ONLY the other day we were appealed to by a friend for suggestions on how to furnish a room prettily, and at the same time inexpensively, and we know that there are many girls like this friend who, loving to surround themselves with beauty and comfort, have not the means of doing so in the ordinary way; but must depend largely upon their own skill and ingenuity for the gratification of this taste. After all, there is more real pleasure in planning and contriving the furnishing of one’s room, even with only a small sum for outlays, than there is in ordering a set from the furnishers which is exactly like a hundred others. In the former case we make our room expressive of our individuality; in the latter we walk in the beaten track of those who have little or no individuality to express. So much for the sentiment of the idea. Now let us turn to the practical side, and find the best way of carrying it out, and putting our theories into practice. In mentioning old furniture in the heading of this chapter, we do not allude to the antiques in such high favor just now; they are unique and handsome enough in themselves, requiring no contriving to beautify them; but there are few families who do not possess furniture that is out of date, old-fashioned without being antique; furniture that time and hard usage has reduced to a state of shabbiness anything but beautiful, yet not worth sending to the cabinet-makers to be furbished up. It is the renovation of such furniture that will help much toward making a room pretty and attractive. We need not attempt to restore the furniture to its original state, that would be impracticable. But we can work wonders in transforming it; in turning a homely article into one that will be an adornment instead of a blemish. =Bookcase.= Take, for instance, an old bureau belonging to a cottage set. The mirror, perhaps, is broken, or if it is not it can be used to better advantage elsewhere. Removing that, there is left merely a chest of drawers, which we will proceed to convert into a bookcase by the addition of shelves placed on top. If you have a brother who is handy with his tools the matter is simple enough; without him a carpenter may have to be employed to make the shelves, or, by taking the plan and measurements to a carpenter-shop the materials can be obtained ready for use, and all you will have to do will be to put them together. Although there is a saying that “a girl can never drive a nail straight,” we have reason to believe the contrary, and feel sure that a little practice will enable most girls to do many bits of light carpentry work as well as the boys. Three feet is the height of a bureau belonging to an ordinary set of cottage furniture, so we will take that as our standard for measurement, and make our shelves according to it. [Illustration: Fig. 366.—Diagram of Book-shelves.]