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Show I ; The Home Harmonious. Harmony in the Nursery Decorations. By Anita de Campi. I WHEN sisters, cousins, ts, uncles, un-cles, and kind, good friends havo succeeded In making tho m average small family homo look I llko a disrupted toy department I mother smiles a helplessly happy sort I r of a smllo and begins to wondci whero I to put It all. I have lately been witness I to such a toy devastation, and listened to I; mothers noliloquy, which ran ton othlng I I after this fashion: I; I "Of couiso tho homo belongs to the I chlldi en that's what the homo Is for. H "We don't have much company. It Is very I s Inconvenient to entertain on "''count of I tho llttlo ones, and wc could make a I sort of a dining loom living room out or I our dining room, so perhaps wc had bot- I: tcr glvo up our fiont parlor and turn It I Into a day nursery. It Is the best room In I i tho houso nnd the children will be pcr- I fectly liappy there." I k' This measure while It scorns rather I extreme. Is cheerfully practical. Glvo I ; tho children a nursery wheic they can I ret all tho joy that Is to bo liad out of H juvenile life, even if It Is at tho expenso H r of occasional "company " Company does H not amount to much anyway when com- I l pared to tho real happiness of the oung- H f fetors. H All that, to lve sure. Is mere detail. Thf It point of the matter is that at thib time HI of year the accumulation of toy gifts HI f emphasizes -the neccbblty of a playroom. 11 - Hi' ' Where there aro several children, each H ! child should have a specified place for Hi his or her toys, it mav be a chest, or Hi , only a draper In one, or a closet or a H box-bench, with a Beat t)iat lifts, but H ' when jou supply to children a place to Hi keep their toys and insist that the toys HI ' be kept in place, you sow tho seed not HI ' only of order, but of thrift. Add to this H the responsibility of life Itself, through Hi tbo posfcesslon of some pet or even plant, H and a wonderful stride will have been H , made toward the development of tho in- H dividual character. H It Is marvelous how keen very little H children are to realize -what life is that H In a mcasiire Ihey hold It in their hands. H; i. that its peipt'tuation or Its extinction H rcetfl -with them. It is faafo to say that H a certain nobility of heart and mind H germinated in the child -who i3 taught to be responsible for the feeding and the M ; care of the bird, or other pet, or the H; I watering of the flowers. B ' ; Anything that makes for neatness la m : the first consideration in planning tho H nursery, whether It is a day or night H room An excellent method la to have M- i 'i bench built all the way around 1L H;. These bulll-ln benches havo lids tha,t H: ' lilt, forming box-like receptacles. Soc- M ond to this Is a series of wooden boxes H ' u(h hlngtdllds, ranged around tho i i wall. These boxes, that may be had M ; foi little or nothing, aio cry attractive M li covered with chintz or denim all to H ' I match They should have ball bearing M). castors crowed to their bases, and be H: IHUd wth btrong handles. So fixed, B they reallj become a part of tho toyoulfl,t 9 i o-i occas'nn. Many is the sail that will i be bad U jeuch an improvised boat, many M the automobile ride that will be had iu H 9 it, too, and -several of the boxes put $k& sLJc.L P & 9 --. i : ! I The white bed has a quilted piece adjusted inaide the bars and the chairs have quilted slip covers. together make the most wonderful trains! They often become moving vans by tho magic of tho child's ImaElnatlon, or thrones, or airships So you can svo that a series of loeb, uniform in alzo and fitted to the wall spaces they ar5 to occupy at tidying tlmp, are, or should be, a feature of the room. The floor should bo partly carpeted and partly bare. A good Idea Is to have a breadth of cirpct or strip of rag nig running clear aiourid tho outer edges of the floor, lalng It about a foot away from tho baseboard. On thobarcpalnted or haidwood floor so left iuicoercd, In the middle of tho room, a clrclo may bo outlined. This will be the foundation for Innumerable game." AH of tho ring games taught at kindergarten will he acted out In this circle, and many new ones will doubtless bo Improvised. A circulai ra i ug may be laid over the center and moved at pleasure. Rag carpeting car-peting Is the ideal covering tor nurseries, as It washes as ell. In decorating the nursery It Is cus-tomaiy cus-tomaiy