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HINTS FOR HOUSE-FURNISHING. 
Perhaps some of the readers of the Cabinet have 
a room which they would like to have furnished, yet 
they have so little money they think it will be impos¬ 
sible to do it. A room furnished according to the fol¬ 
lowing hints would look home-like and comfortable at 
very little expense. 
If you cannot afford to buy a carpet, oil the floor 
with good linseed oil, and lay down rugs wherever you 
can find a place for one. One way to make a pretty 
rug is to braid rags, sew the braids together in strips, 
then put a border around this of a contrasting color; 
or make a round one by sewing the braid round and 
round in the old-fashioned way until the rug is large 
enough. 
Another way is to take burlap, cut it any size you 
wish, fringe out the edges, work a border around it 
with double worsted in some contrasting color ; the 
Roman key or the Grecian braid are pretty patterns 
for a border. Work a monogram or a figure in the 
centre, and your rug is completed. Instead of zephyr 
you can ravel out an old scarf or “ cloud ;” color it 
some bright color, and it will be far cheaper than 
worsted. Then there are rugs made by drawing car¬ 
pet rags, cut on the bias, through burlap and then 
shearing. Another way is to take a piece of dark 
cloth (an old coat will do nicely) ; cut it any shape 
you choose and apply figures cut out of bright colored 
flannel; sew these on in button-hole stitch; or, in 
stead of applying figures, cut circular pieces out of 
variously colored flannel ; have some larger than the 
others; place a large circle of light-colored cloth on 
the black, on top of this a smaller one, and then a 
still smaller one; tack these firmly in place. If care¬ 
fully made these are very pretty. 
Paper or tint the room if you can ; if you cannot, 
do the next best thing, which is to cover the walls as 
much as possible with pretty things. Wind a rope 
with cedar, or sew autumn leaves on a strip of cotton ; 
put this up as a cornice ; have the same around the 
window and door casings ; make wreaths, crosses, 
anchors, harps, etc., of cedar and autumn leaves, 
which are to be put wherever there is a vacant space 
on the wall. 
I made a pretty cross by sewing green moss on stiff 
paper cut in the shape 1 wished ; on a strip of calico 
I sowed pressed ferns and autumn leaves; this 
twined around the cross gracefully, allowing one end 
to droop over one arm. I cut letters out of stiff paper 
and sewed on them the dry moss which grows on the 
roots of trees in swampy places ; these I tacked on the 
wall over the door. My motto was “ Welcome.” 
Sprays of cedar are pretty over doors and windows, as 
well as boucpiets and wreaths of autumn leaves. 
You will want a lounge ; which may be made by 
taking a box of the proper size; have a strong cover 
put on with hinges, as your lounge will be a good re 
ceptacle for bedding and articles not in constant use 
pad the top well with curled hair, hay, or cotton bat 
ting ; cover smoothly with calico, put a curtain 
around it ; add one or two large square pillows cov 
ered with the same material, and a strong loop to raise 
the cover by, and your lounge is finished. Several 
smaller boxes covered in the same way will make nice 
ottomans. Old chairs which have been put away as 
too shabby to use, mended and covered to hide de 
fects, are as easy as new chairs. Barrel chairs are 
made by cutting a barrel into the shape of a chair; 
rope is then put across bed-cord fashion to form the 
seat, the back and sides are padded, and then it is all 
covered smoothly with enameled cloth, calico or 
worsted goods; a cushion is made of the same mate- 
ial. 
If you have not got an old table which you can 
spare for your room, “John” can make one, if he is at 
all handy with tools, which, when varnished and cov¬ 
ered with a large table cover, will answer every pur¬ 
pose. I am not much of a carpenter, but I made a 
toilet table by setting an old shoe-box on end and nail¬ 
ing on the top of this a board of the right length 
and width. I padded this, put a curtain around it, 
and it was finished ; one or two shelves in the box 
would be convenient. 
If you iiave pictures which .can be framed, your 
walls need not look bare long; you can make cone 
frames by gluing cones on a foundation; moss or 
lichen frames by sewing the moss on stiff pasteboard; 
ustic frames, by gluing bits of bark, twigs, etc., on a 
foundation, or by taking wood with the bark left on, 
cutting the proper length and width and fitting care¬ 
fully at the corners so they will be true. Then there 
are frames made of paper stars, of perforated paper 
worked with worsted, and frames of different kinds of 
seeds and grain; yellow corn makes a pretty frame, 
and also rice sprinkled thickly over a frame made of 
pasteboard; then color with stain varnish ; and any 
one can make straw frames. Many fancy articles can 
be made of straw by soaking the straw in warm water 
and then flattening them and glueing them on your 
foundation. 
