, the period of high ceilings and ugly interior woodwork. 

 The recess and china cupboards were in the wall as originally 

 built. The doors of the cupboards were entirely of wood, 

 and as it stood the whole side of the room was uninteresting 

 in the extreme. Glass has been inserted in the upper panels 

 of the doors, a sideboard was built into the recess, which is 

 six feet long and ten feet deep, and a simple shelf with 

 wooden brackets above the sideboard completes the scheme. 



The cost of these alterations and of the side- 

 board and shelf was forty dollars. The wood 

 employed was chestnut. The two large 

 drawers in the sideboard were planned to hold 

 table cloths, while the smaller drawers are for 

 other table linen. Shelves and compartments 

 for silver are in the cupboards underneath, 

 which are provided with Yale locks. All the 

 metal hardware was obtained of an arts and 

 crafts manufacturer at about forty cents for 

 each piece. The glass doors display to ad- 

 vantage some good porcelain and cut glass, and 

 on the shelf are pieces of dull copper and of 

 pottery. The interior woodwork of the whole 

 room was refinished, being scraped, sanded and 

 stained a warm brown. The sideboard is, of 

 course, finished in the same brown. A narrow 

 wood strip was placed at the level of the tops 

 of the doors, and the ceiling color brought 

 down to the strip, thus lowering the apparent 

 height of the ceiling, and improving greatly 

 the appearance of the room. This is, of course, 

 not included in the estimate given. 



The corner china cabinet shown is fifty-two 



inches high and thirty-nine inches wide. The 



cost of lumber and of labor in constructing this 



cupboard is estimated at fourteen dollars. 



There are four shelves inside. While a corner 



cabinet is much less roomy than the ordinary 



china cupboard, it affords a good opportunity 



to enliven some corner in a dining-room 



with glimpses of china and glass, and the expense of 



this one built in quarter-sawed oak would be much less 



than if purchased in the shops, in the same wood. A 



cupboard similar to this was built by an ingenious woman at 



very trifling expense. She purchased, from an old house 



that was being torn down in her neighborhood, a pair of 



china cupboard doors, including cupboards and drawers 



underneath. Letting these doors come across the corner as 



they would, a shell was constructed to hold them, and a top 



put on. The doors were bought for two dollars. The side 



pieces, top and the wages of a carpenter employed to do the 



work came to five dollars more. The doors were beautifully 



finished and of hard wood, and the cupboard is considered 



very successful. 



It frequently happens that the interior fittings of a house 

 do not suit its purchasers. Cupboard doors of mahogany, 

 of black walnut and of oak are ripped out and thrown into 

 the street, and often find their way to a builder or cabinet- 

 maker. If the cabinetmaker is asked to find old doors or 

 fitments of any kind, he will, of course, charge for his time, 

 and the result will prove as expensive to his customer as if 

 new wood is purchased. But in this way costly woods and 

 beautiful paneling may be obtained at no greater cost than 

 much inferior material. It often pays to take time and 

 trouble to obtain good woodwork for the house, even when 

 especial pains means an added cost in time and material. 



