Inside the House 
Timely Suggestions and 
Answers to Correspondents 
7 he editor will gladly answer queries pertaining to individual problems of interior decoration and furnishing. When an immediate reply is desired, 
please enclose a self -add ressed stamped envelope 
A Door Catch Device 
X apparatus for opening the door of 
a high china closet, or any other 
closet that is fastened with a simple catch, 
was devised by a short woman who must 
have had a chair or ladder to open the 
door of her closet. The two lower shelves 
were within reach when the door was 
open ; but alas, the catch was placed above 
the second shelf—too high for reach. To 
obviate this difficulty a piece of cord was 
tied to the button of the catch and passed 
through a small screw eye which was in¬ 
serted a couple of inches back of the catch 
and level with it. The other end of the 
cord, with a brass ring attached, was 
left hanging low enough to be reached 
with comfort. 
X T ow the only motion necessary to open 
the door is to pull the ring gently, wlxijch 
causes the catch to pull back. 
Willow Covers for the Radiators 
I is possible to have made at a rea¬ 
sonable price a willow cover for the 
steam or hot water radiator which may 
be stained any color to match the furnish¬ 
ings, and form a useful and decorative 
summer table or shelf hiding the heater 
completely. A low heater thus covered 
makes a most useful tea table with the 
single disadvantage of being immovable. 
A movable cover can be made, however, 
if the plan of serving also as a separate 
table is given the willow worker as a 
requisite of the cover. If the heater is 
very close to the wall, it may be necessary 
to make the cover three-sided. 
Summer Window Curtains 
OW is the time when the woman 
who looks forward to spending at 
least a part of the summer in her own 
country home turns irresistibly to thoughts 
of curtains. She knows her window cur¬ 
tains will do more than anything else to 
give the note of individuality one always 
looks for in the abode, be it the humblest 
or of the most pretentious order, which 
is intended for use during the season when 
humanity escapes to some extent from 
the conventional way of living. 
There are many inexpensive materials 
which can be and have been used for win¬ 
dow curtains, bv women of original ideas, 
with surprising success. One practical 
housekeeper has recently had her large 
country house hung in eight cent cheese 
cloth trimmed with narrow cotton fringe; 
another is using cream colored seersucker, 
also finished with the fringe. The advan¬ 
tages of the latter material from the laun¬ 
dress’ point of view are many, since 
such curtains will never need to be ironed. 
Such a simple and unattractive sounding 
stuff as unbleached muslin has numerous 
possibilities, and it is especially suitable 
for farmhouses, bungalows and camps. It 
can be used either plain or with simple 
line designs in color. 
In a certain made-over farm house, oc¬ 
cupied last summer by a crowd of college 
girls, the ground floor rooms all had win¬ 
dow curtains of this muslin to which 
squares of Persian figured calico had been 
applied at artistic intervals, which was 
quite effective at the small paned win- 
clows. For a blue dining-room or one with 
Dutch doors and windows, these muslin 
hangings with a finish of the narrow red 
and blue cotton fringe are charming. 
A seashore home which has its down¬ 
stairs rooms and spacious veranda fur¬ 
nished with brown wicker cushioned with 
A magazine and book rack which serves also 
as a side table 
tan linen, is curtained with sail cloth. 
These unusual draperies are tied back with 
most nautical looking rope. 
Even for one who has no inclination 
toward anything the least bit freakish, 
there is endless variety in curtains. Hang¬ 
ings of plain, unfadeable Oriental silks 
are always good, with or without the soft 
white or ecru muslin or scrim under-cur¬ 
tains ; while hangings of flowered Eng¬ 
lish chintz or fine French cretonnes are 
still popular at bedroom windows. One 
house furnisher, who makes a specialty 
of summer cottages, is now making up 
bedroom hangings of chambray; old blues, 
rose, green and buff, will appear in the 
quaint guest rooms of a certain hospitable 
country place. 
Another authority on interior decorating 
is showing a lovely lot of fine cream 
colored lawns, with a crossbar of color 
to match the color scheme of the room. 
Whole rooms, windows, beds and dressing 
tables are hung with these pretty materials. 
Flowered lawns, too, are being utilized in 
this way. The curtains are apparently all 
plaited and not gathered at the top. 
The owner of a Colonial house has in¬ 
troduced into it, old-fashioned curtains 
of fluted white starched muslin. These 
are to be held back slightly by oldtime 
curtain rosettes of brass, heirlooms of 
course. For a room with a brown color 
scheme the natural colored pongee makes 
satisfactory curtains, while the tannish 
cotton crepe is both effective and durable. 
Dark blue is especially restful to the eyes, 
so if one can procure a material not likely 
to fade, it is admirable for the living or 
reading-room. In a well-known summer 
camp for girls, the curtains ordered for 
the main large room, this summer, are of 
dark blue voile, with a wide hemstitched 
border. 
Authorities on house furnishing decree 
that in the downstairs rooms of country 
homes, curtains may be dispensed with 
altogether, thus pleasing most men of the 
household. This doing away with soft 
curtains is made possible by the arrival of 
a novelty in the shape of window shades 
of glazed, flowered chintz. These shades 
will not only do duty in shutting out the 
view and glare, but will serve as a decora¬ 
tive feature as well. Thev are on sale 
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