HOUSE AND GARDEN 
August, 1912 
33 
had prepared for it an oak lined alcove, with 
paneled back and sides, which sets off its design 
and the clean cut carving; the alcove is let into 
one side of the adjoining pantry. The china 
cabinet became the nucleus of a partition between 
dining-room and living-room; on one side are 
china cabinets, on the other, bookcases of similar 
size and design. The old china cabinet, shorn of 
its legs and top, and furnished with a solid base, 
now stands with another, built to match it. The 
bookcases were built in the same way. Above on 
each side is a plastered frieze, and the deep door¬ 
way dividing the cases has paneling that gives a 
distinctive and pleasing effect. Another piece of 
furniture, in a place designed for it, is the big 
leather-covered settle in the living-room. A niche 
of precisely the size to hold it was contrived be¬ 
side the fireplace, 
making a fireside 
seat in an individ¬ 
ual setting. A nook 
beside the fireplace 
in the playroom 
was designed in 
similar fashion. In 
this utilization of 
material already on 
hand the cottage 
gained a unique 
quality, and the 
furniture possesses 
twice its former 
value in its sur¬ 
roundings of plain 
oak, treated with 
liquid ammonia and 
brown stain, so 
that it harmonizes 
in color as well as 
in material. Win¬ 
dow and door 
frames are of plain 
unfluted boards. 
The floors are 
quartered oak in 
dining-room, 1 i v - 
ing-room and hall; of beech on 
the second floor, and are stained 
throughout a greenish brown 
with shellac finish. 
The walls, finished in smooth 
plaster, are covered with paper 
in the lower rooms, with frieze 
and ceilings ivory toned with 
fresco paint. On the second 
floor side walls and ceilings are 
painted with water color. 
The curtains are an interest¬ 
ing feature of the furnishings. 
In the dining-room are valance 
and side curtains for the two 
groups of windows, made by a 
German kinswoman for the cot¬ 
tage in far-off America. In ac¬ 
cordance with modern German 
style they extend several inches 
below the window sill, so that 
the pattern is not obscured by the light that 
shines through the window, but is seen to good 
advantage. The material is heavy cream-colored 
linen of a weave similar to Hardanger linen. A 
border of darned work is in a quaint pattern 
derived from Frisian peasant embroidery. It is 
done in blue, scarlet, pale green and yellow, and 
the time and labor involved in the embroidery 
are justified by the beauty of the result. As in 
Germany, the window shades are not allowed to 
shut out the sunlight, but are sent up to the top 
every morning. In the living-room are valance 
and end curtains of yellow silk for the row of 
five windows that look out upon apple tree 
branches. Here, too, the picture made by grace¬ 
fully interwined branches is not cut off in 
irritating fashion by window shades. A French 
window is cur¬ 
tained in yellow 
silk, and a Voysey 
drapery is in the 
doorway leading to 
the hall. In the 
bedrooms are cur¬ 
tains of unbleached 
m u s 1 i n or of 
cheesecloth sten¬ 
ciled in all-over de¬ 
signs. In one room 
with a window al¬ 
cove, the curtains 
are stenciled in a 
wind flower de¬ 
sign in oil colors. 
The flowers are 
rose color, the 
leaves pale green 
and the stems dull 
blue. A wall sten¬ 
cil nearby repeats 
the coloring, which 
harmonizes w i t h 
the antique ma¬ 
hogany furniture, 
white woodwork 
and creamy yellow 
walls of the room. Another sleep¬ 
ing-room with a wall decoration 
that has the primrose as motive, 
has window curtains of cheese¬ 
cloth stenciled in a single prim¬ 
rose, used as a repeat pattern and 
done in pale yellow with an 
orange center. Stenciled in a 
couple of hours, they make 
charming curtains and are a 
change from the border patterns 
usually seen in draperies of this 
kind. Another of the window 
curtain schemes is the equipment 
of the playroom with curtains of 
Japanese crepe in pale greens, 
lavender, blue and scarlet, fram¬ 
ing another group of apple tree 
boughs. 
Perhaps this same playroom is 
(. Continued on page no) 
Upstairs the plan shows an 
unusual allowance of closets 
The china closet became the nucleus of a partition between the dining- and living-rooms, 
one side are the china cabinets; on the other, bookcases of similar size and design 
On 
The playroom is turned over to the pleasures of handwork for all 
the family. 1 he wall closet is a type of the labor-saving con¬ 
veniences it contains 
