File:American homes and gardens (1910) (18157263055).jpg

Title: American homes and gardens
Identifier: americanhomesgar71910newy (find matches)
Year: 1905 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Architecture, Domestic; Landscape gardening
Publisher: New York : Munn and Co
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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October, iqi* AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS IX
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The Editor of American Homes a.nd Gardens desires to extend an invitation to all its readers to send to the Correspondence Department inquiries on any muter p>ertaining to the decorating and furnishing of the home and to the developing of the home grounds. All letters accompanied by return postage will be answered promptly by mail. Replies that are of general benefit will be published in this Department. Problems in Home Furnishing A PINK BEDROOM 4 4 T AM writing you from New Hamp- I shire,"' says Air. J. V., "to ask you to kindly suggest a few ideas that will help me in making my chamber more attractive. Please consider in your reply the existing contents of the room—white painted woodwork, white iron bed, walnut dresser, white matting. The ceiling is low, with slanting beams irregularly placed. Can I use a wall-paper with a border on such a wall? Or must I use a tint? My favorite color is pink, and this I would like to introduce into my room in some way." With a ceiling of such irregular lines it is best not to attempt a paper on the side walls with a border. Both the ceiling and walls may be kalsomined in a light color, or, a small lattice-pattern paper may cover them. If the latter plan is preferred, care should be taken to select a design that has no decided up or down to it. A tiny pink rosebud conventionalized with green leaves on a gray diamond-shaped lattice would start a very pretty color scheme for this room, and the cost of this paper for a sin- gle roll of eight yards would be forty cents. Small rugs to lay beside the bed and in front of the dresser could be found among the French Wiltons at eight dollars each, in pink, ivorj^ and green. The white dim- ity sold in dry goods stores for summer dresses, costing from thirteen to thirty cents a yard may be used for window cur- tains with an edge of linen lace. A willow arm chair may be stained green and the seat cushion covered with pink flowered cretonne, with a loose down pillow for the back covered with the same material. A side chair will also be needed, with a night stand, and sewing table. These pieces of furniture may be of white enamel. The appointments for the dresser may have the favorite color introduced in decorative touches and also any piece of china used in the room. COLORS FOR A HOUSE-BOAT "A Sportsman" describes the house-boat which he is fitting up for use in the South in the winter, and inquires about adding some decorative features. "The deck is thirty-five feet long by twelve wide. The cabin is eighteen feet long by eight feet wide, and in this there will be two folding bunks hinged low to the wall, book shelves, gun racks, writing table, clothing hooks, fishing tackle, box seats for the bedding. At one end we wish to hang a portiere to divide the kitchen part. The cabin will be built of dressed yellow pine standing ver- tical. Shall we use plain red cotton ma- terial for portiere, window curtains and cushion covers? We would like an attrac- tive combination of color with yellow pine. Also please suggest some chairs and seats for the deck that will give a distinctive touch to our winter vacation home." A better combination than the turkey red cotton with the yellow pine would be orange color with green and blue. Some of the sun-fast materials could be utiHzed to advantage in the cabin and on the deck. The window curtains of orange color, the portieres of shaded blue and green, the cushion and bench covers of a cretonne in which all three colors are united A com- fortable reclining chair for the deck, can be had in rattan in the natural finish, with an adjustable back and a footstool attach- ment. In this same material one may select an arm chair and an hour glass stand. Folding chairs of white canvas and var- nished frames may be added for visitors. Grass matting rug may be laid on the floor, unless Navajo rugs in appropriate color- ings can be afforded. PORTIERES FOR A PHYSICIAN'S OFFICE "I am about to replace the old door- hangings between my reception-room and private office, and would like to be advised as to a material that is double-faced, dur- able and appropriate. I am now using a double-faced velour, but do not care to duplicate this as I prefer a less shiny sur- face. I could use either brown or dark red. Is there anything known to your De- partment on House Furnishings to meet my need?"—Dr. B. W. R., New Haven, Conn. The best material for a door-hanging for this correspondent is wool damask. This is made with a self-woven pattern that is not aggressive but breaks up the plain sur- face. It hangs in graceful folds and gives substantial service. There is a mahogany red and a tan and a dark brown from which to make a selection, and the price by the yard is $2.85. A BEDROOM SCREEN A subscriber living in New Jersey de- scribes her bedroom and asks about hav- ing a screen made to suit the furnishings. "My wall is covered with a pale blue tex- ture paper, with a cut-out border of pink roses and green leaves. Over the white muslin curtains I have hung some cre- tonne with roses and blue ribbons in the pattern. On the floor I have some green velvet carpet made into rugs. Now I wish to add a three-panelled screen to stand in front of the door in the place of a portiere. The burlap screens with dark frames seem to me too coarse looking, and the ones made in Japan do not suit the coloring of the walls and hangings. What else is there that will be pretty and not cost over ten dollars?"—C. S. W. An attractive bedroom screen to fit the conditions described in this letter could be made of the same cretonne that is already used for over curtains, tacking this on one side of the frame, and a plain or self- woven blue material on the inner side. There are numberless novelty materials from which to choose the latter, but the aim should be to match the tone of the wall-paper. The edges of the materials should be covered with blue guimp. An ordinary screen frame can be made by a carpenter or cabinetmaker if it cannot be bought ready-made at a furniture shop. Garden Work About the Home BULBS FOR FALL PLANTING CJ. S. asks for suggestions about bulbs to plant this autumn. * Among the hundreds of bulbs offered in the retail catalogs, there are many which are little known but which are very lovely. Allium Moly is an uncommon plant, yet its yellow flowers on a straight stalk are charming in April. Alliiun Mutabile has white flowers turn- ing to pink. It also blooms in April. Allium Azureum with blue flowers in June is another good one. All are hardy and lasting. They can be planted in the garden or at the edge of the shrubbery, in last masses. The poppy flowered anemones, so called, varying in color from white to scarlet and blue, are very beautiful, though somewhat difficult. They bloom in April and May and have flowers a couple of inches across. The mariposa lilies are Californian bulbs, blooming in June and July. They need the protection of several inches of leaves or pine needles in winter. Like all tender bulbs the rain seems to harm them more than the cold, so they should have a wooden shtitter over them in winter. All bulbs should be planted in a sandy loam and in a well-drained location. "Well drained" meaning that water must neither soak the roots nor stand on top of the frozen ground. The largest bulb and the tallest flower is that of Eremurus Robnstiis, which has a stem six to ten feet high, bearing a raceme of pale pink flowers. It is slightly tender and needs some protection. Ixias can be grown out of doors if they are covered with about a foot of leaves. and they seem finer than in the house. The covering must be taken ofi^ early and per- haps put back on cold nights. One of the greatest delights in garden- ing is to grow things which are a little bit difficult and therefore unusual. It is so exciting in the spring to see a bulb, planted months ago, growing and get- ting ready to bloom, and it is so interesting to see how near the plant comes to our mental picture of it! Then as a further delight there is the critical sti:dy of the flower while one decides whether it is really worth growing or not and in what charac- teristic its chief beauty lies. BULBS IN THE HOUSE It is fun to try dift'erent bulbs in the house, particularly new ones, so if you buy a number of different things plant one of each in a pot for indoor use. Some of them will do well, others will fail, but the results will all be instructive. The more unusual and more difficult things to grow in the house are the bulbous Irises (English. Spanish and Dutch) the early iris (/. Jiistrioidcs and /. reticulata). and the tender irises, such as /. alata and /. susianus. Dodecatheon I have tried in- doors and found worth while. Blood root is easy, and Trillium excellent.

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