The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1882-12-08
HOUSE DECORATION.

Do NOT overload your rooms with
ornament. A superabundance OF even
the choicest ornaments will weary the
eye and obtrude unpleasantly upon the
notice.
PATTERNS in carpets should defer TO
general effect, SO that their slight relief
of color will not strike the eye at once,
but rather gently remind it Of their OK
istence.
A RATHER long, large drawing-room
would look we'll with cool blue wooden
and silken draperies, woodwork creamy
white, or, for choice, two tones of olive
green; chimney piece to match, or per-
haps ebonized, with ornaments of East
ern china.
GLAZED tiles in fireplaces and for lay
ing hearths serve q useful as we'll as an
ornamental purpose; for the polished
surface of the tiles reflects considera-
BILE amount of heat into the room, and
makes a cheerful glow which both looks
and feels warm.
PAINT upon woodwork in rooms
should always be of pure and simple
solors and "fatted, the ordinary grain
ing to initiate different kinds of wood
being mere discrimination, and as such
to be entirely reprobated the more
cleverly it is done, the more absolute
the untruth.
INSTEAD of curtains which the mod
ern form of bedstead renders incon-
gruous and impossible, screens on either
side of the bed are much prettier and
more healthy substitute. Screens in
sure privacy, they keep out the light If
necessary and are great improvement
to the looks of any room.
DRAPERY, as the means of modifying
the stiff and cold appearance of the en-
trance hall, is not made as much of as
it might be. Whenever it can be en-
ployed either as portiere over door
or across an archway, as well as for
hangings for the staircase windows, it
will, if made of suitable material and
harmonizing in color with the walls and
woodwork, warm and tighten the hall
and give it q much more homelike and
hospitable aspect.
IT is of the first importance to have
the furniture and fittings of bedroom
simply constructed and not too heavy
to be easily removed for house cleans
ing. The carpet should never cover the
whole of the floor; but only laid down
In the center of the room and fastened
with carpet-pins, so that it can be easily
taken up and shaken The rest of the
floor may be stained and vanished, and
kept frequently rubbed with beeswax
and turpentine.
In all purchases of furniture, insist
upon honest material, little glue and
good sound workmanship, even if q
sparsely decorated apartment be the
temporary result. The lasting powers
Of these properties will pay high inter-
est and save money for other future wise
speculations. Be proof against pad
ding, let cushions be Independent, make
sure that comfort reigns within the
arms of an easy-chair, and that to sit at
ease upon an ordinary chair is not lu-
dicrously impossible.
COOP color for floors can be gained by
paint, but being on the surface it quick
ly wears away. Stain is much better,
for it sinks into and becomes part of
the wood, and when polished with bees
wax and turpentine is n protector and
dlsinfectant. If floor Is very unsatis-
factory, have the boards planed down
one-quarter of an inch, and covered all
over with narrow oaken or well-season-
ed pine planks of that thickness and
three or four inches in width, fitted with
EXTREMIST nicely.
Much ingenuity might be displayed
to the advantage of cornices for small
rooms, which are often lofty out of all
proportion. Here it would be found an
improvement to let the major part Of
the cornice be upon the wall, only in
truding slightly upon the ceiling area,
which would look the larger for non
interruption. A simple border of ivy,
oak or other shapely leaves, simply sug-
gested in plaster, would suit many
rooms better than the usually too asser-
tive mass of badly proportioned linear
holdings.
Stvauufh o,H Haalth