The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1922-04-14
Prize Essay Selected
Open House Contest

covering, carpet and furniture and
leave your Imagination to construct
the seen room. Every detail is well
thought out. The colors to be used
in the large areas, as the floor
and walls, are neutral. The rug and
flower holders are brighter and all
these colors are tones selected from
the many in the hand blocked linen
draperies. Which is all just as it
should be, according TO the best de
corators. Just one little criticism
the rug is placed on the bias, and
any one who attended Mr.. Hunt
Cooks lectures will know what a
! blunder that is.
In Class Four
Glass Four For Glass Four
| have selected the window of the
Farmers and Labors cooperative
Store. In decorating a grocery store
! window one can hardly have much
! to do with color, line and beauty OF
| material. So the most effective way
! to arranged that type OF window Is
! 10 do something unusual such as
this store has done. They have in
! their window the cutest little To-
connective and tender, all made OF
boxes of cereals. An asset to any
| food market is cleanliness and this
store is all polished up for the oc-
casion.
Glass Five: The best in Glass
Five was very hard to select as all
are good. But 1 have chosen Ny
quist's windows as the best. Some
of the mems furnishing stores were
too decorated to conform to my
| ideas of suitability. But | liked Ny
quistS plain paneled oak back
| ground, the clothing all in shades
! of brown and tan to blend with it.
and then the few spring branches
which relieves the Spartan simpli-
city of what is my idea Of suit
able setting. for mems clothes.
y Glass Six. Class Six was another
| extremely hard choice. Automobile
| salesrooms. are, | imagine, quite too
OF much fixing up. However all
the dealers have cleaned their dis
play rooms and windows till they
shone so that one could hardly see
! in. | think my first choice is the
Dodge display because it looks so
clean with that good looking tile
floor, because they have not trieu
to crowd in as many cars as many
dealers are, and because a springy
touch is given by wecker flower
stands full of ferns.
Glass Seven: In the shoes |
choose the Sample Shoe Store as
the most pleasing. The shoes are
we'll spaced with enough distance
between so that each pair shows
| clearly against a pure white back
ground. The absence of any attempt
to improve their usual simple style
| of window is in this case a good
point
Glass Eight: The hardest task OF
| all was choosing the winner of this
miscellaneous class; but after much
inward debate ! selected the Man
| kato Floral company. Their window
at least the ends of it gives one
the impression of being out in the
spring woods, so we'll have the!
grouped their pussy willows aru
daffodils. If they had kept the mas
sed idea their window would have
been very stunning. But in the mid
die of the window they broke away
from their original idea to show
4 lot of corsages. and trimmings for
corsages. This gives rather spott'
ed effect which is not particularly
desirable in decoration.
'In studying windows for these
selections | have noticed many win
dows which were very good but not
the best in their class. There there
were so many windows included
| under miscellaneous that could
only choose the one which admitted
of the fullest discussion. So shall
state below the good points OF
some of these.
Not Single Discordant Note
THE north window of the La
Vogue Store certainly deserves hlgn
praise. There is not single dis
cordant note in it except we notice
here too the bias rug. The screen
torch, dress, and hat form a perfect
harmony. There are just enough OBJ
iects in the window to give the de-
sired decoration effect without
oyercrowding. This store is the only
one which attempted any different
lighting and the result is unusually
soft and beautiful.
"Salet's hack ground is, in my es-
timation the. best in the city but
too much and the wrong sort OF
merchandise is displayed against 1t.
"Kruse's green and cloth OF gold
back panels are very good LOOKING
kbut in someway the effect is spoiled
by the small size OF the windows
and too many garments placed BIZ
fore them.
Martin and Hoerr have the hon =
or of being the only store to dec
CRATE its windows in orange, gold
and black. 1t is striking combina-
ton.
"rhe Olympic Candy Store
south window is a lively one. The
paper rose decorations are in every
color of the rainbow and more. But
the candies give the key note to the
color scheme and they are all bright
ones. Then the Dummies and Easter
, eggs scattered about explain the
whole idea and the window is alto
. gether in a most pleasing hohday
attire. THE Electric Service com =
pany has a very lovely window IN
rose and white. The rose forms
beautiful setting for the cleaning
nickel electrical appliances of all
. sorts. This is another window
which attracts by its clean shiny
"The Swanson Paint and Wal
Paper company has not forgotten
the children in a cute little window
with a dolls house in 1t. The house
, has a most unusual shrub in the
, front yard and steps OF materia
new to all contractors.
"A window which might not ap
peal to a small boy but which ap
, peals to me through its clever use
. OF only two articles in its decora
T ton. is that of Thomas Drug Store