The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-11-10
COSY AND INEXPENSIVE.
Simple Directions For Beautifying the
Household by Ones Own Labors

The patient husband waited until his wife
had told him all about IL, and then sat down
ana wrote these Impressions:
"A most delightful, unique snd.inexpcnsive
divan can be readily made by following the
directions and pattern given in almost any
household magazine. First get your pattern
ard tEen ask your grocer 10 hand over an
empty barrel. For this there should be no
charge but that depends somewhat upon
your financial standing with him. Next en-
gage carpenter who never had a rational
idea and desires to make few dollars. lie
il TO saw ana otherwise maltreat that barrel
in Just the manner shown by the nice dotted
lines on your pattern. IL is imnsterial what
his thoughts are upon the subject.
when the barrel corresponds in shape
with the pattern, the next thing il TO hide il
from the cruel gaze OF the world until it is
decorated. Now bvy y cents worth Of ex-
cclsior, TO be used as filing. Every chair
that pretends to be comfortable must have
some sort of filing or il is barefaced
swindlc. Now place your excelsior in any
where between the covering and the barrel
or what Is left of It, Never mind about
placing il in smoothly; il will always be
lumpy anyway, matter how You fix it,
Besides, you need never sit on il yourself
IL is considered good form in the very best
circles 10 resign the seat ~ honor 10 your
guests no matter who they are. For the
covering obtain few yards of cretonne at Il
cents a yard and some neat binding stuff t1
match.
Now Is the time 10 jam the excelsior in
wherever IL will go ard tack your binding
neatly all round with any tacks you may have
in the house. Do not buy .tacks. Some people
err just at this juncture. IL you purpose TO
buy everything you might well drop the
whole thing where il is, because you are losing
sight OF the fact that the object is to keep
down the cost as much as possible Every
economical household has fine collection of
pointless and otherwise crippled tacks Th9v
will be found in any old half cracked saucer
carefully laid away a top shelf some.
where, and they will do every bit IA well ss
new ones. Should you be fastidious, however,
and wish 10 lend some tone or character To
your handiwork, you may indulge in the ex-
travagance of few cents worth OF brass
headed tacks; but again warn you about i'm.
creasing the expense, and that you cannot
then carry out your original intention OF
driving the tacks home with flat-iron.
IAN ordinary tack VIII stand any abuse,
but the brass rosents any unnecessary aggres
siveness. In order TO allow brass-headed
tack to.retain its pristine beauty and decora.
tive effect, il must be driven with hammer
only and some judgment. Cynics may observe
that this me ms man, but that is silly d
vergoncc from the present subject and leads
TO trouble. As we said, il you attempt to
force u in with hai-iron you can only hit
the head once ina while, and the rest of the
hour vill lie spent in making entirely un-
necessary dents in the head. THESE really
serve no good purpose, but merely give the
ben somewhat of irregular repousse
effect, which, while very desirable on IA brass
coal bod does not appeal To our artistic eye
when executed on such a irlted area. When
al thrcugr, you VIII nave n nice, cosoy and
h6Xpensive seat that has well repaid you ana
| the carpeutrr. Bearing in mind that the
| barrel was given YOU, the beautiful divan will
have cost you only mere trife moro than
! yOu coul huv comforta 10 one for; Tut you
| iaus not forget that YOU had the rla sure OF
! making - all yourself, and nothing viii re-
! nsip bf that W, ll-spcnt dsy but pleasant icm-
| lulsccucts oS soon as your rev ihumb nall
/ grows. " en- showing the scat TO sdmirinr
ftCnd~, ulca.e remember tuat details a. q
! lur.ng and forget the carpenter. The sun.