The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1882-03-23

or. You don't need q conspicuous cornice.
There is nothing more vulgar.
For centre table, any kind of simple
t,hle will do. Avoid those hideous white
marble top ones. If it is plain square or
round pine table, With legs painted black,
it will serve as we'll as another. Then put
pretty cloth on it of agreeable colors.
That will 60 far toward making your room
bright and cheerful. and the cost of the
whole will be less than that of marble top
table or ono of the machine carved mon
strosities.
AS to the chairs, first
of all get those that
people can occupy comfortably. A chair is
not merely to be looked at, and it is not in
tended to be al instrument of torture.
The Same thing is tue about sofas. They
especially should invite occupancy by their
backed chairs with carvings which annoy
those who sit in them. There is no need
of buying set of furniture with chairs
matching in their covering. Get only the
articles which by themselves please you, no
matter how great the variety, taking care,
however, to have them covered with stuffs
of agreeable tones of color that go we'll to-
gether. Easy chairs and sofas which show
no wood except in the legs, and are up
holstered throughout, are the best.
Wicker chairs are desirable, and they
ara cheap. Black is good color for them :.
Two or three camp chairs, covered with
dark and pretty stuff, are also very conven~
lent to bring into use on occasion.
Don't undertake to load your parlor with
furniture. Comparatively few articles are
necessary, and everything in it should have
its use or reason for being there because
of its beauty. If you wish to paper the
walls, put on quet paper OF pleasant
tone. without large figures. Even that
| which is perfectly plain is good, provided
its color helps to furnish the room and gives
a desirable background for pictures.
A good carpenter can make for you side
board which will serve any purpose, and be
better than the ugly things generally sold
in the shops. Paint it black, for instance,
giving it several coats, then apply varnish,
and it will look like lacquer wo.k. Put a
little red stripe around to relieve the black.
4 box standing on it's side, with two or
three shelves within it, and perhaps two
or three on top, is all you need. A curtain
| in front will hide the lower shelves, and a
piece of dark enamelled cloth on top will
complete the thing. There is no
need of going to much expense for side
| board.
Paint the walls of your hall plain tint
I-Pompeiian red is good shade-and let
the washboard be dark brown, and relieve
the edge of the ceiling with black line.
Paint the floor very dark brown and shell
lac it. Then lay strip of carpet half a
yard wide through the center, put up some
pegs to hang coats on, provide table
for hats, jar for umbrellas and a
chair to sit on, and your hall will be all
right. Avoid the stiff hat racks of an
| octopus pattern.
And generally, in carpeting your house,
don't think it necessary to tit the carpet in
| to every little jog. Leave space sixteen
| or eighteen inches around it, to be painted
| dark brown and covered with shellac. And
let the carpets be small in figure and quiet
in tone.
All this may be done at no great expense
with very Little money, indeed, COM
pared to that often expended to make a
single room hideous. The bride who hon.
ors us by asking our advice, can make her
country home pretty and model for the
whole neighborhood with a small outlay of
money, if her taste is good, and she is not
| tied down by merely conventional notions
of house furnishing.