A Shoe-screen
For a bedroom a convenient screen is shown in Fig. 4. This is properly called a shoe-screen, since there is a ledge made fast to the lower part of it to serve as a rest for the foot when lacing or buttoning shoes. There are also two rows of pockets on the inside of the screen, into which shoes, slippers, and sandals can be slipped.
A convenient size to make this screen is three feet six inches high and two feet six inches wide. The foot-ledge should not be more than fourteen inches above the floor and six inches wide. The frame may be made from any easily worked wood, since when it is painted, or stained and varnished, nothing but the grain will show. The uprights should be three inches wide, seven-eighths of an inch thick, and three feet three inches long. Lap or dowelled joints should be made at the top corners, and at the foot of both pieces notches are to be cut in with saw and chisel, as shown at Fig. 5. The foot-pieces may then be driven up in place and made fast with screws or slim nails driven through the projecting ends of the side uprights and into the feet. The feet are of wood seven-eighths of an inch thick, sixteen inches long, and six inches high. The pattern may be drawn with lead-pencil on the wood; then, with a compass-saw, cut the wood on the lines, having first clamped the piece in a vise to hold it securely. The foot-shelf is made fast to the screen after the covering material is in place, and at both ends it is supported with brackets, the lower ends of which are made fast with screws.
A cross-rib should be made fast in the screen-frame midway between the top-rail and the one to which the ledge is attached, and a line of tacks is driven through the covering material and into the frame on both sides. This is to give a better finish, and also to support the rows of pockets when full of shoes.
The strip of denim for the pockets is seven inches wide and hemmed on both edges. It is then caught to the covering material so that generous pockets will be formed, each one being large enough to accommodate a pair of shoes.
The front of the screen may be covered with a fancy-figured material fastened on with small tacks; over this a gimp to match the material can be laid and held down with large-headed tacks, such as may be purchased at upholstery supply stores. The painting, staining, or varnishing should, of course, be done before the fabric, or covering material, is made fast to the frame.
A Bedroom-door Screen
At night it is often agreeable to have a bedroom door left open. Yet one does not want to sleep in an actual draught, and a screen such as is shown in Fig. 6 will be found most useful.
This screen is in one piece, six feet six inches high and eighteen inches wide. The frame is made from pine, white-wood, or any other wood to match the trim of the room. Two cross-rails are fixed so as to remain equal distances apart, thus forming three panels to the screen. Hinges are arranged at one edge, which in turn are made fast to the door-casing, so that when the screen is not in use it can be thrown back against the wall; or, if thought preferable, eyes may be driven in the casing and hooks in the edge of the screen, so that it may swing as if on hinges, and yet be lifted off at will and set away in a closet. An eye on the door and a hook on the screen will serve as a fairly secure fastening against intrusion. Any pretty material that matches the paper of the room may be used to cover this screen, and the edges should be bound with gimp and large-headed tacks to give it a good appearance.