The Editor will gladly answer queries pertaining to individual problems of interior decoration and furnishing. When an immediate reply is desired, 
please enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope. 
Some New Chintzes 
NEW line of chintzes, put on the 
market recently, consists of reprints 
from the original handmade blocks a cen¬ 
tury old. A special feature of those 
chintzes is that some of them are glazed, 
like the “copper-plate” used by our great- 
grandparents as bedhangings and for 
other purposes. The glazed ones have the 
advantage of not needing to be laundered, 
for a considerable time at least, and used 
as window curtains and cushion covers, 
the material adds to the old-time effect de¬ 
sired in a modern Colonial bed-chamber. 
The old blocks, considerately left stored 
away by our English cousins of a hundred 
years ago, are constructed by the insertion 
of very small pieces of shaped copper rib¬ 
bon driven into their faces, the interstices 
filled with felt or rabbit’s hair. They are 
said to represent the high-water mark of 
hand engraving and to be practically im¬ 
possible of duplication today. Those of us 
who possess pieces of the genuine old 
“copper-plate” are interested in this re¬ 
vival. It is suggested that a similar rein¬ 
carnation of the printed scrims now in 
vogue would be acceptable. For attrac¬ 
tive all-over patterns, scrim would make 
charming and inexpensive window cur¬ 
tains for the country home sleeping rooms. 
Two Schemes for Hanging Baskets 
HE task of taking down my hanging 
baskets for their nightly immersion 
in a tub of water, was irksome because of 
the strength necessary to lift the heavy 
baskets. I have now devised a pulley 
system which does the work with ease. 
The hooks which supported the baskets 
were set into the porch cornice about a 
foot below the ceiling; I screwed a small 
pulley into the ceiling above each basket, 
and fastened a strong cord to the handle 
of each basket, which was then passed up 
over the pulley, hanging down to the 
floor. A steady pull on the cord lifts the 
basket from the hook, when it may be 
gently and steadily lowered to the floor: 
another pull on the cord restores it to its 
former position on the hook. 
Wishing to start some wire hanging 
baskets for the porch I found it impossible 
to obtain moss with which to line them. 
Someone advised using fine screen wire, 
painted green. This held earth and plants 
securely and was not unsightly, yet had 
the appearance of moss-filled baskets. 
Others I filled with small sods, with the 
green outside: by keeping the grass care¬ 
fully clipped I have good looking hanging 
baskets without moss. 
Re-gluing Furniture 
F you have never been successful in re¬ 
gluing furniture so that it will stay 
glued, you may be in future by adding a 
coat of shellac or colorless varnish. It 
is the dampness attacking the glue which 
undoes the most careful work, and when 
this is protected by a coat of varnish 
(after the glue is dry) you will have no 
further trouble. 
Marbleized Steps and Floors 
P AINTERS say that the fashion of 
marbleizing front steps is coming 
back and that it may even extend to kitchen 
floors as was the case a generation or less 
ago. Young people of to-day do not know 
what a marbleized floor looks like, but 
One of the glazed chintzes which are now 
being reprinted 
their fathers and mothers will remember 
the time when it was common for kitchen 
floors to be treated in this manner and 
when it was not unusual to find the floors 
in dining-rooms of attractive houses so 
decorated. 
This is not a plea for the style, but only 
a statement of fact. That many people 
like it is shown by the report of the paint¬ 
ing fraternity that more steps have been 
marbleized the past season than for years 
previously and the interest in this method 
of treatment seems to be growing. 
Some painters do not know how to be¬ 
gin the work, but veterans at the trade 
have not forgotten. First the body color 
is applied, a strong yellow. When that 
has become dry, the painter takes a shingle 
in one hand and a brush full of white 
paint in the other and creeps across the 
floor, striking the brush on the shingle so 
as to distribute the paint in patches of 
widely varying size. When the white 
paint has dried, the performance is re¬ 
peated, except that black paint is used. If 
the painter is expert, the result is quite a 
good imitation of marble. 
When steps which are being marbleized 
are short enough so that the painter can 
reach all over them from one position, he 
does not wait for the paint to dry, but ap¬ 
plies one coat after the other. First, how¬ 
ever, he pins papers on any side wood 
work which may be exposed, for there is 
considerable spattering of paint. 
A really new fashion in floors calls for 
stencil borders and is finding favor among 
many people. The stenciling is done in 
the usual way and if harmonious colors 
are used, the effect is good. 
Cleaning Brassware 
RASS teakettles, or, in fact, any article 
of brass with the exception of Be¬ 
nares ware, can easily be cleaned in the 
following way: 
First wash the brass well in suds made 
of equal parts of ammonia and water and 
soap. This will remove all dirt from the 
article, leave it free from grease and give 
it a semi-polish. Then an extra polish 
may be put on with a good brass polish. 
If the brass looks hopelessly tarnished, 
any good powder that is used for cleaning 
silver or brass, if moistened with vinegar 
(196) 
