Inside theHouse 
Timely Suggestions a^id: 
Answers to Corres|)aodents 
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Living-room Decorations 
A FORMAL living-room was seen in a 
made-over country house in Con¬ 
necticut, where it had been necessary to 
keep the color scheme as light as possible, 
owing to the fact that the house was so 
situated that this room had sunlight for 
only a part of the day. The walls were 
covered with a two-tone striped paper, 
which was almost white, but having just 
a suggestion of yellow in it. The wood 
trim was of simple design painted ivory 
white, but its treatment was worthy of 
more than passing notice, as the ivory 
paint had first been allowed to dry and 
then some thin burnt umber was brushed 
over the surface and quickly wiped off 
again, only leaving what had caught in the 
rough surface of the paint, except in the 
deep crevices of the moldings, where it 
was allowed to remain and gave a nice 
tone to the woodwork, which resembled 
the deep ivory tone one sees in plaster 
casts. 
The furniture was simple models in 
mahogany after a design by Adam, with 
caned seats and backs, and a gray rug 
was on the floor. 
The decorations had played their part to 
a nicety and had brought light and cheer¬ 
fulness into a room which needed both of 
these qualities. As this light color scheme 
was found to be too cold for winter time, 
it was decided to add a warm rich color 
note, which was accomplished by replacing 
the summer rug with one of a deep rose- 
pink, with just a hint of violet in the color, 
and hanging long over-curtains of Eng¬ 
lish cretonne, with a valance, at the win¬ 
dows. These curtains showed large 
bunches of red roses, tied together with 
blue ribbon, on a cream ground. It would 
have been impossible to cover a large area 
with a fabric having such a bold design, 
but the neutral walls and woodwork sup¬ 
plied restful spaces for the eye and made 
a frame for the strong color in the draper¬ 
ies. Small pads of rose-pink material cov¬ 
ered the seats of the chairs and helped to 
transform this living-room into an inviting 
winter retreat. 
In a recently completed house on Long 
Island the owner was her own decorator 
and planned and furnished a combination 
living-room and library that was both 
beautiful, dignified and homelike. As this 
was an all-the-year-round house and the 
living-room would be the most important 
one on the ground floor, it was deemed 
wise to delve a little deeper into the deco¬ 
rative problem than mere paper and paint, 
and at the same time keep the decorations 
within a reasonable appropriation. 
To add to the constructive quality of 
the room, a window-seat was built into the 
long window at one end of the room, 
plain bookshelves were fitted into the cor¬ 
ner between the mantel and the door lead¬ 
ing to the brick-paved terrace, and a low 
wainscoting was built around the room by 
nailing a flat molding to the wall parallel 
to the baseboard and about three feet 
above it. The intervening space was di¬ 
vided into oblong panels by means of flat 
boards extending from the baseboard to 
the molding above. The rough cast plaster 
in the panels was tinted a dark brown, to 
match the rich, dark brown stain of all of 
Hinged lamp brackets fastened to the 
casings are excellent for plants 
the wood trim, including the window-seat 
and built-in shelves. 
A peacock-blue and yellow color scheme 
was decided upon, as this room received 
floods of light on account of its southwest¬ 
ern exposure. The space above the wains¬ 
coting was tinted a peacock-blue, which 
color was repeated in the rugs, draperies 
and upholstery of the window-seat. 
The furniture consisted of a long table, 
a gate-legged table, a high-backed settee 
and some chairs, all of dark brown oak 
with caned seats and backs and reproduced 
after Old English models. 
The long over-curtains of cretonne 
showed brilliantly plumed birds on an 
ecru ground and neutralized the blue of 
the walls, and this effect was further car¬ 
ried out in the yellow silk Empire lamp¬ 
shades and the brass candlesticks which 
stood on the mantel. 
Lamp Brackets for Plants 
HEN window space is limited, or 
where one hates to mar polished 
sills by placing pots upon them (invaria¬ 
bly the result sooner or later) let her go to 
a hardware store and purchase some of 
the old-time swinging brackets used to 
hold kerosene lamps against side walls. 
These are merely rings that turn this 
way and that — sometimes double hinged— 
from hinges securely fastened in the cas¬ 
ings. and into the rings flower pots fit 
beautifully. Two of them on either side 
of a window, one above the other, filled 
with blooming plants or drooping ferns, 
make a most artistic arrangement, and as 
they may be turned to catch the changing 
rays of light, the plants develop more sym¬ 
metrically than house-plants usually do. 
Besides, the brackets permit the placing 
of plants in sunny bay windows where 
box seats have been built in below and 
pots upon the sills would be greatly in the 
way. 
Making a Window into a Closet 
/^FTENTIMES there is a scarcity of 
closet room and an overabundance 
of window space in a dining-room. Both 
of these conditions may be improved by 
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