... ~ 
Inside the House 
Timely Suggestions and'. 
Answers to ..Correspondents'' 
The Editor will gladly answer queries pertaining to individual problems of interior decoration and furnishing. 
please enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope. 
When an immediate reply is desired. 
After-dinner Coffee and Smoking 
Cabinet 
JK COMPACTLY arranged piece of fur- 
niture that is particularly suitable 
for bachelor quarters or for the summer 
piazza is an after-dinner coffee and smok¬ 
ing cabinet made of English wicker in a 
rich shade of brown, with red leather 
trimmings. 
A glass tray with light mahogany rim 
fits over the top and holds the smoking 
articles, all of which are of glass mounted 
in silver. In the upper compartment is 
the coffee set, of white porcelain with 
silver mountings, on a silver tray with a 
handle at either end. The cups, which 
are like small mugs in shape, have bands 
and handles of silver and are used with¬ 
out saucers, so that they are easier to 
handle and take up less room. 
The lower compartment holds a ma¬ 
hogany humidor of generous size. The 
cabinet is fitted with doors, and when not 
in use looks like an ordinary wicker table 
with a tray and a smoking set on it. The 
door of the compartment that holds the 
coffee set is hinged at the bottom and is 
let down by means of brass chains, while 
the doors of the lower compartment which 
open outward, are fitted with a brass lock 
mounted on a broad red leather band. 
A less elaborate cabinet is made in the 
same style, with only the smoking set and 
the upper compartment, that may be uesd 
for either the coffee set or for the humi¬ 
dor, if an entire smoking outfit is desired. 
This cabinet is the same size and height 
as the one shown in the illustration, the 
only difference being that the lower part 
is not enclosed, and there is no second 
compartment. 
A New-Old Rug 
HERE is a new rug shown this year, 
for use in summer cottages, bunga¬ 
lows, and on piazzas, which is really a very 
old-fashioned plan revived. It is the “rush 
rug.” It is made on the plan of the old- 
fashioned round, braided, rag rug, and 
comes either oval or round, convenient in 
size for almost any space. The greenish- 
yellow rushes are braided into flat bands 
about three-and-a-half inches wide, and 
these are strongly sewed together. The 
edge is finished with a pattern worked in 
the rushes by interweaving a narrow strip 
of dark colored woolen cloth — a strip such 
as is used in making a woven rag rug. 
This strengthens the borner while serving 
as a decoration. The center of the rug is 
also interwoven with the wool strip, mak¬ 
ing a simple conventional pattern. For 
spaces in which a runner or oblong rug is 
not available, the circular or oval rush rug 
may be used with splendid effect. The 
wearing qualities — if one may judge from 
the rush-bottomed chairs of our great 
grandmothers — should be all that one 
might desire. 
About Laying Linoleum 
HEN linoleum is first laid it should 
have a little careful attention, 
which will well repay the purchaser. 
Linoleum is not intended to “wear for¬ 
ever,” as a brick or stone floor might, but 
it does wear wonderfully, and provides a 
sanitary, artistic and durable covering at 
a moderate cost. When one takes into 
A very attractive combination of smoking 
and after-dinner coffee cabinet that is a 
valuable addition to the porch furniture 
consideration the fact that it gets as hard 
wear as one's shoes, one is easily convinced 
that the best quality only will pay. 
Linoleum should never be tacked to the 
floor; the cement which comes for the pur¬ 
pose of holding it in place keeps water 
from getting underneath, and increases its 
durability. A 12-inch layer of the cement 
around each edge of the linoleum, firmly 
pressed to the floor and weighted down, 
will make water-tight seams and edges. 
Rubber tips on the chair legs and the sup¬ 
ports of other heavy furniture should be 
used until it is thoroughly set or seasoned. 
Cork Mats 
ORK mats, which come in small and 
in large sizes, from one-half to three- 
quarters of an inch in thickness, have more 
than one use which appeals to the house¬ 
holder. Besides the great convenience of 
the mat placed before the sink and the 
washtubs, cork has superseded the Turkish 
bath-rug in the bathroom ; and in the tub, 
to keep one from slipping, the rug is most 
desirable. Llnderneath the baby bath in 
the nursery, where splashing is in order, 
the usefulness of the cork mat is apparent. 
A small cork mat is well provided for 
every woman who must kneel in scrubbing. 
A Convenient Bungalow Porch 
ITH the same careful planning that 
was evident in the kitchen and bath¬ 
room, the bungalow builders provided for 
their porch. It was one, by five, by nine ft., 
closed in, and was built on the north side 
of the bungalow, in order to avoid some 
of the discomforts and inconveniences that 
fall to the lot of a kitchen in the country, 
especially a kitchen that opens directly on 
the back stoop. 
Half of the space is given to a closet for 
ice box and provisions ; the door and par¬ 
tition separating this from the rest of the 
porch keep it so cool that for two seasons 
ice has not been needed until July. This 
food closet is used also for storing water 
from a neighboring well, and the twenty 
feet of shelving make possible the con¬ 
venient disposal of quantities of provi¬ 
sions, and numerous articles, that must be 
kept handv and for which the kitchen is 
(364) 
