Almost any sort of pretty net or scrim curtain is appropriate for the
downstairs windows, with a preference in favor of the more dignified
lace in the drawing-room. With the other rooms we can take more
liberty. The ruffled curtain is sash length and looped with a band of
the same, or with a white cotton cord and tassel at the middle sash if
the window be short, otherwise midway between it and the sill. There
are fine fish nets, or _tulle de Cadiz_, 45, 50, and 60 inches wide at
50 cents a yard, which make charming living- or dining-room curtains,
edged on three sides with the new 1-inch fringe or fancy edge, at 5 and
10 cents a yard, which comes for that purpose; and madras, plain or
figured, is also good, a pretty combination being the fish net with
colored madras over curtain. Raw-silk curtains are in use, too, but
anything which stands too much between the home dwellers and the air
and light is best avoided. Silk curtains are usually trimmed with a
brush edge. Glass curtains are only necessary as a screen or to soften
the harsh outline of a heavy curtain, and must be as transparent and
inconspicuous as possible, the right side toward the glass. They are
sill length, shirred to a small brass rod set inside the casing, and
draped if the over curtain hangs straight, to maintain a balance.
Those used on windows visible at once from the same quarter must be
alike. The lace panels with a center design which we sometimes see in
windows, but more frequently in doors, are too severe to be either
graceful or ornamental. The vestibule door is best treated to
correspond with the drawing-room windows, with an additional silk
curtain to be drawn at night; or the silk curtain harmonizing with the
woodwork of the hall may be used alone.
The curtaining of bedroom windows has already been discussed at some
length. Swisses, dimities, figured muslins, and madras, either alone
or supplemented by a valance, an over curtain, or both, of madras,
chintz or cretonne, are preeminently the bedroom curtains, and may
either be draped or hang straight, depending somewhat on the shape of
the window. The long, narrow window needs the broadening effect of the
draped curtain, the illusion of width being further increased by
extending the curtain out to cover the casement, while the
straight-hanging curtain gives additional length to the short window.
Frilled curtains are usually looped, and seemingly increase the size of
the room by enlarging the area of vision. An extra allowance of 6
inches is made for draping, with an additional inch or two for
shrinkage. The charm of simplicity is always to be borne in mind when
curtaining a room.
PORTIERES
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