HOUSE AND GARDEN 
May, 1910 
For the porch floor woven grass or matting rugs are very serviceable 
Stronger colors and patterns will be needed outdoors 
Porch Furnishing 
T is interesting to note the growing 
enthusiasm of Americans as a nation 
for out-of-door living. While this is a 
comparatively recent development, it has 
evidently come to stay. The conditions 
which prevail to-day are in striking con¬ 
trast with those of a few years ago when 
the narrow and restricted porch, which 
was all that the average house afforded, 
held during the summer months two or 
more weather-beaten and uninviting look¬ 
ing chairs which were rarely occupied. 
Now even the simplest and smallest 
house has its porch and veranda of gener¬ 
ous dimensions. These are often screened 
and fitted as living-room or dining-room 
for the summer months, and upper 
porches, even during the cold weather, 
are frequently arranged as sleeping- 
rooms. 
Therefore to find the right furniture 
for the porch is a matter of interest, and 
the manufacturers are meeting these 
recent requirements with some attractive 
and well built wicker furniture. (See 
Miss Bird sail’s article on another page.) 
Rugs are an essential part of porch 
furnishing, and these may show' stronger 
colors and coarser weaves than those 
used in the house. The woven grass or 
matting rug is very satisfactory for porch 
use. Well cushioned canvas hammocks 
or swinging seats are delightful and 
desirable adjuncts to such furnishing. 
Awnings or the split bamboo curtains 
which roll readily will be required w'here 
the porch is to be used as a living-room, 
as at some hour of the day it will be found 
necessary to shut out the too strong rays 
of the sun. Fern balls and hanging 
baskets, as well as growing ferns and 
palms, can be decorativelv introduced. 
Protecting Enamel Tubs 
HE new porcelain enameled bath 
tubs which one finds so much used 
these days usually have a nickel-plated 
soap dish attached to them by two 
flexible metal 
bands. This 
allows them to be 
removed for 
cleaning. But 
the use of a dish 
so equipped 
leaves a mark 
from the bands 
on the enameled 
surface. I pre¬ 
vented this by 
the use of ordi- 
nary rubber 
bands. We also 
had a seat for 
use in the bath¬ 
tub, and here 
again the metal 
rods used in its 
construction rub¬ 
bed the enam¬ 
eled surface, until 
I obtained some 
rubber tubing 
and easily and quickly covered them. 
C. K. F 
A Formal Room Problem 
OUSE & GARDEN has previously helped 
me in solving a difficult problem in 
fitting up my dining-room; now I need help 
in my parlor. This room is really a parlor and 
not a living-room, as it is chiefly used on formal 
occasions, but it looks so appallingly formal 
that I cannot bear to sit in it. I thought when 
I furnished it I wanted it in tones of gray, and 
bought an upper-third wall covering (the lower 
wall is paneled with wood), a scenic paper 
showing a line of gray trees with a roadway 
stretching between them. I had the woodwork 
given a coat of gray paint, and this is one great 
trouble. In tone it is yellow more than gray 
and the paper is bluish gray. My curtains are 
on the shades of the paper and the fabric is two- 
tone linen and silk damask. Unfortunately 
the net curtains, now that they are in place, 
seem almost tan in color. The carpet is blue 
and dark green with a little black, very small 
figures. The furniture is old mahogany of good 
form covered in 
black haircloth. 
The table has a 
marble top. Now 
what can I do to 
make this room 
more cheerful and 
inviting, as it is 
anything but that 
at present? 
1 he first change 
to make is in your 
woodwork. This 
should be given a 
finish of white en- 
amel purely 
white, not blue 
white or ivory. In 
tone you will find 
this will bring out 
the best qualities 
in the color scheme. 
The ceiling should 
be the same shade 
of white and the curtains next the 
glass also white. White point d’esprit 
net would look well for this. You might 
leave the straight chairs in your room with 
seats covered with the black haircloth, 
but for the other pieces we would advise a 
covering of tapestry, showing dull blue, 
green and smoke gray tones. A table 
cover cut exactly the size and shape of 
your marble top could be made from a 
good piece of brocade with blue and old 
rose shades predominating, the edge to be 
finished with a narrow gold galloon. A 
wing chair covered with blue cut velvet 
would make a good spot of color in the 
room and such a chair is a Ways useful and 
ornamental. We think with these changes 
you will find that while the room is still 
formal, it will be attractive and livable. 
Mosquito Netting 
EW people know, when buying wire 
netting for mosquito frames, that 
it is sold with different sizes of mesh. 
The writer finds now’that some is sold 
with such a large mesh that the small 
mosquitoes can enter through it. Look 
out for this when purchasing. C. Iv. F. 
A Splendid Polish For Wood 
Or Iron 
CHEAP but most excellent polish for 
stained floors, furniture, or wood¬ 
work of any kind, and also for stoves or 
iron fixtures, is a mixture of linseed oil 
and benzine in equal parts. Put it on 
with a soft cloth, and rub dry immediately 
with another soft cloth. It not only 
polishes but cleanses and removes spots. 
A quart of this mixture costs but 
ten cents, and the oftener it is used upon 
a stained floor the better. It made mv 
old grate seem like new, and left a rusty 
stove quite presentable. Upon fine furni¬ 
ture but little should be used at a time 
and that rubbed in immediately, though 
there is nothing harmful about it. Re¬ 
member that the mixture is inflammable. 
L. McC. 
The new type of canvas hammocks or swinging seats help to 
furnish a porch 
