IMPROVING THE SUMMER SHACK

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 87, 6 January 1933, Page 14

IMPROVING THE SUMMER SHACK

New Interiors for Old; Some Economy Ideas HOW TO SIMPLIFY HOUSEKEEPING Even at holiday time it is difficulty for the house-owner to escape the innumerable tasks, great and small that constitute the maintenance of dwellings. There is, for example, the seasonable question of the summer crib, which may or may not have withstood winter’s blast in a fashion that permits of care-free occupation during one’s annual vacation. More often than not much has to be done in the way ofdetail repairs. If the owner is fortunate enough to escape these, or, having completed them, still seeks an outlet for his energies, there are many minor improvements that may be undertaken between walks, picnics, and holiday outings, or on wet afternoons.

I?ARLY during one’s stay a general survey of the shack should be undertaken. Perhaps heavy rains have been unkind to a wooden step, or perchance winter winds have played havoc with a few bricks in the chimney. As soon as the most necessary repairs are made and a cleaning accomplished inside, the most interesting task of all is giving those touches to the interior which make it- seem like home. Though it is only a temporary abode, it sometimes is just as easy as not to make it attractive and colourful. Cheap grades of furniture are sometimes used in cottages for a very simple effect. But if the summer cottage is less pretentious, ranging to the tworoom wooden shack, it is usually fortunate if it can get hand-me-down chairs or benches from the city porch or yard. Brightly-coloured Carpeting. Fabrics help to dress up a place even when furniture is less sijJ>stantial. Bright-coloured rag carpeting, gay rugs, chair pads made of slashy cretonne, chintz, or percale, and colour-, ful decorations for the windows—-all j

rugs, and Scotch .wool-woven ones. Even a single mat beside the bed adds comfort and coziness. To Simplify Housekeeping. As no one goes on a vacation for work, anything which simplifies housekeeping is welcome. A new dull finish table oilcloth which has lost its glossy “kitcheny” appearance makes very attractive covers for .washstands, tables, or even for chests of drawers ■ and bureaus. With fancy scalloped edges the covers are decorative and are easily kept clean. Lights which make such a difference in a winter room at home are equally as effective in the cottage. Many of these are wired with electricity and have just one bulb of light suspended from the ceiling in each room- To prevent the glaring light, shades of a lantern type are made of gift wrapping paper. One cylindrical lantern was produced by using the wire top of . a cheap store shade, wiring this to a wooden embroidery hoop to form the top of the lantern and pasting Chinese red gift paper to the hoop. The lower part of the paper was pasted to an-

these add an informal cheerful note in keeping with the life of the temporary home. Textiles are so reasonably priced now that it seems one could never purchase bedspreads, couch covers, and draperies with so little outlay of money. Burnt orange, peach, or green, and other shades according to the taste give quite a lovely glow in a room. If, as often happens, the cottage gets the cast-off dingy curtains of the city home, even they can be freshened up to keep pace with the colours naturally expected iu a summer place. Curtains which began, with a white or cream colour, but which have lost their newness, can be dyed in an inexpensive solution and come out with a coppery yellow colour which gives the effect of sunshine when held up to the light. Recipe for a Yellow Dye. The dyeing is done in the following way: One solution is of one tablespoonful of iron sulphate (sometimes called ferrous sulphate and sometimes copperas) to one gallon of water. A second solution is one tablespoonful of soda ash to one gallon of water. The material is dipped in clear water and then in the first solution. When partially dry it is dipped in the second solution. This process is repeated two or three times, according to the intensity of the colour desired, then rinsed and dried. Usually the fewer the glass curtains the better, certainly if one can view the open country or water from the windows. Even draperies should be toned down so that they do not detract the eye from the outdoor scene. Plaincoloured chintz draperies are better than large figured patterns in such places. As bedspreads and cot covers takeup much area in a room, their colours must be carefully chosen. Coarsely-Woven Fabries. Coarsely-woven fabrics, in homespun patterns, fifty inches wide, are now on the market, and excellent for the purpose. Attractive bedspreads for summer places are made of two pieces of chintz, the top of the bed being covered with a large patterned material and the sides made of a wide ruffle reaching the floor cut from a plain coloured chintz matching the predominating colour of the top. Unbleached muslin makes a good foundation for designs cut from cottou material, such as large clover leaves or geometric patterns, giving a splashing effect with not too much work. Perhaps there is no place where a can of paint can do so much as in a summer cottage. One man carpeted his floor this way. He painted a space the slz£ of a large rug in one colour and surrounded it with a lighter shade. It fabric rugs are to be scattered about there are very cheery ones of primitive type, including small rag rugs, .braided

other embroidery hoop, making a cylinder of bright colour punctuated with silver stars and sending out a soft glow.

Such lanterns though not professional enough for the home usually can keep company with other improvised devices which make the summer cottage an informal and well-remembered haven.