The Complete Home

The Complete Home, by Various

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Title: The Complete Home
Author: Various
Editor: Clara E. Laughlin
Release Date: September 4, 2005 [EBook #16650]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE
COMPLETE HOME ***

Produced by Al Haines

[Frontispiece: A $3,400 House.]

The COMPLETE HOME

EDITED BY
CLARA E. LAUGHLIN

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
NEW YORK
1907

Copyright, 1906, by
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY

Published November, 1906

CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
CHOOSING A PLACE TO LIVE
By OLIVER R. WILLIAMSON
Taste and expedience--Responsibilities--Renting, buying or
building--Location--City or country--Renunciations--Schools and
churches--Transportation--The butcher, the baker, and the candlestick
maker--The home acre--Comparative cost in renting--The location
sense--Size of lot--Position--Outlook and inlook--Trees--Income and
expenditure--Style--Size--Plans for building--Necessary rooms--The
sick room--Room to entertain--The "living room"--The dining room

and kitchen--The sleeping rooms--Thinking it out
CHAPTER II
FLOORS, WALLS, AND WINDOWS
By OLIVER R. WILLIAMSON
The necessity of good floors--Material and cost of laying--Ornamental
flooring--Waxed, varnished, and oiled floors--Carpets, linoleum, and
mats--The stairway--Rugs--Oriental rugs--Kitchen and upper
floors--Matting and cardoman cloth--Uses of the decorator--Wood in
decoration--Panels and plaster--The beamed ceiling--Paint, paper, and
calcimine--Shades and curtains--Leaded panes and casements--Storm
windows
CHAPTER III
LIGHTING AND HEATING
By OLIVER R. WILLIAMSON
Necessity of sunlight--Kerosene--Gas and matches--Electric
light--Pleasing arrangement--Adaptability--Protection--Regulated
light--The two sure ways of heating--The hot-air furnace--Direction of
heat--Registers--Hot water and steam heat--Indirect heating--Summary
CHAPTER IV
FURNITURE
By OLIVER R. WILLIAMSON
The quest of the beautiful--Ancient designs--The Arts and
Crafts--Mission furniture--Comfort, aesthetic and physical--Older
models in furniture--Mahogany and
oak--Substantiality--Superfluity--Hall furniture--The family
chairs--The table--The davenport--Bookcases--Sundries--Willow

furniture--The dining table--Discrimination in choice
CHAPTER V
HOUSEHOLD LINEN
By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
Linen, past and present--Bleached and
"half-bleached"--Damask--Quality--Design--Price and size--Necessary
supply--Plain, hemstitched, or drawn--Doilies and table
dressing--Centerpieces--Monograms--Care of table linen--How to
launder--Table pads--Ready-made bed linen--Price and quality--Real
linen--Suggestions about towels
CHAPTER VI
THE KITCHEN
By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
The plan--Location and finish--The floor--The windows--The
sink--The pantry--Insects and their extermination--The refrigerator and
its care--Furnishing the kitchen--The stove--The table and its care--The
chairs--The kitchen cabinet--Kitchen utensils
CHAPTER VII
THE LAUNDRY
By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
Laundry requisites--The stove and furnishings--Irons and
holders--Preparing the "wash"--Removing stains--Soaking and
washing--Washing powders and soap--Washing woolens--Washing the
white clothes--Starch--Colored clothes--Stockings--Dainty
laundering--How to wash silk--Washing blankets--Washing
curtains--Tidying up and sprinkling--Care of irons--How to iron

CHAPTER VIII
TABLE FURNISHINGS
By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
Dining-room cheer--Stocking the china-cupboard--The
groundwork--Course sets--Odd pieces--Silver and
plate--Glass--Arrangement--Duties of the waitress--The breakfast
table--Luncheon--Dinner--The formal dinner--The formal
luncheon--Washing glass--Washing and cleaning silver--How to wash
china--Care of knives
CHAPTER IX
THE BEDROOM
By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
Light and air--Carpets versus rugs--Mattings--Wall covering--Bedroom
woodwork--Bedroom draperies--Bedroom furnishing--Careful
selection--Toilet and dressing tables--Further comforts--The
bedstead--Spring, mattress, and pillows--Bed
decoration--Simplicity--Care of bedroom and bed--Vermin and their
extermination
CHAPTER X
THE BATH ROOM
By OLIVER R. WILLIAMSON
Plumbing--Bath room location and furnishing--The tub--The
lavatory--The closet--Hot water and how to get it--Bath room fittings
CHAPTER XI
CELLAR, ATTIC, AND CLOSETS

By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
The cellar floor--Ventilation--The partitioned cellar--Order in the
cellar--Shelves and closets--The attic--Order and care of
attic--Closets--The linen closet--Clothes closets--The china
closet--Closet tightness--Closet furnishings--Care of closets and
contents
CHAPTER XII
HANGINGS, BRIC-A-BRAC, BOOKS, AND PICTURES
By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
The charm of drapery--Curtains--Portières--Bric-a-brac--The growth of
good taste--Usefulness with beauty--Considerations in
buying--Books--Their selection--Sets--Binding--Paper--Pictures--Art
sense--The influence of pictures--Oil paintings--Engravings and
photographs--Suitability of subjects--Hanging of pictures
CHAPTER XIII
THE NICE MACHINERY OF HOUSEKEEPING
By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
Monday--Tuesday--Wednesday--Thursday--Friday--Saturday--House
cleaning--Preparation--Cleaning draperies, rugs, carpets--Cleaning
mattings and woodwork--Cleaning beds
CHAPTER XIV
HIRED HELP
By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
The general housemaid--How to select a maid--Questions and
answers--Agreements--The maid's leisure time--Dress and personal

neatness--Carelessness--The maid's room--How to train a maid--The
daily routine--Duties of cook and nurse--Servant's company

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
A $3,400 House. . . . . . . . Frontispiece
A Unique Arrangement of the Porch
A Homelike Living Room
An Attractive and Inexpensive Hall
An Artistic Staircase Hall
An Oriental Rug of Good Design: Shirvan
Good Examples of Chippendale and Old Walnut
A Chippendale Secretary
The Dining Room
The Kitchen
The Laundry
Wedgwood Pottery, and Silver of Antique Design
A Collection of Eighteenth-century Cut Glass
The Bedroom
The Bathroom
The Drawing-room

THE COMPLETE HOME
CHAPTER I
CHOOSING A PLACE TO LIVE
Blessed indeed are they who are free to choose where and how they
shall live. Still more blessed are they who give abundant thought to
their choice, for they may not wear the sackcloth of discomfort nor
scatter the ashes of burned money.

TASTE AND EXPEDIENCE
Most of us have a theory of what the home should be, but it is stowed
away with the wedding gifts of fine linen that are cherished for our