House and Garden 
CORRESPONDENCE 
TO RENDER OLD FLOORS SERVICEABLE 
I live in an old Southern house, the 
floors of which have for many years been 
covered. As I am particularly anxious 
to do away with carpets and mattings, 
1 would ask that you suggest some treat¬ 
ment for floors of soft pine, \^hich will 
make them possible. Also will you 
advise me in regard to the best covering 
for a three leaf screen 1 wish to use in 
my dining-room, the walls of which are 
covered with a large figured two-toned 
green paper. I'lie ceiling is white, the 
woodwork and furniture of walnut. 
Answer: We will send you by mail a 
formula for mixing paint with which to 
treat your soft wood floors. Select a 
Vandyke brown oil paint, and by add¬ 
ing the floor finish of which I send you 
the name, you will have a surface for 
your floor which is much better than can 
be secured by ordinary painting. The 
cracks of the floor should be thoroughly 
filled with a crack filler, formula for 
which we will mail to you. Three coats 
of paint should be given. Cover the 
three panels of your screen with a gold 
fabric paper: this resembles gold burlap. 
There is a frieze now made which shows 
the tops of pine trees against a light sky 
line, the lower edge of which is finished 
by irregular rows of pine cones in gold 
and brown. This frieze can be applied 
to the top of the panel of the screen. 
Cut out the lower edge so that the pine 
cones will be applied directly to the 
gold paper. Mounted on burlap or 
canvas this will give you a screen cover¬ 
ing at slight cost which will wear almost 
as well as leather. It will be partic¬ 
ularly effective in your dining-room 
with the dark w ood and green walls. 
CURTAINS SUITABLE FOR A COTTAGE IN 
THE COUNTRY 
My home is in the country all the year 
round. Our means are very modest 
and I am particularly fond of beautiful 
things. As the view^s from my windows 
are all that one could desire, I must 
content myself with simple but har¬ 
monious surroundings within doors in 
my home. My dining-room is papered 
with a cartridge paper in shade of 
yellow-tan. The sitting-room, which 
opens out of it and is of southern ex¬ 
posure, has dull blue for its wall cover¬ 
ing. The woodw ork in these two rooms 
The Finishing Touch to the 
Attractiveness of Your Home 
is the Decoration of the Walls 
You can make an old house as bright, cheerful 
and attractive as it was when new, by decorating 
your walls artistically with Alabastine. 
When the house is new, and the woodwork 
fresh and clean, you can keep it absolutely sanitary 
by decorating with Alabastine. 
The dainty Alabastine tints make the most 
pleasing background for pictures, furnishings and 
furniture, and enable you to have the entire house 
finished in one complete color scheme so that one 
room blends into the next. All of the rooms will 
be brighter, more cheerful, more artistic. The cost will be less, and your 
satisfaction greater. Any one can easily apply Alabastine by simply follow¬ 
ing directions on the package. 
1 
The SanitaryV/yi Coating 
becomes a part of the wall itself. One tint can be applied over another as often 
as desired without the bother or expense necessary where old wall-paper or kalso- 
mine has to be first washed or scraped from the walls. This cuts the cost of deco¬ 
rating in half. Alabastine decorations will last longer, for Alabastine neither 
fades, rubs off nor scales. 
Many of the beautiful color effects that can be produced with 
Alabastine are shown in detail in the book “Dainty Wall Decora¬ 
tions, ’ ’ which contains complete color plans for any home. This book 
will be sent you postpaid for 10c in coin or U. S. stamps. It is 
worth far more to anyone intending to decorate. Tint cards mailed 
free on request. 
Ask your dealer for Alabastine 
and insist upon having Alabastine 
Alabastine is sold in carefully sealed and properly 
labeled packages at 50c for white and 55c for tints, 
by all Paint, Drug, Hardware and General Stores. 
See that the name “Alabastine” is on each package 
before it is opened, either bv yourself or the painter. 
If your dealer does not sell Alabastine, write us. 
The Alabastine Company 
921 Grandville Ave. Grand Rapids, Mich. 
Eastern Office, Dept V, 195 Water Street, New York City. 
In writing to advertisers please nentiun Ilou.sE .\xi) (Jaudex. 
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