HOUSE AND GARDEN 
August, 1913 
consider. A choice of materials must be made, a choice governed 
by suitability and cost. Plaster or wood are alternatives for the 
lower sections at least of living-room walls. Wainscoting, for 
many years neglected because of the popularity of wall papers, 
is again coming into use in the distinctive home. Wainscoting 
in its present machine-made form is 
not costly and is the most effective 
of backgrounds; once put up it does 
not permit of alteration nor removal; 
the wall furniture now so often built 
becomes an integral part of the 
paneling and with it a possible archi¬ 
tectural feature ; considering the cost 
of the plastering and papering it dis¬ 
places, even in the small house a 
wainscot of good height in one or 
two rooms is a perfectly feasible wall 
covering. The cost of the most or¬ 
dinary of wainscots in plain oak is 
about sixty-five dollars a thousand 
square feet; of North Carolina pine 
about thirty-five dollars. A newly 
devised wall treatment that is inex¬ 
pensive and uncommonly attractive 
is wainscoting in “built-up” boards of 
three- or five-ply, cross banded. Very thin pieces of wood, practi¬ 
cally veneers, are glued together so that, plain or quarter sawed, 
the resulting thin board has the same appearance as the more ex¬ 
pensive thick board. Also there is no danger of warp or check 
on account of the different directions of grain in the composite 
material. Panels cut the required size in the three-ply are framed 
by stiles of ordinary lumber an inch thick or so. Hard pine is 
quoted in the three-ply at four and a half cents the square foot, 
and oak at seven and a half cents. Sanding and cutting would 
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bring up the mill cost somewhat. Finishing is usually done on 
the wall, the entire woodwork of a room being stained and waxed 
after the carpenters are through, preferably by expert finishers. 
Or possibly, as in some of the recent English woodwork and 
furniture, the wood is left untouched, in its natural color. Light 
tones of gray and brown are now 
obtained instead of dark effects. The 
less expensive woods, such as pine 
and gumwood, are often preferred, 
as being refined in grain and taking 
a stain well. Quarter-sawed oak, 
stained a light, warm gray, or a 
light brown, gives beautiful results. 
Painted wainscoting, usually white- 
wood, is seen in the house of Colonial 
design, or in sleeping rooms. A 
wainscot in which the panels are can¬ 
vas painted like the wood is a device 
not intended to deceive, but giving a 
unified effect at reduced cost. Wood 
strips laid across a papered wall, or 
filled in with fabric, are sometimes 
used to give a wainscot appearance. 
In calculating the number of square 
feet of lumber that is needed for a 
wainscot, the running measure of the room is multiplied by the 
desired height of wainscot. 
Plain plaster, unadorned by paint or paper, forms a somewhat 
austere wall treatment that under the hand of a skilled plasterer 
possesses marked beauty of texture. Three coats of plaster, sand 
finished, are employed. The walls for this treatment should be 
of unusually good construction, as cracks cannot be hidden. The 
natural gray of plaster has good color quality, and warmth is 
given to a scheme through portieres of decided color. Where a 
The sand finished walls of especially good construction are uncolored, 
retaining the grayish tint of the natural plaster 
A side wall finished in dull blue American paper costing fifty cents 
roll. The Voysey drapery is an interesting bit of design 
