West Virginia freeman. (Parkersburg, W. Va.) 1881-1886, 1881-04-20

Al
and brown. But a pattern. either
set OF otherwise, Of bright colors
Journeylng up and down, breadth
after breadth, on a floor, lis always
ana forever ugly. If one is 50 IN
fortunate as to enter on the posses.
sion OF a room with such a Garnet
as tins, or with wallpaper of a
similar nature, the first thing to be
done, possible, is to get rid ofthem
or cover them up, Better have a
ten-cent paper Of neutral tints. and
indistinguishable figures ON the
wall, and have bare floors painted
brown or gray.
Third IN my list of essentials for
making rooms cosey, cheerful and
beautiful, come books and pictures.
Here some persons will cry out:
But booksand pictures cost a deal
OF money" Yes, books do cost
money, and 50 do pictures; but
books accumulate rapidly in most
houses where books are read at all :;
and if people really want books, it
is Astonishing how many they con
triye to get together in few years
without pinching themselves very
seriously in other directions.
AS for pictures costing money,
how much or how little they cost
depends on what sort of pictures
you buy. As l said before you can
buy for six shillings good hello
type (Which is to all intents and
purposes as good as an engraving),
of one of Raphaels or Correggios
Madonnas But you can buy pie
lures much cheaper than that. A
japanese fan is picture; some of
them are exquisite pictures, and
blazing with colors too They cost
anywhere from two to six cents.
There are also japanese pictures,
printed on coarse paper, some two
feet long and one broad, to be
bought for twenty-five cents each !;
with dozen of these, a dozen or
two Of fans, and say four good hello
types, you can make the walls Of a
small room 50 gay that a strangers
first impression on entering it will
be that it is adorned for festival
The fans can be pinned on the. walls
in endlessly picturesque combina-
tons One Of the most effective is
to pin them across the corners of
the room, in overlapping rows, like
an old-fashioncd card-rack.
And here let me say a word about
corners. They are wofully neglec-
sed. Even in rooms where very
much has been done in way Of dec
grafton, you will see all the four cor
ners left bare--forcing their ugly
sharp right angles on your sight at
every turn. They are as ugly as so
many elbows Make the four cor
ners pretty, and the room is pretty,
even if very little else is,done. In
stead of having one stiff, straight
she1ved bookcase hanging on the
wall, have a carpenter put triangu-
lar shelves into the corners. He
will make them for thirty cents
apiece and screw them on the walls.
Put a dozen books on each Of the
lower shelves, a bunch Of autumn
leaves, a pretty vase, a little bust OF
Clytie, or a photograph on small
easel, on the upper ones, and with
line of japanese fans coming
down to meet them from the cornice,
the four corners are furnished and
adorned. This is merely sugges-
ton ofone out Of dozens of ways in
which walls can be made pleasant
tolook at without much cost,
If the room has chintz curtains,
these shelves will look well covered
with the same chintz, with a plated
ruffle tucked on the front edge, If
the room has a predominant color,
say green carpet, or a border on
the walls of claret or crimson, the
shelves will look well with mar
row, straight border Of billiard-cloth
or baize (to match the ruling color
of the room) pinked on the lower
edge, and tackled on. Some people
put on borders of gay colors, in en-
broidery. It is generally unsafe to
add these to a room, but sometimes
they have a good effect.
Fourth on my list of essentials
for a cosey, cheerful room, | put or