Chapter 7 FURNISHING THE DOLL-HOUSE

With the carpenter work of a doll-house completed, the finishing of the inside,-wall papering and painting,-and the selection of furniture for the various rooms, remain to be done. This requires as much care as the building of the house, and while any boy can do the work, the help of a sister will perhaps simplify matters and give to the rooms a daintier appearance.

The Walls and Ceiling of the kitchen and bath-room should be painted with white lead or white enamel. For the other rooms select paper having a small design, such as is to be found on most ceiling papers. If you have ever watched the paper-hanger at work, you have noticed he puts on the ceiling first, allowing the paper to run down the walls a little way all around instead of trimming it off. Then he hangs the wall paper, and if there is no border to cover the joints of the ceiling and wall papers he carries the wall paper up to the ceiling. Use flour paste to stick on the paper, and a cloth or photograph-print roller to smooth out the wrinkles. The dining-room should have a wainscot of dark paper below the chair-rail, and a paper with little or no figure upon it above.

All Hardwood Floors, the stairs, door and window casings, baseboards, and picture mouldings should be varnished thoroughly or given several coats of boiled linseed-oil.

All floors, with the exception of the kitchen, bath-room, and hardwood floors, should be fitted with

Carpets.-If you do not happen to have suitable scraps on hand, they can be procured at almost any furnishing store where they make up carpets. Select pieces with as small patterns as possible. The floors of the bath=room and kitchen should be covered with oilcloth.

Rugs for the hardwood floors may be made out of scraps of carpet.

Window-shades may be made for each window out of linen, and tacked to the top casing so that the bottom of the curtain reaches just above the centre of the opening. Each window should also have

Lace Curtains made out of scraps of lace. They should either be tacked above the windows or hung upon poles made out of No. 12 wire, cut in lengths to fit the windows. Screw small brass hooks into the top window-casings for the poles to hang upon.

Handsome Portieres for the doorways can be made with beads and with the small hollow straws sold for use in kindergartens. For the

Bead Portieres, cut threads as long as the height of the door and string the beads upon them, alternating the colors in such a way as to produce patterns. Then tie the strings together to a piece of wire the width of the doorway, and fasten the wire in the opening. The

Straw Portieres are made similarly.

From magazine illustrations you can select

Suitable Pictures for each room, but if you are handy with brush and pencil you may prefer to make the pictures yourself. These may be mounted upon cardboard and have their edges bound with passe-partout paper to give the effect of frames, or frames may be cut out of cardboard and pasted to them. Hang the pictures to the picture moulding with thread.

A Cosey-corner may be fitted up in the ball-room by fastening a strip of a cigar-box in one corner an inch and one-half above the floor for the seat, and hanging draperies on each side of it. Pillows may be made for it out of scraps of silk stuffed with cotton.

A doll-house properly proportioned in every detail, including the selection of its furniture, is pleasing to look at, and is to be desired much more than some of the specimens to be found in the stores. These very often have parlor chairs larger than the mantel, beds that either fill two-thirds of the bedroom space or are so small they are hidden from view by the chairs, and other furniture accordingly, all having been selected without any thought as to size or fitness.

Care must be taken, in buying the furniture, to have the pieces suitable to the rooms. It will no doubt require more time than to purchase the first sets you come across, but when you have completed the selections, the result will be a much better appearing doll-house.

By carefully searching the toy-shops you are almost certain of finding what you want for the various rooms, as about everything imaginable in furniture has been manufactured. Porcelain bath-tubs, wash-basins with real faucets and running water, gilt furniture, chandeliers, and such articles are tempting to buy. But it is rather expensive to fit up a house in this way, for, though each piece may not amount to very much, they count up very quickly.

The suggestions for the making of cigar-box furniture in the following chapter, and the cork furniture in Chapter XXVIII, should give you plenty of material for furniture and save you the expense of buying this part of the furnishings for your house.

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