DECORATING A 
BOY’5 ROOM 
THE EFFECT OF DURABLE FURNITURE AND VIRILE 
DESIGN —WHAT THE BOY HIMSELF CAN MAKE 
by Charles Vaughn Boyd 
A MONG the many occasions “when a feller needs a friend" 
is at that time the family decides he’s big enough to have 
a room all by himself. It's to be his room, they impress upon 
him solemnly, but so far as they care he can do with it as he 
pleases, and he usually does—poor fellow! 
Unfortunately, in perhaps the majority of instances, the 
A compromise with the eaves following no special style — note the mixed furniture — 
save that which gives comfort and elbow-room 
son's room is nothing save a repository for furniture which 
has long outlived its sightliness, and is, therefore, deemed unfit 
for any other apartment. 
Some parents endeavor to condone this evident neglect by 
pleading their son’s non-appreciation of an attractive room; 
other parents may plead that good furniture would receive 
rough usage. In reality, the average young man has secret 
longings for a cozy bedroom—a “den,” rather—all his own; 
and, if his wish be gratified, the son’s pride in his room will 
probably be a preventative against seriously damaged furniture. 
Durability should, nevertheless, be an outstanding quality in 
any furniture selected for the young man’s room; and virility 
of design—strong, direct lines, unmarred by dust-collecting 
moldings or carving—should be another characteristic to seek. 
Fortunately, it is now possible to secure at very low cost fur¬ 
niture of Craftsman type, which, embracing both the quali¬ 
fications just enumerated, is eminently adapted for service. 
Occasionally, of course, a young man's natural ingenuity may 
be exploited in constructing most of the furniture required for 
his room, thus materially lessening the cost. For the amateur 
hand, the Craftsman motif is probably the most susceptible to 
adaptation. The purchase or creation of new furniture may, 
however, be dispensed with if one be willing to expend both 
thought and labor upon restorative work. Often in a humble 
second-hand shop—an “antique shop” usually means fancy prices ! 
— one can obtain for a mere trifle furniture which will well repay 
a lad for his time spent in refinishing it. 
The treatment of the walls offers a latitude quite as wide as 
the selection of furniture. While papers and fabrics are always 
in demand, many people prefer the walls of a sleeping room 
uncovered, in order to minimize the lodging of dust and germs 
in the room. Very agreeable results may be obtained through 
the use of many of the paints and other wall-coatings now on 
the market, and, if one be adept with the brush, a stenciled 
frieze is an attractive adjunct, especially should the motif of 
the frieze be repeated on the hangings and cushions. Of 
fabrics, burlap, grasscloth and canvas are all satisfactory in 
point of durability, and the same may be said of such wall¬ 
papers as oatmeal, crepe, fiber and chambray. One architect 
of nation-wide prominence has used ordinary manilla wrapping- 
paper as a wall covering, and the results have been entirely 
successful. 
The neutral color of manilla paper is, indeed, an ideal choice 
for a young man’s room — for there, perhaps more than any¬ 
where else, the walls should be somewhat restrained in tone, 
if harmony is to prevail in the room. Nor is the reason hard 
to discover. Inevitably pennants, posters and varied trophies 
are going to introduce colors which would hopelessly clash were 
the background not subdued. Warm gray, buff, tan, golden- 
urown, gray-green and dull yellow, while cheerful, do not 
obtrude unduly upon the eye; and they are, therefore, splendid 
foundation colors. 
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Once a store room, this has been transformed into an attractive study by utilizing the 
beams and building in bookcases 
138 
