“The Sitting Room” The sitting or everyday room should be the brightest and most attractive room in the house. Its beauty of decoration should not be so much in the richness and variety of material as in its comfort, simplicity, and the harmony in its tints-the main features being theContinue Reading

“The Parlor” The furnishing of the parlor should be subject to its architectural finish. The first things to be considered are the walls and floor. The former may be decorated in fresco or papered, according to the individual taste and means. The prettiest styles of parlor paper are light tintsContinue Reading

“The Hall” The hall being the index to the whole house, due care should therefore be given to its furnishing. Light colors and gilding should be avoided. The wall and ceiling decorations now mostly used are in dark rich colors, shaded in maroons or deep reds. Plain tinted walls andContinue Reading

Colored or plain engravings, photographs, lithographs, water colors, oil colors, crayons, steel plates, newspaper cuts, mezzotints, pencil, writing, show cards, labels, or in fact, anything. DIRECTIONS. Take glass that is perfectly clear (window glass will answer) clean it thoroughly; the varnish it, taking care to have it perfectly smooth; placeContinue Reading

An ox-muzzle, flattened on one side and nailed to a board, as in Fig 44, filled with spongy moss and feathery ferns, makes a lovely ornament; while suspended baskets holding cups or bowls of soil filled with drooping plants in another cheap ornament.Continue Reading

Take a very thin board , of the right size and shape, for the foundation or “mat;” saw out the inner oval or rectangular form to suit the picture. Nail on the edge a rustic frame made of branches of hard, seasoned wood, and garnish the corners with some prettyContinue Reading