October, 1912 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
207 
Here the draperies are of rep, decorated with inconspicuous embroidered 
bands. White shades are serviceable here as they admit more light 
contrasting colors, they give subtly changing effects. Japanese 
crepe is suitable for nurseries and children’s sleeping rooms. It is 
found in any Oriental shop, but the printed Indian cottons that 
give quite as pleasing results are more difficult to procure. Japan- 
ese toweling in flower and bird designs is pretty and inexpensive 
for children’s curtains and may be used for bureau covers and 
chair cushions as well. 
Fabrics in colors that fit into a particular scheme can often be 
found at dress-goods counters in department stores. Deorators' 
shops, linen stores, Arts and Crafts studios, and the quaint shops 
in foreign quarters of large cities all furnish interesting and de¬ 
lightful materials suitable for individual needs. 
In making up curtains, a length that just clears the window 
ledge is most often seen. Curtains extending in German style five 
or six inches below the ledge are occasionally used and this type 
shows to advantage bands of embroidered ornament. In living- 
rooms the curtains are usually allowed to hang straight without 
looping, but in sleeping rooms are often looped back, as otherwise 
they are apt to be whipped by the wind. Curtains made with 
a valance are desirable as giving the window a frame at the top 
as well as sides. The valance is gathered but little and is usually 
narrow. Curtain rods should be carefully selected as cheap ugly 
ones spoil the appearance of a room. Plain brass rods and end 
pieces are commonly used, but wooden dowel rods may be pro¬ 
cured of a carpenter, cut into the right lengths and used with a 
small end fastener. They are either stained or painted to match 
the woodwork finish and are thus unobtrusive. 
A group of three or more windows may be furnished with thin 
inner curtains and end curtains and valance of heavier material, 
or, as in our illustration of a group of four windows, the thin 
curtains may be omitted. In this case a thin Japanese cotton is 
used, with a design in pale greens and lavenders. Trees close 
to the window so shade the room that inner curtains are un¬ 
necessary and in any case they would interfere with a charm¬ 
ing view of apple tree boughs. 
For casements curtains hung on rods that swing into the 
room are the most practical. A rubber cushion receives the rod 
as it goes back into position. For casement windows that 
swing outward after the English fashion with screens inside 
and an ingenious American lever that opens the window from 
within, the curtains may have the ordinary stationary rod. 
For the window that is tall and narrow the curtain may 
cover the frame, extending beyond it two or three inches, thus 
covering practically none of the glass, and increasing the ap¬ 
parent width of the window. The interior of a house built in 
the ugly period of fifty years ago is much improved by this 
trick of curtaining. 
Windows set high in a wall need only side curtains and no 
valance. In our illustration showing small, high windows and 
a glazed door, grayish white Japanese silk curtains are used, 
and there are no window shades, since the house is in the coun¬ 
try and the windows secluded by their position. The glazed 
door is curtained in grayish white monk’s cloth, the curtains 
taking the place of shades, being drawn over the doors at 
night. By daylight, however, they are drawn well back to 
frame landscape pictures that the doors were planned specially 
to reveal. 
Where it is necessary, as in some city houses, instead of ad¬ 
mitting a beautiful picture through a window to shut out an 
unlovely one, thin curtains placed close to the glass obscure the 
view without much lessening the light. If the exposure is 
towards the north these curtains may be a clear yellow that 
gives a fictitious effect of sunlight. Outer curtains of darker 
material are used in addition to the thin cnes. 
In the small house where windows are planned as structural 
rather than as decorative features, privacy is secured, not by 
drawn window shades, but by high outside walls or hedges, or 
by the location of living-rooms upon gardens at the rear, instead 
of upon the street. Air and light are admitted in generous pro¬ 
portions, and the hygienic value of sunlight is appreciated. Cur¬ 
tain material is selected, not arbitrarily, but to harmonize with 
other furnishings, 
and simplicity is the 
chief consideration 
in making up and 
hanging. 
The forego¬ 
ing may serve as an 
indication of the 
possibilities of ap¬ 
propriate and artis¬ 
tic effects which are 
obtainable by the 
proper designing 
and use of curtains 
to fit individual re¬ 
quirements. The 
subject is one which 
will well bear con¬ 
siderable thought on 
the part of the house 
owner, f o r aside 
from the matter of 
having your curtains 
tasteful, there is the 
practical side to con¬ 
sider also. 
The chair in this room is upholstered with the 
same chintz used in the window curtains. 
The inner curtains are of cheesecloth 
