The Simple Sanitary Wall 
THE MAXIMUM RESULT FROM MINIMUM EFFORT 
By CLAUDIA Q. MURPHY 
I T is not expense that makes home attractive, 
neither is it money which makes it artistic, 
but it is the infinite attention to details that 
makes it pleasing, and good taste which makes it 
beautiful. It is unnecessary to either tax the brain 
or the purse in securing the most satisfactory results 
in home making. 
The most important problem that confronts the 
housekeeper to-day is how to reduce the amount of 
housework to the minimum, at the same time securing 
the maximum of results. The tendency in the past 
score of years has been along the line of simplifying 
the detail and increasing efficiency. 
We are now learning better methods of doing things 
and better ways of securing the new effects. Among 
other things we have learned that decoration does not 
spell “Sanitation,” nor does sanitation in the home 
mean ugly, inartistic things, hut rather the contrary. 
There is nothing that appeals to good taste and 
good judgment more than the simple, earnest, honest, 
happy life, and there is no portion of the simple 
life which is more applicable to our daily routine 
and environment than the management of our homes 
and their interiors. 
Looking back through the past decades, we feel 
that much that was incongruous and outlandish in 
design was shown in the wall-papers used in the 
houses. A confusing and appalling array of inar¬ 
tistic and unbeautiful color effects as well as designs 
were manufactured. It is not always easy for the 
untrained eye to select from these, papers showing 
colors and designs which are truly decorative and 
beautiful. Therefore a safe and artistically decora¬ 
tive medium is found in the plain tinted wall. Art is 
that which is homogeneous; which is soft and pleas¬ 
ing to the eye; which has intrinsic value and which 
refuses to make pretentions to be anything but what 
it is; and restful in effect to-day and always. A wall 
of this kind makes for happiness, health and pleasure 
in the home. The coloring must be carefully selected 
and furnish a good background for all pictures and 
bric-a-bric. It must not assert itself; it must tone 
with the colorings of carpet or rugs and must be 
unobtrusive instead of obtrusive. 
1 he color, too, must be permanent for there is 
nothing more disappointing than a wall tint that is 
liable to fade and does fade and changes color every 
day, which, if a picture is removed, leaves a tell-tale 
spot upon the wall, deep color back of the door and 
an inert faded color opposite the window. It is a 
simple matter to avoid this by using a permanent 
color, then if accident comes to one section of the 
wall, that section can be recoated and match the rest 
of the surface. In a tinted wall the color must nec¬ 
essarily be of a material that is washed or brushed 
on the wall. 
The ideal wall is the tinted wall of a durable, har¬ 
monious color; of a texture that is always ready for 
recoating; that does not need to be washed nor 
scraped, that can be recoated frequently and 
always kept clean. It must be of itself a natural 
cement and perfect germicide. Where the wall 
has to be frequently recoated, as it must be to keep it 
clean, it is essential that the coating be of an inex¬ 
pensive material, also there need be no expensive 
labor in preparing the wall for recoating. Why put 
things on the wall that must soon be washed off? 
Surely that is “love’s labor lost,” and what good 
comes from that ? It is possible to secure a tinting 
material that does not require scraping or cleaning of!' 
the present coat to prepare for fresh coating. 
The old idea of decoration in wall coverings is 
best, and that was to subordinate beauty to utility, 
for only after usefulness is secured, beauty may be 
added. Then any degree of beauty you can afford, 
for the home oft proclaims the woman, as well as the 
man, who dw T ells there. 
Ruskin says, “the best sculpture yet produced 
has been the decoration of the front of a temple; the 
best painting, the decoration of the walls of a room. 
The greatest work of Raphael is simply the well¬ 
coloring of the walls of a suite of apartments in the 
Vatican; and his cartoons are only designs for tapes¬ 
try. Leonardo da Vinci’s greatest work in the decora¬ 
tion of a wall in a dining-room for monks, while 
the Roman aqueducts, those marvelous creations 
of architecture, enriched by noble sculpture, were 
simply troughs for carrying water.” 
1 he woodwork of the room is just as important 
as the finish of the plaster. 7 he coming scarcity of 
lumber has made it necessary to utilize all kinds of 
woods, and all qualities of wood for indoor work. 
Time was when w e were quite critical with regard to 
the w ood used for interior w ork. We w ere extrava¬ 
gant in days gone by and indulged ourselves gener¬ 
ously in hardwoods, in black walnut, in solid ma¬ 
hogany and in oak. But unfortunately for us, 
the extravagance of the past has made necessary 
the economy of the present; and so we are very well 
satisfied to-day with pine, and if we cannot get pine, 
with white wood, with almost any wood indeed, for 
the poorest of it taxes our purse. 
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