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decorates everything in sight until 
one feels quite sure that the only 
things to miss the wholesale or¬ 
namentation were animated ob¬ 
jects that could voluntarily es¬ 
cape. 
The real reason for stenciling 
is to fill in and round out the dec¬ 
orative scheme of a room in an 
unobtrusive way, not to form its 
most conspicuous feature. If 
cleverly handled, the same motif 
can be suggested on the walls and 
curtains, even on draperies and 
pillows in a room without looking 
overcrowded; or the stencil can 
be applied sparingly, merely fill¬ 
ing an occasional space that would 
otherwise seem too bare or in need 
of a bit of color. 
Wall-papers in block print or 
stencil effects are obtainable for 
use with handicraft furnishings, 
and where the fittings of a room 
are plain and on simple lines, with 
few pictures in evidence, the 
large-figured papers are quite sat¬ 
isfactory. A new paper that is 
actually hand-stenciled is now to 
be had. The designs are repro¬ 
duced from rare specimens of an¬ 
tique silks, and are most unusual 
in effect, many of the figures being 
too large to print by the ordinary process, so that there is no 
possibility of machine imitation. 
For plain walls ingrain and oatmeal 
papers are used, with cut out or sten¬ 
ciled borders, and painted walls finished 
with narrow stenciled designs are stead¬ 
ily gaining in favor. On some accounts 
the last two methods are rather more 
satisfactory for the ordinary handicraft 
room than a figured wall decora¬ 
tion, and in combination with the 
wood paneling so much used for 
dining-rooms and libraries, the 
painted walls and stenciled bor¬ 
ders constitute one of the most 
practical modes of wall treatment. 
In addition to the colored border 
the stencil is sometimes used with 
good effect on the wall space be¬ 
tween the panels of wood, form¬ 
ing alternate panels of decorative 
figures and plain 'wood. This 
scheme should be approached with 
caution and worked out with care, 
however, in order not to overdo 
the idea and get a result that is 
anything but satisfactory. 
With the use of the stencil in 
the wall decoration, color schemes 
can be perfectly worked out and 
the figure of the border can be 
reproduced in curtains and dra¬ 
peries, giving a touch of individ¬ 
uality not to be had in any other 
wav. Except for the most ener¬ 
getic and patient of amateur dec¬ 
orators the wall stenciling should 
be left to a professional workman, 
in spite of the fact that it looks 
easy and tempting. Even when 
done by such a workman it will 
not prove an expensive method of 
decoration, as a stencil for the narrow borders now in vogue 
costs only fifty or sixty cents, and the 
charge for applying it is five to six and 
one-half cents a foot, while for painting 
the walls in a solid color the cost for 
paint and work is three and one-half to 
four and one-half cents a square foot. 
Taking advantage of the fad for wall¬ 
papers and cretonnes that match, excel- 
Curtains of all sorts may be stenciled with characteristic designs 
from the frieze. The units should not be repeated too often 
On eijhe,'. side of the central picture are characteristic stencil designs the units of which were repeated from a frieze. The one at the right is par¬ 
ticularly. interesting in a wistaria pattern that seems to wind across the curtain. The central illustration shows one type of furnishing where 
a handicraft scheme has made use of the old-fashioned hand-woven coverlets in two shades of brown 
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