Method Of Hanging Thin Curtains

The proper hanging of curtains is quite important. Thin white curtains should never be hung from rings or hooks. As they are usually not required to draw, the rod is best slipped into a stitched heading. Rods of white enameled metal are proper to use, as they can be washed. Brass rods, which are so often used, are not as satisfactory, for continued cleaning and polishing is required to keep them in fit condition.

Method Of Hanging Heavy Curtains

Heavy side hangings should be hung upon wooden poles matching the woodwork, or on strong iron rods enameled the color of the window casing. If the side hangings are to be used to draw at night in place of a blind, the casing for the curtain rod should be sufficiently large. If there are net curtains next the glass, side hangings made to draw, and a valance, three separate curtain rods, one outside the other, are required. If muslin curtains are placed next to the window and the side hangings are not to be drawn, then there need be only two curtain rods, for the side hangings and valance may be placed on the same rod. Again, if there are to be muslin curtains and side hangings, but no valance, there need be only one rod used, the side hangings and the muslin curtains being placed upon the same rod.

Allow A Glimpse Of The Outside World

No window should ever be hung with a single curtain stretched across it, and even when screening is necessary a few inches should always be open in the center between the curtains. The most beautiful pictures possible for a room are those made by glimpses of the outside world, framed by the soft folds of the window hangings. Even the despised smokestacks often take on a wonderful beauty when only a small portion of the sky line is shown in this way.

Color, Texture, And Cost Should All Be Taken Into Consideration

In conjunction with simple hangings and good design, the beauty of a curtain depends upon its color and texture. The buying of curtain material for her windows is no easy problem for the woman who wishes only the beautiful and yet must take count of the cost. There is no branch of furnishing upon which such great profits are made by most merchants as in curtain materials and in ready-made hangings. With a little knowledge it is possible to save more in curtains and their fittings than in anything else in the ordinary furnishing of a house.

The Economical Way

For the brackets and poles at the windows, it is always best to measure windows oneself, buy the fittings of the proper length, and then hire a carpenter to put them up. The resultant bill will always be found to be much smaller by this method than when the merchant sends out a man to take measurements and put up the curtain rods.

Materials

In the same way, when expense is to be considered, it is always cheaper to buy the materials and make your own curtains and side hangings than to buy them ready to hang. The one exception to this rule is perhaps the hemstitched curtains of fine scrim in white or ecru. The simple machine finish of these curtains is very fine and the price of two dollars a pair is not prohibitive. Fine net curtains, finished with a simple hem, are also to be had at little more than the cost of the material,and at about the price of scrim. These two varieties of curtains are suitable in all or any of the rooms in a house. Sheer muslin curtains with wide hems are especially good in the bedrooms. They are usually best hung in straight lines, but occasionally ruffled muslin curtains, looped back daintily, are used in strictly colonial homes. No lace-trimmed or all lace curtains should ever be used, with the possible exception of exquisite real lace. Even the use of that, however, is decidedly questionable in taste and it is fortunate that not many people can pay the extravagant prices of such curtains. Machine-made lace curtains are not inexpensive and are exceedingly ugly. They should never be used, as they cheapen the entire appearance of the house. In purchasing them, the home maker surely disobeys the good old household rule, "Buy only the best of its kind."

The Height of This Sheraton Dining-room is Emphasized by the Use of Narrow, Straight Window Hangings without a Valance.

(Copr., 1916, Good Furniture Magazine).

Lowers the Height of This Colonial Room. The Design or the Sofa la American Empire.