l color-in harmony with the rest of the room, the wood
shades usually being the best, with the exception of cherry and the red
tones of mahogany. Teak is a good tone for hard wood. Soft wood floors
of such woods as pine, fir, and cypress can be made to have the
appearance of hardwood if first scraped or sandpapered and then stained
with an oil stain and finished with a thin coat of shellac and two coats
of prepared floor wax.

The usual ways of using floor covering are: one large rug which leaves a
border of hard wood floor of about a foot all around it; several small
rugs placed with a well balanced plan upon the floor; and carpet, either
seamless or of strips sewed together, made into one rug or entirely
covering the floor.

In the majority of cases the use of a single large plain rug is by far
the best plan, for it gives the feeling of an unobtrusive background
whose beauty of color serves to bind the room in the unity of a well
planned scheme; and this sense of dignity and solidity goes a long way
on the road to success. It is one of the most satisfactory methods of
covering a floor imaginable. These plain carpets come in several grades
and many colors and are woven in widths from nine to thirty feet which
can be cut in any desired length. This makes it possible to have a rug
which will be a suitable size for a room. The colors are very good,
especially the soft grays, tans, putty color, and taupe. There are also
some good blues and greens, a very beautiful dark blue having great
possibilities. There are also, besides these wide carpets, narrow
carpets from twenty-seven inches to four feet wide which can be sewed
together and made into rugs, or the carpet can cover the entire floor.
In some cases this is the most attractive thing to do, for it will make
a room seem larger by carrying the vision all the way to the wall
without the break of a border; and it also covers a multitude of sins in
the way of a rough floor. In these days of vacuum cleaners the old
terrors of dust have lost their sting.

A plain carpet or rug may be used with propriety in any room in the
house, provided the right color is chosen for the surroundings. Some
people, however, prefer a figured carpet in the dining-room on account
of the wear and tear around the table. This risk is not very great if
the rug is of good quality in the first place. A two-toned all-over
design is often chosen for halls and stairs because of the special wear
which th