Pictures, if well chosen, add much to the appearance of a room, and impart to it an air of completeness, and a home look, which many people know how to appreciate. To produce this effect, the subjects of the pictures must be such as we can., truly sympathize with, something to awaken our admiration, reverence, or love. All the feelings of our nature may be illustrated by pictures. There are some which we seem to make bosom companions of; others have a moral effect, and at times prevent our going astray by their silent monitions. It is, therefore, worth while to take pains and choose good subjects, whether in engravings or paintings, and to frame and hang them suitably when chosen. Gilt frames are most suitable for rather dark paintings, and on a deep colored wall; while prints look well in a frame of composition, oak, rose-wood, or bird's-eye maple, finished with a gilt moulding. Care should be taken to hang them in a proper light, so as best to bring out all the effects of the pictures, and to place them so that the light shall fall from the same side as represented by the painter. In picture galleries and great houses, brass rods are fixed all around the room close to the ceiling, from which the pictures are hung, but in small rooms it is often best not to show the lines or wires by which the pictures hang. This is done by nailing a strong cord across the back, about two inches below the top, and then suspending it from two nails standing out but a little way from the wall. When there are several pictures in a room, the ordinary rule is, to have either the upper or lower edge of the frames in a line, on whichever side they may be hung.

For bed-room furniture, mahogany, maple-wood, and oak, are the best and prettiest; there are also very serviceable, well-polished, stained wood imitations of all these three; and there are, too, very common and trumpery imitations, which turn shabby in a few months, and are generally badly put together, and do no service; two good chairs are worth a dozen of such rubbish.

As a general rule we should advise avoidance of all cheap, showy furnishing establishments: likewise, unless you are wealthy, of all fashionable upholsterers. Patronize good, old-established houses of business.

Never buy second-hand bedsteads, bedding, or hangings, unless you are well convinced that no more than you bargain for is included in the purchase.

Iron and brass bedsteads, which can now be had of every size, form, and price, are far preferable, both as regards health, cleanliness, and lightness, to any others.

It can scarcely be necessary to repeat how injurious to health are very small bed-rooms, and the same rule will apply to curtains which prevent the change of air, compelling us to breathe over again a portion of the air we have expired. The curtains should never enclose the bed. In low chambers, the bed should be near the floor, and the best place for it is at the middle of the side of the room, not touching the wall.

Chintz or dimity are better for bed-furniture than damask, moreen, or any fabric containing wool; they harbor less dust and are less liable to hide vermin.

Three-ply carpets are best adapted for bed-rooms. Never place carpet under a bed, or you provide a resting-place for all the dust and flock which daily falls from the mattresses, and establish a nice hot-bed for fleas. Let the carpet be made in about three pieces, in order that it may be frequently taken up and beaten or shaken, and the floor scrubbed clean.

Soft feather beds cause an undue warmth that weakens the action of the skin, and makes one susceptible to cold. A well stuffed feather bed, or a mattress, should be used. Good mattresses of wool, and wool and horsehair, iron bedsteads, and as little bed-furniture, curtains, etc, as may be, with a light quilt, are the best preventives against rising languid, inert, and unfit in the morning for the duties of the day. The covering should be light. A wide bed affords the luxury Franklin recommends, of moving from side to side, and a bed should have but one occupant.

Bed-room and dressing-room chairs should be light. Couches, tables, dressing-glasses, wash-stands, etc, are necessary articles, and the couches may be made of cheap materials, covered with chintz or brown holland. Bureaus and wardrobes will not be forgotten. Fireguards of painted wire are a security against accidents. Of the smaller articles in use a host might be enumerated; but every-day need will suggest them.

Never crowd a bed-room with furniture; have that which is really useful and requisite, and no more; and in fitting it up, always remember that illness often comes when we least expect it, and take care that your room shall possess such articles as will then be needful for comfort and ease.

A dining-room requires little furniture, but that little should be good and handsome, and of mahogany.

