FURNISHING THE HOME-MADE DOLL-HOUSE
With the carpenter work of a doll-house completed, the finishing of the inside,—wall papering and painting,—and selecting of furnishings 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 moldings 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 center 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.