Title: American homes and gardens
Identifier: americanhomesgar91912newy (find matches)
Year: 1905 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Architecture, Domestic; Landscape gardening
Publisher: New York : Munn and Co
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
April, 1912 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 139 The result was a homelike, cheerful, livable room, embody- ing all of the restful qualities which one expects to find in a room intended for Summer use. The gray tapestry papers after Colonial originals are an ideal wall-covering for halls and dining-rooms, and, as they were originally designed to be used as a background for mahogany furniture, they are most appropriate in the Colonial type of house and make a beautiful setting for furniture of Chippendale, Sheraton and Hepplewhite design. To controvert the theory that gray is only suitable for boudoirs and bedrooms, the owner of a recently completed bungalow thought he would try a dif- ferent color scheme than the brown-stained trim which one instinctively associates with a bungalow. A gray and yellow scheme was decided upon, and all of the woodwork was stained a silver-gray, which brought out the grain and texture of the wood. The rough plaster walls were tinted a slightly lighter tone of this color and had a soft velvety appearance. Most of the furniture was of a simple type, stained gray and having tapering legs, which resembled those used by Hepplewhite on his furniture. Two of the comfortable Chinese hour glass chairs were added, as they seem to be at home in any company. The curtains were of gray cotton crepe, sill length, with a narrow band of silver galloon three inches from the bottom. Gray rag rugs were laid on the floor, as their texture combined well with the gray-stained wood. A large chimney breast of gray fieldstones at one end of the room helped along the color scheme. Brown corduroy was used to upholster the window-seat, and two vases with a matt glaze had been made into lamps and fitted with yellow opalescent glass shades, which added materi- ally to the attractiveness of this room. Here was an interior having all of the strong structural characteristics of the bungalow type of house, but which had lost none of its dignity and strength on account of being decorated with a gray color scheme. A CANDLE-LAMP THERE is a good substitute for the candle to light the dining-room table in the lamp shown in the illustration. It has the virtue of not burning out during a long dinner, which is not always the case when the imitation candles are used. The candle part is of porcelain, and holds sufficient kerosene oil to burn for twelve hours. The top is a minia- ture lamp, which simply has to be lifted off to be refilled, so that the top does not have to be unscrewed. It is simplicity itself, and, as the illustration shows, when the shade has been placed over the little lamp it has the appearance of a candle, but is far more convenient. They cost fifty-nine cents. AN INTERESTING COUCH ARRANGEMENT IT is often desirable to have a couch in a living-room, espe- cially in small houses or apartments, where it could be used for sleeping purposes in case of emergency, but the detached appearance of an ordinary couch when placed in a corner or in the middle of a long wall-space is not very pleasing. A couch can, however, be treated in such a way as to make it an agreeable piece of furniture and make one forget that it is a couch, as shown in the accompanying illustrations. Two box-like affairs, measuring 30 inches high by 32 inches deep by 20 inches wide, were built by a carpenter and placed at each end of a box couch. They were fitted with doors and shelves and made convenient storage places. Across the back they were connected by a flat board, extending down only as far as the top of the couch, which formed a back against which the sofa pillows were arranged. This back is not really necessary, as the pillows can be placed against the wall and will effectually hide the place where the couch and wall meet. These pillows were not made of odds and ends, arranged in hit-and-miss fashion, but were designed for this special couch and exactly fitted the space. There are five of them in all, arranged in a formal manner—three across the back and one at each end, the middle one at the back being a little longer than the others. They are of crimson velour decorated with bands of gold galloon across the ends, and blend harmoniously with the red tones of the Oriental rug which covers the couch. This unique couch arrangement is placed against a verdure tapestry, the blue-green tones of which make a most beautiful background. In place of the tapestry, three brown prints framed in flat moldings could be hung over the couch, a large one exactly in the center and two smaller ones on either side, which arrangement would compose well with the couch underneath. The tops of the boxes make convenient places for books, and a lamp would be a desirable adjunct. Another feature about this couch arrangement is the fact that it was built in such a manner that it could be moved from place to place, as occasion re- quired, without having to rip it out of its place as one would have to do were it a bit of the usual sort of "built-in" furni- ture. Undoubtedly a number of different adaptations of this arrangement will suggest themselves to the ingenuity of the home decorator, such as having the box sides serve as book shelves, or as cabinets fitted with drawers.
Text Appearing After Image:
An ingeniously devised and attractively designed built-in couch arrangement

Note About Images