April, 1912 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
45 
the insertion of a squat cupboard in the 
sill of one of the windows , unless the win¬ 
dow is set so nearly flush with the wall 
as to allow insufficient depth. If the sill 
is deep enough to allow of drawers, they 
will be very convenient for table linen. 
A well-filled rose bowl on top, with the 
light of the upper window behind, re¬ 
moves any appearance of awkwardness. 
If the sill be narrow, the little cupboard 
will best be used for cups and saucers, or 
with glass doors as a glass closet. 
Mahogany Pieces for the Library 
P RACTICALLY all of the mahogany 
furniture now 
manufactured i s 
copied from Colo¬ 
nial pieces, or at 
least shows the in¬ 
fluence of the craze 
for antiques, and 
there are few ex¬ 
amples of distinctly 
modern design. 
Among these few, 
however, are some 
useful pieces for 
the library in the 
shape of book and 
magazine stands 
that are simple in 
character and correspond satisfactorily 
with mahogany desks and tables, whether 
the latter are genuine antiques or only 
copies. 
The most elaborate of these pieces is the 
book-wagon, built on the plan of the use¬ 
ful tea-wagon, with two rows of V-shaped 
shelves, one above the other, each holding 
eighteen or twenty books. A pair of 
wheels in front and a handle at the back 
make it possible to roll the wagon from 
one part of the room to the other with 
very little effort, and for the person who 
likes to have the newest books at hand, or 
volumes of reference within easy reach, it 
is a most serviceable piece of furniture. 
It is made either in plain mahogany, or 
with inlaid lines if it is to correspond 
with Chippendale furnishings. 
Srhall tables holding only six or eight 
books each have square tops and pedestal 
bases made on slender, severe lines. Set 
into the top are thin partition boards of 
rnahogany about eight inches high, that 
divide it into sections, one for each book. 
On some of the tables the partition pieces 
are of uniform height and straight across 
the top; on others the pieces have curved 
tops, and the one in the center is higher 
than the others, with a small oblong open¬ 
ing cut in it, to serve as a handle when 
moving the table about. 
Magazine stands are made on the same 
plan, and have three partitions that in¬ 
crease in height from front to back, pro¬ 
viding sections for magazines of three dif¬ 
ferent sizes. Both book and magazine 
stands are fitted with a single small 
drawer, presumably for cards or memo¬ 
randum pads. 
A smaller book rack, for use on the 
library table, is a cleverly designed dupli¬ 
cate in miniature of the revolving book¬ 
case. It has a square base, on which the 
case, which holds only about a dozen 
books, revolves, and as the whole thing is 
not more than twelve inches square it is 
particularly serviceable on a library fable 
where space is limited. 
Still another small stand for use on the 
table is a V-shaped shelf 18 inches long 
with inch-square supports of inlaid mahog¬ 
any, making a piece that is light in weight 
and decidedly graceful in appearance. 
It has a decided practical value, for its 
shape makes it very convenient. 
The Useful Bed Box 
T he “bed box” reminds one of the old- 
fashioned trundle-bed, and a boon 
to humanity it is. Even in rooms where 
Attic windows may be made to appear 
normal size by hanging curtains in this 
fashion 
one has plenty of space a bed box is desir¬ 
able, for it may be made of cedar wood and 
serve another purpose than that of a mam¬ 
moth bureau drawer. Eor cramped quar¬ 
ters in any house, and especially for the 
summer cottage, bed boxes will be found 
almost indispensable. Those shown in the 
stores are built on simple lines, and are 
mounted on four solid wooden wheels 
which revolve on wooden pivots fastened 
to the case with flat bolts. The matting 
covered ones, trimmed with split bamboo, 
are very suggestive of the cool of the 
country house, while the cedar chest sug¬ 
gests immunity from moths and ants at 
all times of the year. They both look well. 
In making a bed 
box, or in buyng, 
be sure the cover 
is a tight and dust- 
proof fit. At least 
two-thirds of the 
cover should be 
hung on a hinge, 
the remaining por¬ 
tion being fixed so 
that it need not be 
pulled out the full 
width from under 
the bed in order to 
remove the con- 
tents. Matting 
covered boxes, 
edged with bamboo, with brass corners, 
can be bought for $6.75. 
Curtains for Small Windows 
HE windows in the upper floor of an 
old farmhouse remodeled for use as 
a summer home were unusually small in 
size, and the question of how to curtain 
them resolved itself into a rather serious 
problem. The bedrooms on that floor 
were done in chintz, but curtains of this 
material seemed quite impracticable on ac¬ 
count of their shutting out both light and 
air, until the owner hit upon the scheme of 
putting the curtains around the windows 
instead of over them. 
Eortunately the rooms were of good 
height, with a space of about eighteen 
inches between the tops of the windows 
and the ceilings. The plan for the cur¬ 
tains was to have a valance of gay colored 
chintz across the top of each window, with 
the material hanging in straight folds at 
either side. The curtain rods, instead of 
being fastened to the top of the window 
frame as is usual, were attached to the 
wall a foot above the frame, and were 
fourteen inches longer than the windows 
were wide. When the valances were put 
on they reached just to the tops of the 
windows, and the curtains, hanging in 
straight folds from the ends of the rods, 
fell just over the frame of the windows, 
hiding the woodwork, so that the effect 
was the same as if they had been put on 
in the regulation way. 
The small windows with their many 
panes of glass were quite effective in their 
draperies of chintz. 
The bed box is ideal for cramped quarters, for many things can go inside it 
