Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1893-01-13
OLYMPIA WASHINGTON: FRIDAY EVENING" JAM 13 1893
A WOMAN'S DEN"
WHAT TO BUY AND HOW MUCH
TO PAY FORIT.
A Small Room High In the House
will DO-There Should he Light
and Air and n Good View.


will Do-There Should BE Ligh
and Air and n Good View.
A number of correspondents have
asked for description of a woman.
den" how it should be furnished and
what the cost would be. To all o
them the writer says this: The room
need not necessarily be large one, in
fact if it is it's size will detract from
the cosiness which should be the great
charm OF this retreat. A small bed.
room high in the house will do
splendidly. You want it high because
you want view, and you want two
windows for the same reason. If they
look out over the adjoining housetops
80 much the better. The air is fresl,
and pure and no inquisitive eye can
disturb you.
Having selected your room, stain
the floor a dark brown or maroon.
Then get a good rug, "costly as thy
purse can buy" although if you wish
you can choose an art square for few
dollars. If you do this, have the floor
we'll covered with paper before it is
put down. Then purchase a few
small fur rugs and ottomans and scat
ter them about where they will do the
most good.
So much for the floor.
Swinging diagonally across one cor
ner OF the room have a hammock. 1t
will cost you from Is cents to $3.50,
"nd you can get strong hooks for 25
cents at any hardware store. On the
other side of the room place a divan,
which you can buy ready made if you
have $50 to pay for it, or make one
yourself on foundation of soap box,
with springs and mattress. Whatever
its foundation, you must cover it with
some rich-hued Oriental material, and
pa on it all the soft cushions you can
bug or make. The hammock, by the
way, needs two or three cushions also.
A good library table, with drawers
and shelves, will be the next need.
Drape it with some rich, warm-colored
scarf, to harmonize with the rug and
the inexpensive Persian curtains you
will hang at the windows. A large
reading lamp, with q pretty shade
piles of books, magazines and papers
(and for heavens sake don't keep
them in set, fixed places) will make
this part of the room very inviting.
Now you want an immense chair-a
genuine cosy hollow, such as you can
find in any old furniture store. The
odder and quainter it is the better
buy it and have it thoroughly cleansed
and recovered. This will be your own
chair; you want another, similar but
smaller, for the favored woman friend
who will come in to gossip with you
by the hour.
Next choose your small bookcase,
containing the pet books which you
must have just within reach. Put it
in a convenient corner. It's . good
plan to have a few book-shelves along
the wall, % that you can reach them
without getting up from the divan.
Lazyf Well, perhaps it does sound
lazy-but it's so comfortable!
About your pictures. In the hum.
ble opinion of the writer, you can't
possibly have too many in this room.
Line the walls with them-water-
colors, etchings, photographs, what
ever they may be. Put an odd bit of
drapery here and there. Have the
cast of q head in an odd nook, and
twist about it bit of bright silk. A
bust of your favorite author or COM
poser will add to the effect, and all the
dainty bric-a-brac you can find will fit
in beautifully.
Of course you won't be able to fur
nish entirely at first unless you're ex.
ceptionally fortunate. Week by week
there will be some addition. Any
amount of running around in old
stores will be necessary. But there's
a joy in it all, in planning for this and
that and seeing the corners fill up
which is entirely unknown to the wo.
man who has only to go down in her
pocket.