to pluco the dtcoratlvo feature, whether It bo a frieze or a series of pictures, pic-tures, on a level with the child's eyes. A nurscrj frlcre Is picferable to pictures, pic-tures, lljny very attractive pictorial friezes have been Unsigned and reproduced repro-duced In wall paper for children's rooms In selecting a nursery frieze, bo.suro to seo that the plctuies on the one you choose will continue clear mound the loom, without repeat of pattern. This Is a vc-r Important point because the pIctorl.il frieze la meant to take the place of pictures, and the objection to havlnu the sajne picture on several sides of tho room 1e a perfectly reasonable one. The selection Is too often made from a sample strip that may in Itself be lovly but la as disappointing to the t-hlld na a picture book would be if It had four good pictures In It. and lha same four were repeated again and again. The picture frieze, often arranged In uets of panels, should be guaranteed to rneas-ur rneas-ur at least thirty-six feet w lthout repeating repeat-ing an j part. TTurnlturo now made for children Is rh good In every particular as that made for rxow n people- the difference Is merely In the matter of scale. Small pieces are used consistently throughout. They are not toy pieces poorly made, perishable, unsafe, and badly decorated, but ere properly constructed, firmly joined, and artlsticallj finished. Many varlatlond are offered Odd pieces are no longer thrown together In a miscellaneous collection, col-lection, but the child's room Is treated cs a unit, and a Judicious selection 13 made of all parts so that they maj be correlated and harmonious and the child Is thus unconsciously taught very earlv in life the lesson of fitness in furnishing furnish-ing Pictured In the Illustration Is a night nursery, in the Suite of a little favorite of fortune, Tho loom Itself Is small and furnished to scale, with white enameled enam-eled furnltuie Th" bed and chairs hae a coerlng that la the very latest thing In fittings for children's rooms something some-thing that 1 faw foi the first time at the exhibition recently held in Xew York under, un-der, the title of ' The Child in Art " Jtn a cerlng made slmpl of quilted white nalrsook, appllqued with flower3 In colored col-ored chambray. The chair covers are shpoeis, buttoned down the back, and the bars of the crib are concaled by a hanging pf the aam.j quilting, tied aroun 1 the crib on tho Inplde. It all looks clean aud comfoi table In tJ-e Irjtenoi shown heie the fiower design used In the applique la also uyed as & stencil on the wall border, with pots of eal flowers forming a continuation continua-tion o! .be decoration acroES the window sill The company that designed thtse attracthe noeltles has gotten out-patterns apd directions f6t those who choose to make them at home Answers to Inquiries. MRS C J II ' Bcvcr caiefulhow you put light chairs-among the heavy ones ou descr be. Those that you have ntem to B bp consistent and In good teale. Two M chairs that would bo aafo for jou to try H would be the Chlncio hour glaft and the M Windsor. These are light In we'ght, and H still goodly In proportion. A to Uw book- M case, since most of your furniture le ma- H hogany. gt & simple mahogany otio. Vory M good colonial ones are being copkd noiv at H a price- that .s not pronlblthu. I am tony JA that I cannot furnish you w.th an orlg- M lnal working design for a bookcsio, fc.do M draperies are often lovely, but are not H really necessary. No pictures at all n:4 M certainly better than poor onoa. Coeap H pictures do more than any other one thlrtr H to spoil otherwise harmonious rooms. If M you are uncertain about them, 'diaper. jj tt w th them Curtains betwoen doorn M should not be embellished with open w t It H They should b heay enough to acrve ths H purpose of preventing drafts and f- H fording privacy. Could you not Interl n M them with shaker flannel and Hue the..r M with sateen? Your wallpaper la erj r.ice M rug also M MRS A. K : You are fortunatt no to H have a plate rail, as they are declc-dly M dlsfaor. A simple molding Is consld- H cred (n better tate. In this as In - ost H other things pertaining to home deer .- H tlon " simplicity " is th fashion. H MRS. M. G.: Yes, paper both the pa..- M lor and sitting room alike - Select a gray 'M gicen paper to contrast with tour oM H ro'ir rog Green cuitahj? would bo betttr H than crtuip cieam would be right for H the celling. Choose gra green velour for H the portiere. H |
