Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 154, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 June 1912 — The HOME DEPARTMENT [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The HOME DEPARTMENT

PARLOR OUT OF DATE NEARLY EVERYBODY NOW HAS A LIVING ROOM. How This Apartment Should Be Decorated and 'Furnished Down Stairs Front Room or Dutch -c? Hall the Best Choice. Today almost every one has a living room, and any house is incomplete without one. Some people are loth to let go of the old-fashioned and hopelessly out-of-date parlor, with its set of plush furniture, its what-not and its lace curtains. Still, every one would like to to date, if possible; and in this article it will be the endeavor to show how a parlor can be turned into a living room and how a living room should be furnished. The room to choose for the purpose would, of course, depend on the convenlence of the family; but in the average house the downstairs front room or the Dutch hall would be the best choice. Should this be impractical, either the front or back room on the second floor could be made to answer. Except in the case of the Dutch hall, where the woodwork is stained to blend well with the surroundings, or when, in individual cases, ft is considered best to leave it the way it is, it is usually advisable to change the color of the woodwork to white or cream. Even in the hall this has been worked out most successfully by painting all the wood white with the exception of the staircase, where the tread of the stairs and the handrail are of mahogany. As to the wallpaper, it is best to

Placing and Treatment of the -Tabla.

choose a plain color or a dull twotoned stripe, which gives the same effect. It is kinder to the pictures, and one is not apt to tire of it so easily. A light, rich tan in an imitation weave is an Inexpensive and effective selection, and when this or .any other neutral tone is chosen, it leaves one more free to use touches,, of color in different parts of the room. It is also well

to bear in mind that tan paper improves any furniture. Other colors suitable for the living room are old blue, old rose and a medium green. Brown might be included in the list, but it is rather a somber color unless the room is very sunny. Red is to be avoided. It is very rarely successful, and unless one is very partial to it, it is better not to attempt it when there is such a wide choice of other beautiful colors. If one should feel impelled to buy a figured paper, choose an inconspicuous one, as the shocks one receives on first beholding a room papered with a pattern selected from a stingy little sample shown at the paperhanger’s are many and varied. These figured papers, chosen from samples, are so often a terrible disappointment, it is really better not to indulge. At the very lowest, the cost of having a good-sized room papered, not counting the ceiling, would be |3 or |4. 1