The Editor will gladly answer queries pertaining to individual problems of interior decoration and furnishing. When an immediate reply is de¬ 
sired, please enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope 
Care of Rugs and Carpets 
A SURPRISINGLY large proportion 
of persons who own fine rugs and 
carpets do not give a thought to their care 
and preservation, beyond a hard sweeping 
(which rugs should never have), or a 
hard beating (which rugs seldom sur¬ 
vive). Dip the broom with which your 
good carpets are to be swept in clean, hot 
suds once a week, which prevents the 
wire-like stiffness that tears at the face of 
floor coverings. Beat rugs on the wrong 
face and sweep them on the right face. A 
sponge dipped in oxgall, or ammonia and 
water will remove ordinary spots, if care¬ 
fully applied, and you will find that slight¬ 
ly moistened bran will probably restore 
dull spots in rugs or in carpets. Some¬ 
times damp soot is blown down from the 
chimney in a storm. If it falls on the car¬ 
pet, cover the spots thickly with salt, and 
then brush up immediately. This will 
cause no injury to the carpet or rug. 
A Portable Cretonne Wardrobe 
These reliefs are festoons of flowers, and 
of fruits, some of which are gilded and 
others are carried out in color like colored 
Florentine carvings of the Renaissance. 
About Window-shades 
HERE are a few little things that 
everyone should know about win¬ 
dow-shades. In the first place too much 
care cannot be exercised in putting them 
up properly. If the shades are not cut 
true to a square they will grow wobbelty. 
Shades too short for their fixtures are the 
bane of the dweller’s life, as also are 
shades that are really too short for their 
place. Indeed, every window-shade should 
extend some eight inches below the win- 
dow T -sill. If the shade roller is too small 
in diameter, the spring will break eventu¬ 
ally, because it will not lie sufficiently 
heavy to control the weight of the cloth. 
Cheap shades are seldom profitable, espe¬ 
cially in dark colors, and one should put 
in those of good quality when possible. 
Colonial Chair-backs 
may prove suggestive to anyone reproduc¬ 
ing these old patterns. Of course these 
stencils were, for the most part, in black, 
red and gold against yellow varnished 
wood, or in gold and colors against black 
wooden backgrounds. 
Proportion 
NE cannot do better, when becoming 
interested in any matters pertaining 
to interior decoration than to make a per¬ 
sonal study of the relation of their prob¬ 
lems to a sense of proportion. There 
must be line correspondence throughout, 
the house. High-ceilinged rooms must 
not have stubby, squatty furniture, large 
rooms be left bare, small rooms over¬ 
crowded. Windows against expansive 
walls must not look like tiny port-holes, 
nor windows in walls of small area be so 
designed and of such size that they throw 
the sense of porportion askew the minute 
one enters the room. Of course there is 
much flexibility possible, but good taste 
will always dictate that. 
A VERY attractive and convenient 
portable wardrobe for a summer 
room that has no closet may be made by 
having a frame constructed six feet high, 
three feet wide and two feet (or less) 
deep in measurement. Around the back 
and sides cretonne should be fastened at 
top, bottom and sides, so it will not blow 
with a breeze coming in at a window. 
Along the top hang a valance, and inside 
from side to side run a bar across on 
which dress and coat frames may be 
suspended. 
New Willow Things 
ERY attractive serving-trays in wil¬ 
low-ware, with cretonne bottoms, 
protected by a plate of glass are becoming 
popular for the breakfast service. These 
seem especially in place in Colonial din¬ 
ing-rooms and in the country. They may 
be had in round, oval, square and oblong 
shapes, all having handles. 
Willow baskets of various shapes, 
sizes and for various uses decorated in 
relief are one of the season's novelties. 
T HE late Colonial chair-hacks, of which 
a large quantity have survived, fur¬ 
nish an interesting number of examples of 
the furniture decoration of the time, which 
Anyone carrying out a thoroughly consistent 
Colonial interior should not overlook the 
quaint stenciled chair-backs 
Curtains for the Bungalow 
OLLOWING the skill shown by the 
Russian and Norwegian peasants in 
needlework on heavy crash linen, it will 
be found in most admirable taste to adopt 
their scheme of decoration in making the 
curtains and other wall hangings for the 
summer bungalow home. 
If one has not the time nor patience to 
elaborate with the needle all those beauti¬ 
ful cross-stitch patterns in clear blues and 
reds on linen crash, one may at least 
arrive at a happy color combination and 
very admirable effect by choosing some 
gay cretonne and cutting it into narrow 
bands using these bands as a paneling or 
as a simple border, set back a few T inches 
from the edge of the curtain. For very 
long curtains the bands should run across 
the curtain eight inches from the top and 
the same from the bottom. For short cur¬ 
tains upright bands will give a more agree¬ 
able effect. The Russian linen crash can 
be had in very wide or in quite narrow 
widths. Some of those old English cotton 
prints, with tiny Roses, or the Japanese 
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