In this way you can make baskets, letter-cases, 
wall-pockets, paper-racks, boxes, brush, comb, and 
card-cases, brackets and many other articles. Of the 
bark of white birch you can make many fancy articles 
besides those of which I have just spoken. Twigs of 
the Norway spruce also make up very prettily. Those 
fungi which grow on the trunks of trees make nice 
brackets by simply varnishing them and nailing a strip 
of leather on the back by which they can bo sus¬ 
pended. 
For a corner bracket cut a piece of wood in a three- 
cornered shape, only rounded on the outer edge; nail 
pieces on the side of this, by which it can be fastened 
to the wall; stain the top a dark color; make a lam¬ 
brequin by working a pretty pattern on canvas cut in 
deep scallops ; put on the edge a heavy bead fringe, 
and tack to the bracket with ornamental tacks. A 
simple way to make a lambrequin is to cut a piece of 
rep or flannel in deep scallops, pink the edges, cut 
leaves out of black velvet or cloth of a contrasting 
color, and apply them to the rep with button-hole 
stitch. 
Other brackets may be made of very heavy paste¬ 
board cut in fanciful designs, and covered with rice, 
coney, or almost any kind of seed, glued on in fanciful 
designs. If you can, get John to make brackets of 
cigar boxes, and have him put up a mantel-shelf; 
stain the top; then make a deep lambrequin to hide 
the supports, which of course will not look as well as 
they would if made by a professional cabinet-maker. 
Then by all means have some flowering plants in 
the window. By the way, tin fruit cans make nice 
flower-pots; cover them with lichen, moss, or bark. 
Crocheted covers are pretty ; crochet them the right 
size and shape; starch very stiff, and dry on the pot 
they are intended to cover; then varnish with stain 
varnish. 
Much more might be said on this subject of home¬ 
furnishing, but I see that this article is long enough. 
I hope some of you will try these suggestions; if you 
do you will be surprised to see how comfortable and 
home-like your room will look at little expense. 
With best wishes for your success in this undertak¬ 
ing, I remain your friend in all matters pertaining to 
fancy work and home decoration. Mary E. Murry. 
PICTURE FRAMES. 
Every one wants picture frames. I scarcely ever go 
in a house, that some one does not tell me of some pic¬ 
ture they have, but can’t use them because they can¬ 
not afford co buy frames ; and such was my trouble 
for a long time ; but now I make them, even for very 
large pictures, and every one pronounces them beau¬ 
tiful. Some, indeed a great many, have taken them 
for handsome carved walnut frames. 
My method is very simple and easy. I first have a 
rough wooden frame made, no matter how rough, and 
cover it with dark brown cambric or calico; when 
that is dry, lay it flat on a table, and glue on it the 
scaly bark from the sycamore tree. After you have 
covered your frame in this way, varnish it with copal 
varnish. Then cut small slips of wood with the edges 
rounded off, and cover with gilt paper, to look like 
the moulding in walnut frames; be sure to cut the 
pieces to fit exactly, and tack them on your frame. 
If in glueing on the bark it should curl, tack it on 
with a small tack. 
A pretty ornament for a parlor is very easily made 
in this way : Have a wooden cross made of timber, 
one and three-fourths inches square; make the cross 
eighteen inches high by twelve inches across the arms; 
then place it on a base formed of two pieces of board 
about an inch in thickness ; the top piece must extend 
out around the cross some distance. A good size for 
the proportions above named is one and a half inches 
by five inches; the second board must be placed under 
this, and must be one and a half square inches larger, 
so it will form a base, like two steps, leading to the 
cross. In the centre of the base cut a hole and fix in 
the cross firmly; when this is completed, cover it over 
with white paper without hues; then spatter it over 
until it is quite dark—almost as dark as granite— 
with India ink; dissolve some India ink in a saucer, 
dip an old tooth brush in it, and pass it lightly over 
a hair-pin ; this will cause the ink to fall iti tiny spat¬ 
ters on the cross. It takes some time to make it 
really dark, but if you persevere, your patience will 
be rewarded. When this is done, take the brightest 
autumn leaves you can get, and form into a wreath ; 
begin down on the base with quite a cluster, as if it 
was growing there; place a small tack now and then 
under the leaves, and use fine wire in forming your 
wreath. This can be worked over the tacks, and not 
be seen; commence, as I said before, at the bottom of 
the base, down low, rather to one side, and bring 
around the cross, then under the arm, and over the 
top, falling gracefully over and below the other arm. 
You can’t think how beautiful it is, and how rich 
and gorgeous the leaves look. I made one some 
time ago ; it brightened the whole room in which I 
placed it. If your leaves should curl or fade, you 
know they can be easily replaced every fall; but they 
last for months. E. W. H. 
Oatmeal for the Complexion. —A writer in the 
Household says that she uses oatmeal twice a day to 
make her face smooth and rosy. Take the dry meal, 
a little on a preserve plate, pour on just enough cold 
water to make thin, strain through a little sieve, and 
dipping a cloth into the water, wash over the face once 
or twice and let it dry. The result will be a beautiful 
complexion. 
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