About furnishing drawing-rooms we can give no directions, so much depends upon taste. We would only reiterate our warning to beware of showy, veneered, vamped-up furniture, or, when the room has had a fire in it some dozen times, you will be startled occasionally by reports as if small cannon were discharged, and on rising to investigate such alarming noises, you will find, perhaps a crack across one door of the beautiful rosewood cabinet, or a gaping chasm in that lovely centre table, or a piece of carved work flown off the card table, showing only-pine beneath!

Here, again, a little furniture tastefully arranged is far better than a crowd of articles; besides, in one's course through life, furniture accumulates gradually, and if it is necessary to sell one thing in order to make way for another, that is a very losing business.

We now come to the kitchens, where the wants are multifarious; for here must be accumulated means of feeding, and cleaning, and keeping in order the whole house. Of course we can give no detailed account of what will be required, as all depends upon the extent and style of the household; all we can do, therefore, is to make one or two general remarks on the durability of different wares.

As few copper cooking utensils as possible should be had, and those few should be most thoroughly tinned in the inside, and always carefully cleaned and dried before being put away. We prefer block tin to anything else for saucepans, pots, and kettles generally. Iron does not so quickly or plainly tell any tale of dirt or neglect; cast iron is very brittle, and cannot be repaired when broken; and copper is likely to harbor verdigris. A good double block tin saucepan should always have the cover, the handle, and the back, kept bright as silver; and the top, spout, front, and handle of the kettle, should also be kept bright; for besides that a polished surface maintains heat better than an uneven, blackened one, it looks wonderfully better; and if the smoke is never allowed to gather on these parts, it is easy to keep the utensils as bright as they were at first.

For stewpans, iron tinned on the inside is most useful.

The ancients seem to have used lamps of various forms; an improvement on torches, certainly, but a more simple contrivance than candles, which in the twelfth century and afterwards, came into use throughout Europe. Wax, spermaceti, and tallow, with different kinds of oil for lamps of an improved fashion, are still in use. Spirit gas and camphene are cleanly substitutes, but extremely dangerous. The lighting of apartments by inflammable gas is one of the most useful results of the investigations of modern science. It is said that Murdoch, an engineer, was the first to make this discovery available on an extensive scale. He commenced his experiments in 1792.

Candlesticks for common house or kitchen use should be of tin or brass, and large enough to save grease spots. There is no wear in japan.

Wooden bowls for washing glass and china, and block tin or zinc hand bowls will be found most serviceable.

All utensils for the conveyance of water about a house should be of metal, as water-cans of different sizes, hot-water ewers with covers, shaving mugs, etc, as thereby much breakage will be saved, and these, if bought good at first, will, with ordinary care, last a very long time. The same remark applies to foot-baths. Very pretty toilet sets for the wash-stand are also now made in zinc, and beautifully painted or japanned.

Sarcophagus and other extraordinarily shaped coal-scuttles, are to be avoided as most troublesome and awkward affairs, out of which it is next to impossible to extract coal conveniently.

Soyer gives the following list of kitchen articles for a family of six.

Eight copper stewpans, two larger ones, holding one gallon and a half, and the next one gallon, the others smaller by degrees to one pint; one oval fish-kettle, holding about one gallon and a half; one middle-sized braising-pan; one preserving-pan; one round bowl for beating whites of eggs; two saute-pans; one omelette-pan; one frying-pan; one bain-marie; six saucepans for sauces; one middle-sized tin pie-mould; two tin jelly-moulds; one tin flanc mould for fruit; one freezing-pot, with every requisite; two baking-sheets; one gridiron; one small salamander; one colander-spoon; one bottle-jack; two spits; one dripping-pan; one screen; one sugar-pan; two soup-ladles; eight copper spoons, two of them colanders; two wire baskets; one wire sieve; two hair sieves; twenty-four tartlet-pans; two tammies; one jelly-bag; twelve wooden spoons; two paste-brushes; one pair of scissors; two kitchen knives; six larding-needles; one packing-needle; one box of vegetable-cutters; one box of paste-cutters; one meat-saw; one cutlet chopper; one meat chopper; six meat-hooks, tinned; one rolling-pin; eight kitchen basins; six china pie-dishes; six earthen bowls for soups and gravies; four kitchen table-cloths; eighteen rubbers; twelve fish-napkins; six pudding-cloths; four round towels.