HOUSE AND GARDEN | 
November, 
1912 
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the paint — the size we were advised was un¬ 
necessary—which proved entirely satisfac¬ 
tory. It was amazing to see how much higher 
and lighter the room looked when the one 
plain light tint was put on the ceiling. The 
prominent figure of the wall as it was disap¬ 
pearing under the magic of the brush, fully 
demonstrated the folly of using anything but 
a plain one-color finish. 
While the various coats of paints were 
drying, we found time to make definite plans 
for the woodwork finishing. The old living- 
room we were to convert into a large dining¬ 
room and the dining-room into a den. We 
foresaw little difficulty with the old wood for 
the new dining-room, as that could be painted 
white to form a good foundation for the ma¬ 
hogany pieces of furniture that we had been 
collecting for some time. The den woodwork 
we wanted in a stained effect and that 
seemed more difficult. Meanwhile we were 
applying white paint over the stubborn old 
brown surface — and by the way we tried 
several kinds, enamel and dull surface and 
the wall paint. Practically four coats were 
used before the enamel finish itself was ap¬ 
plied. Two coats of this with a little sand¬ 
ing here and there between coats gave an 
excellent finish. We preferred buying an enamel that dries to 
a glossy surface to the operation of rubbing with pumice stone 
and oil. The enamel work is indeed beautiful and one would 
never think it covered a multitude of sins. 
We next tackled the new wood in the living-room, which had 
been built along very simple lines to match that of the dining¬ 
room. A mahogany oil stain worked easily, brought up the grain 
of the wood and gave us, as we found when the necessary var¬ 
nishes were applied, a color matching our mahogany furniture. 
It was necessary to use a filler which we got in paste form mixed 
to a thin cream with benzine — when we ran out of that we used 
In the bedroom also the walls were plaster finish and painted and an attractive stencil border 
in two colors giving results as striking as a printed paper frieze but more durable 
In the dining-room the old, ugly woodwork was coated with a number of ground colors of a 
dull surface and an enamel drying glossy applied above this 
gasoline. This was applied with a stiff brush and then wiped off 
thoroughly with burlap. When thoroughly dry a coat of pure 
white shellac was applied and sanded when dry with sandpaper. 
Then two coats of varnish were applied, sanding between coats, 
and rubbing the last to a dull surface with pumice stone and oil. 
We found this operation very easy indeed, as the oil itself seemed 
to kill the high gloss. 
The work was progressing nicely, though slowly—and it was 
well indeed that we decided to camp out in the meadow during 
our long summer vacation, combining work and pleasure. But 
we had not found a solution to the floor problem. We wanted 
a light finish, similar to that obtained on a 
new hard wood floor, as the white enameled 
wood, light wall and mahogany furniture 
called for such a treatment. The regular 
floor varnishes were all transparent and 
light in color, so impractical for the old 
floor. The floors had been scrubbed vigor¬ 
ously, but still looked bad. Something that: 
would cover up the surface and give a light 
color was necessary, and though we always, 
strongly objected to imitations, we were not 
now going to sacrifice looks for such a fool¬ 
ish whim. When we did find a finish of that 
character we proceeded in fear and tremb¬ 
ling to use it, but were soon won over. The 
preparation consisted of a ground color, to- 
be used as the first coat, and a varnish stain 
to be applied over the ground color. The 
grain of the wood is suggested by pulling 
the brush over the surface before the mate¬ 
rial is set. To give a practical surface, for 
the floors require two and three coats of 
varnish, a regular floor varnish was applied 
over the colored varnish. We followed these 
instructions, using a light stain of a color 
resembling an oak floor, and now that the 
rugs are laid we feel, considering the differ¬ 
ence in expense, that the refinished floors- 
