L AST month we illus¬ 
trated our bare 
room as it would be if 
finished to accord with 
Mission or Craftsman 
furniture; but without 
touching on historic or 
Period styles, there are 
other qualities modern 
furniture may demand. 
Mission is crude, heavy, 
strong, not easily injured; 
much of the modern 
work, however, is delicate 
in form, though not neces¬ 
sarily in wearing quali¬ 
ties. Wicker is an in¬ 
stance, and perhaps the 
best to take as illustra¬ 
tion and to design our 
room around, as it were; 
though such decorative 
treatment as we shall 
choose will be equally 
suited to the recent work 
of the English Arts and 
Crafts, and not inharmo¬ 
nious with the German or 
Austrian secession. 
We must have a charac¬ 
ter utterly different from 
the “Pioneer” of last 
month; a light joyousness 
instead of sombre solid¬ 
ity ; bright colors, instead 
of browns and yellows; wall paper, perhaps, in place of dark oak 
wainscot. The Colonial may have its white woodwork; Jacobean 
its dark oak; we can do what we like; adopt any color scheme 
whatever. Samples of the wall paper and the hangings must be 
brought together ; our color scheme in 
detail, our palette, as it were, most 
carefully chosen, and must include 
walls, ceiling, floor, woodwork, cur¬ 
tains, hangings, rugs or carpets, elec¬ 
tric fixtures, furniture, upholstery, and 
even vases or mantel ornaments. 
Success or failure will depend more 
on the color scheme than on anything 
else, yet description of color is so in¬ 
effectual that there is no use in at¬ 
tempting such a thing here. We can 
merely indicate the preparation for 
the color. 
The walls and ceiling should be 
finished in smooth plaster, either by 
the old three-coat method or by two 
coats of a good patent plaster. There 
is little difference in cost, and the 
choice may he left to the contractor. 
If the old lime plaster is used it should 
be slaked at least two 
weeks before using, and 
lie for that time, wet, in 
the "bed.” The patent 
plasters can be mixed and 
used at once. 
The flooring can be of 
any material we choose. 
Let us assume that we are 
discouraged with wood 
floors ; that we have found 
the repeated oiling or 
waxing or varnishing too 
much of an undertaking, 
and that something is de¬ 
sired that will wash easily 
and be as sanitary as a 
hospital floor, with no 
angles or corners. 
Cement or asphalt is 
entirely too crude, but 
there are a number of 
patent floors on the mar¬ 
ket that are applied some¬ 
what in the manner of 
cement which should suit 
the case. They are mix¬ 
tures of magnesia, ce¬ 
ment, wood flour, talc 
and asbestos made in 
light or dark gray, tile 
red, pale golden yellow, a 
grayish emerald green, or 
in other colors not so 
good. They can be laid 
by any competent workman on a good concrete or wood founda¬ 
tion ; they are about an inch thick, and to compare them in cost 
with a wood floor w T e will assume the beams and rough board 
underflooring in place, serving as foundation for either the patent 
asbestos or the wood. A fair grade of 
oak, oiled or shellaced and waxed, 
costs 14 cents per square foot, and the 
patent floor 30 cents, both based on 
cost for a single room in New York 
City. 
The patent flooring may he curved 
upward at the walls to form what they 
call a “sanitary base.” Such a floor is 
pleasant to walk on, most easily kept 
clean, and generally satisfactory; 
though there is possible danger if it is 
not laid properly that long, irregular 
shrinkage cracks may form in time, 
particularly if the room be large. 
The general wood finish, we said, 
might be white pine. Oregon pine, 
whitewood or poplar, smoothed, 
primed and painted three coats of 
whatever color we choose, or else one 
of the hardwoods, such as maple, 
1 - j UU M fc . 
The solution in English Arts and Crafts style 
THE PART PLAYED IN THE COLOR SCHEME OF A ROOM BY 
THE VARIOUS WOOD FINISHES—GETTING RESULTS WITH 
W 7 OOD—WHERE AND HOW TO USE PATENT FLOORS 
by Alfred M. Githens 
282 
