i5 2 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
September, 1913 
The porch furnishings are comfortable and do not look out 
of place 
for floors used as constantly as 
were the kitchen and laundry. 
Many of the floors, of course, 
had to be filled in where partitions 
were removed, for at the right of 
the hallway the sleeping-room and 
living-room were thrown into one, 
making a single long apartment. 
The dining-room, which opened 
off the living-room, is very large, 
and when purchased by the owner 
had nine doors and four windows. 
Many of these openings have been 
closed up to make the room an up- 
to-date, livable apartment. 
The walls, when the house was 
first purchased, showed hideous 
wall-papers all over the house. 
These had never been scraped, so 
that when they came to be re- 
ntgy.ed it was found necessary to 
soak them off with hot water, 
using a whitewash brush in applying it. 
This softened the hardened paste so that 
the paper could be scraped off. In many 
rooms there were as many as ten thick¬ 
nesses of paper. 
The plaster, in many cases, was either 
torn out or had been knocked out before 
the house was bought, so that it had to be 
removed. For the filling, newspapers 
were boiled in clean water and mashed 
fine, mixed with a little liquid glue and 
filled into the cracks or holes. If it was a 
large hole, a thin layer was put on next 
the laths and pushed in between them, 
dried, and then filled in even with the plas¬ 
tering. The whole surface was sand¬ 
papered down to make it even, before the 
paper was put on. 
All through the house the papers were 
chosen with excellent taste, and show soft 
coloring and small figures. The paper of 
the old-time period is now found in very 
few places, and rarely does one come 
across rolls of the real old- 
fashioned paper. Many of the 
papers aye, however, reproduc¬ 
tions, and. some of them show 
the lines of the., old masters. 
There are proem able to-day, 
for from fifty cents to two dol¬ 
lars a roll, wonderfully fine ex¬ 
amples of Chippendale paper, 
which i? , the most common; 
. Sheraton, which is not so often 
found, and the Chinese Chip- 
pehdale, which is very beauti¬ 
ful with its background of 
green and its brightly colored 
figures. 
In this house plainer colors 
have been used, and in some 
cases textiles are made features 
of the wall hangings. In col¬ 
oring they have carried out the 
idea of the period in yellow- 
The hallway was left intact except for re¬ 
papering the walls 
brown tints and the soft grays. 
Stripes have never been used, for 
they would have been in poor taste, 
giving the wrong effect for this 
period. 
The use of textiles, more espe¬ 
cially burlap, is always in good 
taste. They are economical, for 
differing from wall-paper, which 
has to be removed when discol¬ 
ored, they can be washed and done 
over as the owner desires. 
The draperies in the Curtis 
house are all in simple effects, 
mostly of scrim or white muslin. 
There is put on the market a great 
variety of wall hangings for 
rooms such as these. Linen, which 
wears well, could have been chosen, 
or the chintz, and the linen and 
chintz, both done in the old-time 
block printing. Some of these 
hangings are wonderfully effective and 
look so nearly like the original, from being 
done in the same manner and in the same 
blocks, that it is almost impossible to tell 
the difference between the old and the new. 
Many of the beams in the old house 
were encased, and these have been left 
open in the remodeling, showing the 
marks of the axe. This open-beam prob¬ 
lem is one which was carefully considered 
in remodeling this house, for when prop¬ 
erly handled it gives an artistic touch to 
the interior. If the beams are very rough, 
so much the better, for it shows the age of 
the house. 
In almost every house such as this is 
found much good hardware. If, however, 
it has been removed, and modern fixtures 
have been substituted, it is better to tear 
these out and put back the old ones; for a 
door such as these, any of the polished or 
antique effects, found in brass or bronze, 
are good. These can be in any of the old 
designs, but one of the best is 
the Puritan, which is oval in 
shape, and very effective in 
finish. 
The strap hinges, or the H, 
used on small closets and often 
on doors, can be bought to-day 
at any of the hardware stores. 
They come from $2.00 upward, 
for the reason that they have 
to be wrought by hand, making 
them much more expensive 
than the machine-finished ones. 
Colonial door knockers, 
which give the finishing touch 
to the Curtis house and com¬ 
plete the effect desired for the 
Colonial entrance, can be 
bought in reproduction for very 
reasonable sums, as can the 
Colonial door handles, with old- 
(Continued on page 170) 
Wherever possible the old woodwork was retained, the fireplaces, and 
mantels especially being good Colonial examples 
