May, 1914 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
367 
which is absolutely incongruous in design with its surroundings. 
Furniture of the hideous Queen Anne style in a stately Colonial 
house, or delicate gilt reception chairs in a quaint little farm 
house. The furniture which had 
filled our first small home was en¬ 
tirely lost when put in place in the 
new one. The evening after the ar¬ 
rival of the vans, David, on enter¬ 
ing, gave a whistle of astonishment. 
“Heavens! we can't live in the house 
this way; why, its a regular barn. I 
won’t buy ordinary furniture, and I 
can’t afford to get the kind we do 
want; how absolutely provoking!” 
“Not at all,” I replied. “We will fill 
in with wicker furniture." 
We had only a few small rugs, so 
we begged, borrowed and stole from 
our family all their old carpets and 
had them made into two large and 
attractive, soft-toned rag-rugs for 
living and dining rooms, and used quaint little cotton rag-rugs for 
the bedroom. We purchased a couch, chairs and tables of finely 
woven grey-green wicker. Now came the question of hangings. 
I bought a quantity of cretonne with yellowish flowers on a 
cream background. On either side of the casement windows we 
drove giant hook screws. Upon these we placed flat, wooden 
poles 8 feet long, 4 inches wide and 2 inches thick, with eyes at 
each end to drop upon the screw hook. At intervals of 4 inches 
we hammered in small staples, and the framework was ready for 
the pleated valance and portieres. A long strip of cretonne was 
then cut, and a strip of buckram was sewn along the upper edge. 
This was turned over and the pleating commenced. Every 4 
inches the material was marked, and, by gathering a space of 2 
inches together, the pleat was made. To each of these pleats a 
hook was fastened. When completed, the valance was merely 
hooked into place on the rods. The side portieres of the win¬ 
dows were folded into larger plaits and hooked on in the same 
way. For the few upholstered pieces in the room, slip covers 
were made, also cushions for the wicker furniture. Portieres 
to match were arranged to be drawn across the wide doorway, 
but usually were left hanging far apart. In this way the room 
was decorated with attractive summer hangings at very little 
cost, being easily removed when winter demanded heavier hang¬ 
ings. The bedrooms were furnished more completely in the first 
place than the living 
room. The guest room 
was fitted out with a 
very old set of my 
grandmother’s furni¬ 
ture of heavy, white 
Colonial style. The 
huge bed, having four 
slender tapering posts 
of solid iron which 
reached the ceiling, 
was draped across the 
top with a muslin cur¬ 
tain and a valance, 
lending a quaint air to 
the room. No rugs 
could be more fitting 
here than the light- 
colored rag rugs. We 
made out a list of the 
furniture we wished 
eventually to add to our supply. The necessity of doing this 
slowly eliminated the possibility of making mistakes in the selec¬ 
tion. Many times I saw pieces which I would have bought with 
very little consideration had I been 
able to, but unfortunately only the 
pieces which we fairly craved were 
added. As each piece came we made 
room for it when necessary by mov¬ 
ing the wicker furniture to the piaz¬ 
za and sleeping porch. I could not 
count the many streets through 
which I have wandered in search of 
furniture, though never glancing at 
the stores labeled with the sign “An¬ 
tiques," but always peering about for 
second-hand furniture stores. One 
day, walking uptown on the far west 
side of the city, I saw a few dilapi¬ 
dated chairs of ugly design before a 
dingy store. I entered and looked 
about for a moment before anyone 
replied to the ring of the bell. I took in at a glance the mass of 
disorderly china, rugs and furniture smirched with dust and cob¬ 
webs. “Here I will spend the morning,” I said to myself, and I 
The question of hangings was solved by a flowered cretonne which created a bright 
and cheerful atmosphere 
In one of the bedrooms I made cretonne slip covers for the furniture and matched it 
with portieres and window-valance 
did. In the dimness at the end of the 
room I heard someone shuffle towards, 
me, and then saw a true Dickens, 
character in the elderly, stooping shop¬ 
keeper. His mild, blue eyes gazed at 
me as in a friendly dream. In very 
English accents he responded to my 
question. I stated that I had a sparse¬ 
ly furnished new home, and wished to 
look about awhile to see if any of his. 
things might be suitable enough to add 
to it. He led me to a sideboard which 
he considered positively gorgeous in 
its elaborate turreted carvings. I po¬ 
litely admitted it, and then turned' 
away. “What is that under this pile of 
rugs?” I laid my fingers on a small 
piece of wood showing from beneath. 
“I do not think you would care for 
(Continued on page 394 ) 
did not purchase our furniture in haste, but waited until we 
could get just the things we wanted 
