Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-06-20

another, and the expense of a complete
covering for floor is great, especially as
the addition of rugs is absolutely necessary
If it is to look comfortable. Unless a room
is full OF handsome furniture it does not
look well with several small rugs laid
about In different directions. The center
OF the floor should be covered, and, if
possible, heavy furniture should hold the
rug In position, for however eloquent we
may be In favor of loose floor coverings
there Is no Disgusting the fact that kicked
up rug IS one of the minor aggravations of
life.
FASHIONABLE RUGS.
Many of the fashionable rugs nowadays
are of home manufacture, and although
woven in imitation of those imported from
the East can be easily distinguished from
them by the greater brightness of color.
1t seems as if the harmony of Eastern de-
sign coloring would never be fully attained
by the Western manufacturer. Pennsyl.
vania rugs, in imitation of those imported
from Smyrna, are very effective, but
little too obtrusive in color, it being now
generally recognized that floor coverings
have no business to force themselves upon
the attention. As matter of artistic
decoration the carpet should attract no
particular attention.
A room is badly furnished if the first
thing that strikes person upon entering
it is the carpet, and modern taste is 80 far
educated that in well. appointed homes one
ia seldom called upon to admire parterre
of brilliant flowers upon the drawing-room
carpets or to tread upon trees whose
branches shelter humming birds. The
esthetic movements has had one good re.
suit in modifying scarlets and greens, and
if we are sometimes inclined to wish that
the favorite colors were little less sombre,
it is fault in the right direction as far, at
any rate, as carpets are concerned.
TINTs.
Natural tints are to be preferred, and if
the walls of room are dingy, or there is
any other reason for wishing to introduce a
little brightness, the coloring should be in
the border of the carpet rather than in the
center. In these hurried days it seems alb.
surd to talk of home. made carpets, yet
carpets have been made by ladies that are
marvels of patience and skill. Carpets
and rags for holy places, shrines, and con-
vents are often made by hand. In the ex.
quisite chapel erected by Russian Arch.
duke in memory of his wife, in Weisbaden,
there is a carpet which at first sight looks
exactly like a Turkish one, which was
worked entirely by the ladies of the Rus
sian Court, and which is large enough to
cover the entire floor of the chapel.
But while such an undertaking will
hardly commend itself to our busy women,
there are certain efforts of the kind that
will repay the time bestowed upon them.
For example, covering for the floor of the
dining-room, which certainly need not be
carpeted all over, could be homemade of
coarse canvas, worked in tapestry stitch
in some arabasque design in contrasting
shades of color.
EASTERN RUGS.
Eastern rugs vary good deal in style.
Those from India are usually sombre in
color and of intricate and even confused
design, while those which come from Tur-
key are bright and vivid in outline and
have the inestimable merit of becoming
more valuable after they have been worn.
1t is difficult to distinguish between those
made in Turkey and those brought from
Persia. They are rarely initiated with any
success, but the Smyrna rugs, known in
the trade as Oushak, are of such strong
colors and striking designs that they have
deep crimson or bright scarlet centers,
with geometrical markings and borders in
which every shade of color is harmoniously
blended.
sTAIRcAsEs.
Some few of them, generally the smaller
ones, are of less decided coloring, and a
fashion has lately been introduced of COW
ering staircases with them, rug the exact
width of each stair being kept in place by
brass rod across either end. 1t is diff
cult to see what object can be gained by
this innovation, unless it be that of novelty.
for velvet pile stair carpets answer the same
purpose as far as deaaening sound is con-
cerned, and look great deal better If suffi-
cient margin is left at either side; stair
ways covered without this margin never
look well, a reflection which may solace
those whose purse is limited and to whom
wide stair carpets are denied.
ECONOMY.
There is, indeed, an obvious compensa.
ton for the multitudes with limited in.
comes in the fact that the harmony and
comfort of home do not really depend go
much upon money as people suppose. 1t
is an unpleasant fact, certainly, that good
carpet costs good deal, but then is il not
mitigating circumstance that little Of
it is fashionable, looks better, and is de-
cidedly cleanlier and healthier than great
deal. There is additional consolation in
the fact that floor partially covered with
rugs is infinitely more useful in showing
up furniture than the handsomest carpet
that ever left the loom. Such reflection
should reconcile us even to the scratches on
dark. stained floor, and all things consid-
cred it is useless to tighten the purse or
burden the mind with excessive floor COW
erings when the home will look Just as well
with rugs, and when every consideration
of health requires that they should be done
away with.