412 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
November, 1911 
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SUGGESTIONS ON INTERIOR DECORATING 
AND NOTES OF INTEREST TO ALL 
WHO DESIRE TO MAKE THE HOUSE 
MORE BEAUTIFUL AND MORE HOMELIKE 
WITHING THE PoOws=: 
from subscribers pertaining to 
The Editor of this Department will be glad to answer all queries 
should be enclosed when a direct personal reply is desired. 
ome Decoration. Stamps 
SOME FURNISHING PROBLEMS 
By Mabel Tuke Priestman 
ane one of an readers of this eee 
ment, who requests suggestions, which are 
here given as being of interest to readers in 
general. It is of immense importance to 
have a cheerful dining-room. A gloomy, 
forbidding room will have a depressing effect even after 
one has grown accustomed to it. Few things make such a 
difference as a successful window treatment. Dainty frilled 
white sash curtains, linen taffetas or chintz all do their part 
to make a cheerful looking room. If the curtains are to 
give the decorative note, it would be well to have the walls 
plain or covered with a striped paper. ‘These striped papers 
come in soft shaded effects, so a light tone could be chosen 
to give a light effect to your dining-room and yet will harmon- 
ize with the color scheme of the curtains and rugs. If the 
Dainty curtains do much toward making a living-room cheerful 
house has not been wisely planned and the dining-room has 
a north aspect, or has not enough windows, such defects 
may be mitigated by striving to give it a cheerful feeling 
by a strong, vigorous treatment—a stunning frieze above as 
pale a wall surface as the frieze can stand, or a yellow paper 
with an ivory-white ceiling with white woodwork will bring 
sunshine out of gloom. A striking paper, if of excellent 
design, may be used, and plain curtains; but as the room 
will then depend on its wall-paper for all its decorative 
value a good design must be selected and in suitable color- 
ing to offset a dark room. When it is possible, it is most 
important that a good deal of attention is given to having 
good structural features, such as window seats, built-in 
closets and even built-in sideboards, for all these help to 
make a room individual in character. The low, wide win- 
dow seat, with a wide window or two, if practical, are im- 
portant factors in helping to make a pleasing dining-room. 
The plate-rail, if there is anything worth while to put on it 
and if it is not allowed to be the dumphill for the rest of 
the house, may be an opportunity for a glowing amount of 
color and good decoration. A round table makes for friend- 
liness and congeniality, and cannot be too highly recom- 
mended on this account. A center light should always be 
used in a dining-room and hung low over the dining-room 
table. For extra occasions candles and shades give a deco- 
rative value to the appearance of the table that is very 
charming and homelike. Of course, there must be a center 
dish of growing flowers or ferns. 
AN ATTIC BEDROOM 
UGGESTIONS for making an attic bedroom for the 
young daughter of the family attractive have been asked 
for by one of our readers. As the room is large and well 
proportioned, there is no reason why an attic bedroom 
should not be made as beautiful as one on the second floor. 
The wall would be pretty and serve as a background for 
photographs of school friends if covered with a soft shade 
of green felt paper. A good quality of felt or fibre must 
be chosen, as the color fades in a cheap quality in a green 
with any depth of tone. Above this a frieze could be run 
if the walls do not slope, and choose a frieze that is beauti- 
ful—an old English garden effect; there are plenty of good 
ones to select from on the market. If there are casement 
windows, they may be filled with leaded glass diamond 
panes; beneath them a window seat, and have a hinged lid, 
so that it will be a convenient place for shoes to be kept out 
of the dust. If there are a pair of windows so much the 
better; the other seat may be deeper, for stowing away 
papers and magazines. If there is a space between the 
two windows, this may be filled with bookshelves and desk 
combined. Copper hinges and escutcheons, made at home 
from sheets of brass, may be used effectively on the small 
green-stained doors or slanting front of the desk, whichever 
the shape calls for. A wicker chair might be stained green 
