August, I9II 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
CORRESPONDENCE 
The Editor of AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS desires to extend an invitation to all its readers to send to the Correspond- 
ence Department inquiries on any matter pertaining to the decorating and furnishing of the home and to t!.e developing of the home grounds. 
All letters accompanied by return postag will be answered promptly by mail. Replies that are of general benefit will be published in 
this Department. 
Problems in House Fumishing 
By MABEL TUKE PRIESTMAN 
" E have an old house in the country 
built of stone. On the first floor 
there are a great many windows, 
all of which have outside shutters. The 
closing of these every night is a serious 
problem. In the summer the fly-screens 
make it a difficult task, and in the winter 
one is chilled through, on a cold night, long 
before all the shutters are closed. Have 
you any suggestions to offer as to how our 
shutter-closing could be made easier ?”— 
J. M. B., Mass. 
There is a shutter-worker on the market 
that will solve your problem. It is a prac- 
tical device for opening and closing shut- 
ters without raising the window, and it is 
self-locking and adjustable. The working 
parts of this shutter-worker are encased in 
the woodwork of the window, and are 
therefore not affected by heat or cold. 
They can be used on the windows of an 
old house as well as a new one; and they 
are attached in the following manner: A 
hole is bored through the casing to allow 
a rod to be pushed through it and fastened 
to the shutters on the outside. On the 
inside there is a handle and a small escut- 
cheon-plate. This arrangement does not 
interfere with the sash-weights, and can 
be attached in any position on the blinds. 
When it is desired to open or close the 
shutters the handle is turned and they are 
opened, closed, bowed, or fixed in any po- 
sition from the inside of the window with- 
out raising the sash or fly-screens. As the 
shutters lock automatically, it is impossible 
for them to flap, even in the most violerit 
storms. The box holding the  shutter- 
worker is small and neat in appearance. 
The handle is two inches long, and with 
the escutcheon-plate is not unsightly on the 
window. The prices vary from one dol- 
lar and a half to two seventy-five for a set 
consisting of two upper hinges, two hinge 
shutter-workers, handles, and escutcheons, 
according to finish. 
A request for suggestions for window- 
seats comes from a “North Carolina 
Reader,” who has bought a country house 
and finds that it does not possess a single 
window-seat. 
There is no doubt that the window-seat 
gives an excellent opportunity for a deco- 
rative and convenient feature, especially 
when it is successfully incorporated with 
the architectural lines of the house. The 
living-room especially seems incomplete 
without some form of window-seat, partic- 
ularly if it possesses a bay window. The 
bay may be circular or square, but which- 
ever it is the seat should form part of the 
curtain scheme. The curtains with valances 
may be made so as to have the same color 
scheme as the window-seat, thus making 
the seat part of the whole. When planning 
for window-seats do not have them too 
high or too narrow. As they usually have 
a mattress, allowance must be made for 
the additional height that it will give. The 
majority of homes do not have enough 
room for stowing things away. The win- 
dow-seats may be utilized for this purpose 
by having them boxed with hinged lids. If 
the windows are placed high in the wall, a 
very decorative effect can be obtained by 
introducing a window-seat the entire length 
of the window. The high window is in- 
variably long and narrow, and thus allows 
for a padded back between the seat and the 
window-sill. Another form of window-seat 
that gives service and adds to the general 
appearance of the room is when a window 
at one end of a room has a seat built and 
extended to the far side of the window in 
another wall. The seat built at right angles 
gives opportunity for the placing of a few 
book-shelves above the back of the seat 
on the longest wall space. An extended 
seat of this kind is greatly improved by 
the addition of a settle end on one or both 
ends, especially if the house is Colonial. 
“T want your advice about color schemes 
and the decoration of a dining-room. The 
house is Colonial, and will be ready in the 
fall for occupancy. I have decided to 
have the library green, and the parlor must 
have some green, as it opens into the li- 
brary, but I cannot make up my mind about 
the dining-room. We have mahogany 
furniture, and a beautiful old mantelpiece 
will be in this room. The woodwork is 
birch. There are handsome folding doors 
opening into the hall. I enclose a rough 
plan of the lower floor, giving the size of 
the rooms. I may add that our furniture 
is strictly Colonial and somewhat heavy ; 
most of it is old. The glass cupboard was 
made to go with the old furniture. The 
chairs need new covers, and we shall have 
to buy a carpet or rug. Kindly give your 
advice about recovering chairs and floor- 
covering when suggesting color schemes.” 
—D. S. 
The rooms of your new house are large 
and well proportioned and call for a rich 
background. If not already in the speci- 
fications I would certainly have a paneled 
dado to the height of a chair-rail. Above 
this a scenic wall-paper would be appro- 
priate. These papers are many of them 
copied from old scenic wall-papers; some 
of them are rich in coloring, while others 
are delicate in tones of gray. The choice 
being limited in this style of paper, the 
color scheme would have to be worked out 
later according to the tones of the paper. 
The woodwork must be painted white or 
ivory white, but the doors into the hall 
would look best mahoganized ; as the wood 
is birch, it will take the stain very nicely. 
The other doors leading into the hall should 
be stained to match those in the dining- 
room. The woodwork of all the lower 
floor would look best painted white—a 
Colonial house demands it. I would have 
glass door-knobs or brass, and the floors 
of the downstairs rooms mahoganized. If 
the paper selected is in pale-gray tones a 
clear foliage green would look well on the 
chair-seats and for the heavy curtains. 
Green damask has an old-time appearance 
and would look well for chairs and cur- 
Xili 
One of the facts that has brought 
BISSELL 
Carpet Sweepers 
into so great favor is the actual saving they ac- 
complish, making carpets and Tugs wear more 
than twice as long, This saving is easily ex- 
plained, as the rapidly revolving brush searches 
into the pile of the carpet or rug, liftingdust and 
dirt out, depositing it in the pans within the 
sweeper-case. If this dirt and sand is allowed to 
stay in the carpet, oris ground down into it by 
a broom, it acts as a grindstone, cutting the fibre 
of the carpet at each move on it. 
At all dealers, from $2.75 to $5.75. 
Ask for booklet. 
BISSELL CARPET SWEEPER CO., Dept. 125 
Grand Rapids, Mich. 
(Largest and Only Excluslve Carpet Sweeper 
Makers in the World.) (21) 
THIS IS ONE | 
of the 40 beautiful homes, illustrated and | 
described in my new book 
“HOMES OF CHARACTER” 
with floor rlans, exterior views, and ac- 
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$1.00. Descriptive circular 2 cents. 
JOHN HENRY NEWSON 
Cost $2.500 1245 Williamson Bldg, Cleveland, 0. 
ACBETH makes over three thousand styles 
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SARGENT]| 
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Hardware Sargent& Co,,153teozst 
Ne'y York 
MORGAN DOORS 
The standard of door quality. Strong, Light, never warp, 
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This 68-page Book shows 
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JUD YOHO, Bungalow Specialist 
1039 Henry Building, Seattle, Wash. 
