HOUSE AND GARDEN 
April, 1910 
For the bedroom of southern exposure 
a light shade of pastel green is sent for the 
walls; with this you might use the same 
white muslin curtains at the window's and 
over-draperies of floral cretonne showing 
pink roses and green leaves on a white 
ground. 
For the two remaining bedrooms deli¬ 
cate old rose is chosen for the walls of 
one, and pale gray with an underlying 
tone of pink is recommended for the 
other, with appropriate cretonne, linen 
taffeta, chintz, or art-ticking draperies 
over white muslin next the glass. 
Inexpensive Rugs 
T HE complaint of a correspondent 
regarding the designs and colors 
of the inexpensive rugs found in the shops 
to-day and put out upon what she terms 
“a helpless and unoffending public” ap¬ 
pears to us in a measure justified, and in 
publishing the followung excerpt we feel 
There is no form of floor covering better suited 
to the purely Colonial type of room and fur¬ 
niture than rag rugs 
sure it will find an echo in the hearts of 
many women who have endeavored to 
find a good floor covering for little money. 
‘‘It seems to me in this day of appreciation 
of color and general harmony in house decoration 
that the manufacturers of the inexpensive rug 
have been unwise—not to say unkind—in the 
fearful combination of color, design and'textile 
they offer us to put upon the floors of our 
simple homes. The term simple can certainly 
in no wise apply to the rugs themselves. Can 
anyone tell me the reason for introducing in 
the rag rug of our grandmothers an Indian 
Navajo design, or why in the same simple, 
unpretending, but artistic material w r e sometimes 
find ships at sea, or cottages set among wooly 
trees as decorative borders? While we may 
have escaped to some extent from the cabbage 
rose of lurid colors, and the faithful housedog 
on the rug of the Velvet and Brussels carpet put 
out thirty or forty years ago, it is a question to 
my mind whether we are really better off. I 
enclose a self-addressed envelope and ask if 
House and Garden will recommend to me 
some manufacturers who do make floor coverings 
which are inexpensive and also inoffensive.” 
We are pleased to send the troubled 
lady such addresses as we feel will be of 
service to her. There are fortunately 
some excellent rugs which are low in price, 
but we have realized that these must be 
looked for. The least expensive rugs of 
this kind are of Chinese matting and show 
excellent colors and attractive designs. 
The Kobe rug also shows a good weave 
and should be durable. These come in 
very pleasing neutral tones and unob¬ 
trusive borders. In the size 9 x 12 ft. 
the price is $10. Somewhat more expen¬ 
sive are the Bungalow rugs, which are 
made of wool and reversible, showing 
plain effects in two or three tones of the 
same color. A particularly attractive 
range of colors and shades is offered in 
these. Again the Body Brussels rug is 
made in some small and pleasing all-over 
designs of good color. 
Of the conditions which produce and 
put on the market the impossible effects 
in floor coverings to which the writer re¬ 
fers, the manufacturer will say that these 
products are put out to meet the public’s 
demand, and the public, of which our 
correspondent is but one, expresses itself 
variously, some objecting strenuously—as 
in this case — but the greater part accept¬ 
ing the inevitable and trying to live down 
the obtrusive floor coverings as best they 
may; while others will contend that only 
in such effects can they secure the “cozy” 
appearance they demand for their homes. 
Nevertheless, we are on the right road to 
better things; slowly but most surely 
they are being demanded and supplied. 
Screens and their Uses 
W ILL House & Garden be kind enough 
to give me some specific information in 
regard to screens? I have domestic problems 
which I feel can be successfully solved by the 
use of screens—if I can find something suitable. 
First: The door leading into the kitchen 
opens directly from my dining-room into this 
department, allowing an unobstructed view 
from the table, which is not desirable. The 
rooms under consideration are in an apartment 
house. The dining-room has dark wood¬ 
work, oak, and above the wainscot the walls 
are yellow. The fur¬ 
niture is also of 
oak. Could I use 
a screen near the 
door? In the same 
apartment a bed¬ 
room opens directly 
at the end of the 
hall, and this hall 
depends for its 
lighting on the win¬ 
dows of this room, 
except when artifi¬ 
cially lighted. 
Would a screen 
placed in the door¬ 
way be awkward or 
objectionable? The 
room has paper in 
two tones of gray, 
with draperies, etc., 
of gayly figured 
chintz. 
A floor covering in one or two tones would have 
helped greatly in lessening the distracting 
character of this room 
The screen for your dining-room would 
certainly successfully solve the difficulty 
of the door leading into the kitchen. The 
three-fold screen can easily be placed in 
such a way as entirely to cut off the view 
into the kitchen and yet leave a passage¬ 
way. There are screens made of wood 
(light in weight) which are stained to 
dark oak colors. Some of these show a 
stencil or burnt-in decoration in color of 
conventional design for the upper panels. 
Such a screen for your room wrought out 
in rich green and yellow on the dark wood 
would be effective. The screen should 
stand almost if not quite as high as the 
wainscot. A screen of this kind may be 
purchased for $10 or $12. If something 
less expensive is desired there are three¬ 
fold screens in which the panels are 
covered with burlap in good shades, the 
frames of darkly stained oak. The upper 
section of the screen shows an effect of 
paneling. Such a screen costs from $4.50 
to $6. 
For your bedroom door we would not 
advise a screen as it would be found awk¬ 
ward for entrance and exit. Curtains 
would better serve your purpose. You 
fail to mention the color of the hall walls, 
but we would recommend that you select 
a fabric of sufficient weight to hang well, 
('Continued on page xxv) 
Reproductions of Oriental rug patterns that are good both in color and 
design are now made by American manufacturers 
