A cushion for the rocker and a flower by the window will also add color and finishing touches to the room.
Outline of project activities.—
| Jobs | References |
|---|---|
| Selected wall paper and helped paper the room, using paper with light background and pastel figures in it. | Looked through several wall paper catalogues and samples at the furniture store. |
| Painted the woodwork an ivory color. | I got sample folders of paint and also used the samples in the catalogue. |
| The House and Its Care, by Matthews. | |
| Painted the floor an inside tan (deep tan color). | Used sample folders of paint. |
| Goldstein, Art in Everyday Life, for suggestion on color. | |
| Painted the furniture with beige enamel. | I referred to paint folders. |
| Made an unbleached krinkled spread, repeating the color of the draperies on the spread. | I looked through several magazines and catalogues for styles and my mother and sister gave suggestions. |
| Made deep cream voile curtains. These were straight curtains, not ruffled. | Studied different styles of curtains in magazines. |
| Made draperies. | Referred to magazines and catalogues. |
| Made cretonne cushion for rocker. | Mother gave me suggestions. |
| Made a dresser scarf, repeating colors that are in the wall paper. | Consulted mother and my teacher. |
Time for project.—A total of 62-1/2 hours was spent on my project between November 15 and January 11.
Story of my project.—My bedroom is a northeast room, long and narrow, with sloping walls, and had but one window on the north side. This made it dark and cheerless during most of the year. Last summer my father built a dormer window in the east side of the sloping walls. Immediately the room seemed transformed. It did not look so long and narrow and the sunshine drove out the darkness and cheerlessness. This improvement gave me the idea of remodeling the bedroom, and I saw many possibilities of making it into a cheerful and cozy one, where I could spend much of my spare time.
I began almost immediately to remodel. The first thing I started with was the walls. They were not suited for painting, so I chose paper, which I got at the furniture store. After looking through several wall paper catalogues I chose paper with a light background and an inconspicuous, conventionalized design in pastel tones of blue-green, red-orange, violet, and yellow. (Sample attached.)
Before I put the paper on the wall I cleaned and sandpapered the woodwork, floors, and dusted the walls. Father and I then began papering. We had some trouble in matching the paper, but after the first two strips were matched the rest was put on without difficulty. The next job was painting the woodwork. I applied two coats of ivory paint after having dusted the wood so that there would be no dust to interfere with the painting. This was done successfully and without difficulty. (Sample of color used.)
The next step was painting the floor. I chose inside tan. (Sample of color used.)
The furniture was easier to paint than the floor but it took quite a while to give it two coats. I used enamel that dried in two hours, so had to be careful not to rebrush the parts I had painted, as rebrushing causes light streaks after the paint has set. (Sample of color used.)
With father's assistance, I completed the difficult work of papering and painting. Then I began the pleasant work of making a spread, curtains, draperies, and cushion.