A Low Toilette Chair can be made of a round wooden box,- covered
and padded, the back made by nailing two broomsticks up the back for
sides, and one across the top, painting them and making a net-work of
clothes-line braid or picture cord.
A Wood Box is constructed of a painted vinegar keg, the hoops
painted a contrasting color, or a pretty stripe of gay wall-paper pasted
on the hoops and at the top and bottom, then the whole varnished.
A Hanging Book-shelf may be made of three shelves of walnut or
wood painted black and hung with picture cord and tassels, one above
the other. A corner bracket may be made with one shelf only, sus-
pended from the ceiling by cords and tassels. A long bracket to hang
against the wall, with one tiny shelf near the bottom, is very pretty for
tiny vases or a statuette or bust.
A Small "Hour Glass" table is made by cutting out two round
pieces of wood, nailing a stick between, and covering by chintz, drawn
in around the center by a band of the same or ribbon. This may be
cut with an eight-cornered top and a pocket be put between each cor-
ner for work or scraps. These pockets are made by taking a straight
piece, dividing it into sections, allowing room for a box pleat at the top
of each pocket ; take another piece of the same length, sew it with the
back in a seam and fasten it at each end of the pocket or back piece,
letting the front piece fall forward, thus forming the pocket. Tack this
piece straight around the hour glass top after all is covered.
If there is no closet for the clothes hamper, a convenient and pretty
soiled linen receptacle is contrived in this way: Take an ordinary
flour barrel, line with paper muslin, and on the outside cover it with
cretonne, laid in box plaits. Around the top finish with a lambrequin
made, of turkey red, with cretonne flowers transferred on the center of
each point. Cover the lid with cretonne inside and out, and put a full
plaiting of the same around the edge. For the handle on top use an
iron trunk handle. By leaving the handle off the top and having the lid
HOME-MADE FURNITURE. 175
made large enough to fit over instead of the ordinary way, the barrel
can stand in a room and be used for a table.
Or it may be used for wood, kindlings, or to hold the coal hod and
the rest of the homely appurtenances of the stove.
A Wardrobe for bed-room, camping out, or for summer cottage use
is thus designed : Take a pine board six feet long, six inches wide,
and thick enough to allow iron or brass pegs to be firmly screwed in.
Off each end of the board saw seventeen inches, and attach them again
at the same place to the longer portion of the board by hinges. This
looks like a rough book-slide. Cover the board by pasting chintz over
it. Then screw in a row of pegs or hooks. Place this sort of book-
slide against the wall, and judge the best place to screw two very
strong rings into the top edge or thickness of the central three feet long
board to hang the wardrobe by. There are thus formed three sides of
a square, but the fourth side of the square, namely, the front of the
wardrobe, is open. Across it fasten two rods of wood, iron or brass,
each of course three feet long, with holes at each end. These holes
slip on to small hooks fastened into the ends of the shorter boards
furthest from the hinges.
Page 155
Presented as published in 1886. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
A Low Toilette Chair can be made of a round wooden box,- covered and padded, the back made by nailing two broomsticks up the back for sides, and one across the top, painting them and making a net-work of clothes-line braid or picture cord.
A Wood Box is constructed of a painted vinegar keg, the hoops painted a contrasting color, or a pretty stripe of gay wall-paper pasted on the hoops and at the top and bottom, then the whole varnished.
A Hanging Book-shelf may be made of three shelves of walnut or wood painted black and hung with picture cord and tassels, one above the other. A corner bracket may be made with one shelf only, suspended from the ceiling by cords and tassels. A long bracket to hang against the wall, with one tiny shelf near the bottom, is very pretty for tiny vases or a statuette or bust.
A Small "Hour Glass" table is made by cutting out two round pieces of wood, nailing a stick between, and covering by chintz, drawn in around the center by a band of the same or ribbon. This may be cut with an eight-cornered top and a pocket be put between each corner for work or scraps. These pockets are made by taking a straight piece, dividing it into sections, allowing room for a box pleat at the top of each pocket ; take another piece of the same length, sew it with the back in a seam and fasten it at each end of the pocket or back piece, letting the front piece fall forward, thus forming the pocket. Tack this piece straight around the hour glass top after all is covered.
If there is no closet for the clothes hamper, a convenient and pretty soiled linen receptacle is contrived in this way: Take an ordinary flour barrel, line with paper muslin, and on the outside cover it with cretonne, laid in box plaits. Around the top finish with a lambrequin made, of turkey red, with cretonne flowers transferred on the center of each point. Cover the lid with cretonne inside and out, and put a full plaiting of the same around the edge. For the handle on top use an iron trunk handle. By leaving the handle off the top and having the lid
made large enough to fit over instead of the ordinary way, the barrel can stand in a room and be used for a table.
Or it may be used for wood, kindlings, or to hold the coal hod and the rest of the homely appurtenances of the stove.
A Wardrobe for bed-room, camping out, or for summer cottage use is thus designed : Take a pine board six feet long, six inches wide, and thick enough to allow iron or brass pegs to be firmly screwed in. Off each end of the board saw seventeen inches, and attach them again at the same place to the longer portion of the board by hinges. This looks like a rough book-slide. Cover the board by pasting chintz over it. Then screw in a row of pegs or hooks. Place this sort of bookslide against the wall, and judge the best place to screw two very strong rings into the top edge or thickness of the central three feet long board to hang the wardrobe by. There are thus formed three sides of a square, but the fourth side of the square, namely, the front of the wardrobe, is open. Across it fasten two rods of wood, iron or brass, each of course three feet long, with holes at each end. These holes slip on to small hooks fastened into the ends of the shorter boards furthest from the hinges.