The Washington times., 1906-05-30
How TO Obtain an Effect Of
Harmony in the House
Old Carpets Made Into PreSentable Rugs---Fur-
niture Recovered and Fixtures Repainted

Most Of us possess an incOnzruous
mass Of miscellaneous furnishings. which
tor many reasons It IS difficult 10 rid
ourselves of They were probably bought
many years ago, when popular taste
was not Of such a high standard as IT is
today.
To make these belongings fall into
line with the more recent additions OF
paper and paint is one Of the hardest
problems to solve. With the better
Iapers now available our walls are
beautiful in themselves. and within the
last year or two ivory white paint or
woodwork stained dull greens or
browns. have taken the place of var
nished pine
To harmonic the good walls and
woodwork with ugly carpets and badly
made furniture is no easy task. Old as
eociation makes us cling TO A relic of
the past that Is bad; others were bought
for entirely different environments. and
are now out Of key.
The wall paper and curtains are en-
tireiy out Of harmony, while some golden
oak furniture asserts itself In the most
aggressive manner. The black marble
nantelpiece with its uncompromising
glazed tiles. "swears' at its surround
ings Reformation seems a hopeless task.
The ca rpets which cover the entire floors
are faded. and although shabby have
help matters.
Begin With the Carpets.
In the first place the carpets must he
removed and the floors stained two
or three feet round the edges OF the
room. II we possess four shabby car
pets we can count on getting one or
POSSIBLY two floor coverings from them
These must be sent to a house that
makes A speciality of tearing apart old
carpets and reweaving them into rugs.
They are torn apart and thoroughly
cleansed every particle OF dust being ex-
tracted from them and are afterward
woven into rugs the desired size. Four
yards Of carpet make one yard Of rug
II the carpets are colorle-s and need
strength. such houses have always
strong colorings they can mix with the
pale colors. or they may retain a few
pounds of your pale color. substituting
black or red to give strength to the ap-
Dearance OF the rug.
II the old carpets do not make suff1c
tent rugs to cover the space desired. old
carpets bought at auction can be had
for almost nothing. and as they can he
so thoroughly cleaned and fumigated
when rewoven. all danger Is eliminated:
With a handsome rug. or number or
small ones on we'll stained floor. the
reformation has begun.
Cover the Mantelpiece.
IF the obnoxious mantelpiece must re-
main. it could be covered with unbleach-
ed muslin pasted ali over II. this after
ward to receive two or three coats OF
paint TO match the woodwork OF the
room. II would not then be nearly so
offensive. A white marble mantelpicce
can be turned into a thing Of beauty by
an application Of acid and paint. where
by 81 presents a creamy dull appear
ance with a cloudy effect of color.
Usually a chandelier of common brass
appears TO be going on the downward
path. or Il NAV be of brown bronze with
square cut edges. so popular some TWEEN
~ years ago. The square bronze chan
delier will take unto itself wholly new
lines If painted dull black. wien it will
closely resemble wrought iron. and will
then be no longer an eyesore.
Overcoming the Chandelier.
The faults of the brass chandelier are
not so easily overcome. but by painting
II dull green on top Of coat of white
paint. and gently rubbing some of IL
off before II Is quite dry. IL will give II
the effect OF cloudy green metal. 50