HOUSE AND GARDEN 
June. 
IQ IO 
213 
A corner of Mr. Ernest Thompson Seton’s home at Coscob, Conn., where a corner of the roof 
covering is left off to secure the cheer of the sunlight 
of place for out-of-door service as a 
usual thing. 
Colors for porch furnishings should 
take their keynote from the color and 
style of the house. The gray of con¬ 
crete or plaster, the soft red or beauti¬ 
ful variegated colors of brick, the white 
or yellow of Colonial houses, or the 
browns and moss greens of shingles, all 
call for a variation of treatment. As a 
general thing we can stand gayer colors 
out of doors than in the house, for the 
kindly atmosphere treats them as it does 
the bright colors of flowers and seems 
to give them the needed softening 
touch. Bright red, which can be used 
to advantage in a cool climate, is often 
too hot looking unless it harmonizes 
perfectly with the color scheme. Yel¬ 
low, and some greens, do not fade so 
rapidly as blue, but most pale colors 
vanish as if by magic in hot sun and 
sea air. 
Curtains of heavy material, with or 
without a stenciled border, are often 
used to hide the service end of the 
house from view, but thick vines are 
really better. If one wishes a vine 
screen that will grow rapidly and last well through the season 
the Coboea is most satisfactory. 
If there is a bay window, looking out upon the piazza, a 
window-seat built around it is a good idea. It gives many extra 
seats and is an attractive feature when covered with cushions 
to match the others. It may be like the woodwork or like the 
furniture, as one pleases. A shelf for magazines, with weights 
to keep them from blowing about, is a godsend, and also a nest 
of tea-tables will be found most useful. 
Of course we all know there are no mosquitoes in any well 
regulated summer place, but still, accidents may happen, and a 
strong wind may blow them from the little town across the bay, 
or the salt marsh five miles away—it is odd how often that wind 
seems to blow, and it is well to be prepared by having a part of 
the porch screened; it adds wonderfully to the joy of life. A 
simple way to screen a portion of the porch is to use black 
mosquito netting, six feet wide. Have it tacked carefully to 
the posts and woodwork and cover the edges with narrow mold¬ 
ing painted to match the woodwork. One can enter from a door 
or French window from the house, and a hedge of plants across 
the piazza just outside the netting will keep people from walking 
into it. 
And now a word or two about sleeping-porches. The cus¬ 
tom of sleeping out of doors is becoming more and more com¬ 
mon, and people who have faithfully tried it all the year 'round 
say that they feel fairly boxed up when obliged to sleep indoors. 
The fearful test of one’s theories comes on the first cold night. 
I heard of one person who enjoyed it through the summer and 
autumn, and then one night late in November the mercury sud¬ 
denly dropped to the neighborhod of zero. His New England 
conscience began to work on the subject of the furnace and 
drove him to his duty. Then came the tug of war. Should he 
crawl back into the fearful cold or go to his comfortable room? 
The porch won, and now all the members of the family follow 
his good example. A sleeping-porch, to be successful, should 
be well screened in summer and be as airy and open as possible. 
The couch, or couches, should be so placed that they are pro¬ 
tected from the rain. Gloucester hammocks, made of canvas. 
swung on chains from the roof, are very comfortable. The 
porch should open from a well warmed dressing-room if it is 
used in winter. With flower-boxes along the railing and an 
awning it will make a very charming little upstairs sitting-room 
during the day. One could get a great deal of pleasure from it 
for one could lie in the hammock and read in peace without the 
fear of being interrupted by a sudden descent of callers. 
(Continued 011 page xx.) 
The practice of serving meals out on the porch is gaining in popu¬ 
larity. The Japanese rolling screens insure privacy 
