Still, we must have some chairs to sit upon. Get a large Boston
rocker, or two of them, and cover with cretonne or chintz ; another
of the large, splint-bottomed chairs with wide arms, then an easy
camp chair and a small rocker, will complete about all the chairs one
can get into this room. A willow one is pretty, easy and durable, pro-
viding one has money enough — but that can be left for the future —
they make an acceptable present for the wife about Christmas time.
A couch is as necessary as chairs, not to look at, but for comfort only.
Directions for making an inexpensive one are given in " Home-Made
Furniture " notes, as well as for many other pretty things for this room.
One or two small stands help fill up, and give lightness to the room,
and, covered with a pretty spread or two, will hold a vase, cabinet
photograph, or books.
Nothing has been said of accessories, and yet they are the very things
that give life and character to a room. Small engravings from maga-
zines, cabinet pictures, and tiny flower subjects may be framed at small
cost, and you can make the passepartout frames as well as those pur-
INEXPENSIVE HOME ROOMS. 163
chased at the picture store. Small ottomans can be made of tobacco
drums, small boxes and three-legged stools, with pine-tops and walnut
legs. These should all be covered with nearly the same quality, but
different patterns, and all the colors should harmonize, that is, the
principal colors be carried out — gray and scarlet.
Tiny Parian marble busts, light colored fans, small Japanese banners,
or parasols, are an inexpensive but pretty way of decorating. With a
few of these on the walls, or fastened up somewhere, they give a dash
of color to the room, with the delicate gray making a lovely back-
ground, A gay, bright, opened parasol, suspended from each corner
against the side walls, gives an odd and unique effect to the room;
a spray of wheat or oats tied with a bright bow of ribbon; two or
three peacock feathers, carelessly fastened ; all of these things, simple
as they are and may be, give an effect to the room that really gives it
an air of elegance. A large, old-fashioned pitcher, filled with grasses,
cat-tails or ferns placed in a corner or on a stand helps to fill up this
representative room. One or two glass shelves (purchased at the gla-
zier's, 36x6 inches long), put up on brackets, are very convenient for
small ornaments, easels, photos, vases and curiosities. Or, instead, it
may be a wooden shelf, with a straight drapery, to match the other fur-
niture covering.
Page 144
Presented as published in 1886. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Still, we must have some chairs to sit upon. Get a large Boston rocker, or two of them, and cover with cretonne or chintz ; another of the large, splint-bottomed chairs with wide arms, then an easy camp chair and a small rocker, will complete about all the chairs one can get into this room. A willow one is pretty, easy and durable, providing one has money enough — but that can be left for the future — they make an acceptable present for the wife about Christmas time.
A couch is as necessary as chairs, not to look at, but for comfort only. Directions for making an inexpensive one are given in " Home-Made Furniture " notes, as well as for many other pretty things for this room. One or two small stands help fill up, and give lightness to the room, and, covered with a pretty spread or two, will hold a vase, cabinet photograph, or books.
Nothing has been said of accessories, and yet they are the very things that give life and character to a room. Small engravings from magazines, cabinet pictures, and tiny flower subjects may be framed at small cost, and you can make the passepartout frames as well as those pur-
INEXPENSIVE HOME ROOMS. 163
chased at the picture store. Small ottomans can be made of tobacco drums, small boxes and three-legged stools, with pine-tops and walnut legs. These should all be covered with nearly the same quality, but different patterns, and all the colors should harmonize, that is, the principal colors be carried out — gray and scarlet.
Tiny Parian marble busts, light colored fans, small Japanese banners, or parasols, are an inexpensive but pretty way of decorating. With a few of these on the walls, or fastened up somewhere, they give a dash of color to the room, with the delicate gray making a lovely background, A gay, bright, opened parasol, suspended from each corner against the side walls, gives an odd and unique effect to the room; a spray of wheat or oats tied with a bright bow of ribbon; two or three peacock feathers, carelessly fastened ; all of these things, simple as they are and may be, give an effect to the room that really gives it an air of elegance. A large, old-fashioned pitcher, filled with grasses, cat-tails or ferns placed in a corner or on a stand helps to fill up this representative room. One or two glass shelves (purchased at the glazier's, 36x6 inches long), put up on brackets, are very convenient for small ornaments, easels, photos, vases and curiosities. Or, instead, it may be a wooden shelf, with a straight drapery, to match the other furniture covering.