SEA-SIDE COTTAGE DECORATION.
SIMPLY to enter a house is enough to start some people to planning how
it can, might, or should be decorated. The love of beauty seems to be
inherent in the feminine character, and it is the nature of most girls
to make their surroundings as beautiful as circumstances will permit.
Those who have taste and ability for decoration can see no barren
or homely room without being seized with the desire to banish its
uncomeliness, and substitute grace and beauty in its stead.
The ordinary cottage at the sea-shore is a boon to such natures, for
it is peculiarly well adapted to amateur decoration. Its ceiled walls
offer plain, even, flat tinted surfaces for any kind of ornamentation,
and the absence of plaster makes it possible to drive nails wherever it
is desirable to have them.
During a summer spent in one of these cottages on the coast of Maine,
its many possibilities in the way of decoration were revealed, and
personal experience has demonstrated that even the plainest of these
temporary abiding-places is capable of being greatly beautified in a
short time, and with materials usually close at hand, being obtainable
from the fishermen and from the sea itself.
The windows first claim our attention in any house and our little
cottage is no exception to the rule. With, or without, the regulation
shades, windows should always be draped; the formality of their
straight lines and angles can be subdued in no other way.
[Illustration: Diagram of Ring.]
[Illustration: Looping for Curtains.]
Light, airy curtains are suitable for summer, and the prettiest, most
graceful window-drapery imaginable can be made of ordinary fish-net.
An oar for a pole; rings made of rope (Fig. 39); the looping formed
of a rope tied in a sailor’s knot; and a wooden hoop, such as is used
to attach the sail to the mast on a sail-boat (Fig. 40) are all that
are necessary for the completion of this nautical curtain. Small rings
screwed into the oar, with corresponding hooks in the window-frame
just above the window, will hold the oar securely in place. The
looping should hang from a hook fastened in the wall near the window.
The illustration given here will aid the imagination in picturing
the effect of a window treated in this simple manner. Another pretty
curtain may be made of unbleached cotton, with bands of blue at top and
bottom covered with the ever-decorative fish-net.
Gray linen curtains, with strips of the net set in as insertion at
top and bottom, will also be found extremely pretty and serviceable;
or they may be composed of strips of linen and net, of equal width,
running the length of the curtain. Made up in either way the effect is
excellent.
[Illustration: Sea-side Cottage Window.]
From window-drapery we will turn to that suitable for the door-ways.
Portières, in a room where the prevailing tints are gray and light
wood-color, should not present too violent a contrast to those subdued
tones. A curtain of wood-brown, neither too dark nor too light,
will give the needed strength and decision, without destroying the
harmonious coloring. One can be quickly and easily made of brown
canton flannel and decorated with dried starfish, as shown in the
illustration of the starfish portière. The starfish are soft enough to
admit of being sewed to the curtain, and they should be placed with
the underside out, as that is much prettier than the back, showing as
it does two shades of color. A heavy rope with a knot at each end,
stretched taut across the door-way and held in place with two hooks,
will answer for a pole, and the drapery can be hung from it with iron
rings. If the rope is very heavy the ends will have to be parted into
strands before the knots can be tied. Figs. 41 and 42 show the manner
of tying the knot and fastening the end of a moderately heavy rope.
[Illustration: Diagram of Tying Knot.]
[Illustration: Fastening End of Rope.]
[Illustration: Diagram of Book-shelves.]
[Illustration: Row-boat Book-shelves.]
Book-shelves made of half of a flat-bottomed row-boat is not only an
appropriate piece of furniture for a cottage by the sea, but also a
very useful one. The fact of its shape allowing it to occupy a corner
makes it a welcome addition to the furnishing, since there are so few
things adapted to fill that angle. Fig. 43 shows half of boat with
cleats nailed on to hold the shelves, which must be made to fit the
boat. The shelves, when resting on the cleats, are secure enough,
and need not be fastened in any other way. If the book-shelves, when
finished, are painted black, unvarnished, they will have the appearance
of being ebonized.
The evidence of a womanly presence in the shape of a dainty work-basket
always gives a home-like look to a room, and when this useful trifle
happens to be prettily designed it contributes not a little to the
decorations. The standing work-basket represented here is manufactured
of a crab-net, with the handle removed, fastened to a tripod stand.
[Illustration: Diagram of Crab-net Work-basket.]
The tripod may be made of bamboo, or any kind of straight sticks about
the length of a walking-cane. Upon one of the sticks two notches must
be cut; one exactly in the centre, and the other at one side just below
(see Fig. 44). The second stick needs but one notch, which should match
the upper one on the first stick (Fig. 45). The third stick has no
notches.
To fasten them together, Fig. 45 must be laid across Fig. 44 as in Fig.
46, and the two fastened together with screws. The third stick must
then be placed across the others, fitting in the two upper notches;
this must be secured with two screws, one passing through each of the
other sticks (Fig. 47).
[Illustration: Crab-net Work-basket.]
The stand when finished should be painted black, and the crab-net,
which has previously been gilded, fastened in place by tying it on to
each stick with a cord and tassel made of rope and gilded. Notches
cut in the sticks, about three inches from the top, will afford a
resting-place for the cord and keep it from slipping.
[Illustration: Diagram of Hat-rack.]
[Illustration: Hat-Rack.]
The hat-rack, which our drawing represents, makes an excellent and
convenient hall-decoration. The materials used in its construction
are a small mirror, which can be procured at any country store;
four boards, whose length and breadth depend upon the size of the
mirror; two oars, with one-third of each handle sawed off; one dozen
large-sized nails, or small spikes, and a piece of rope about twelve
feet long. The frame is made by nailing the boards together as shown in
illustration, placing the end-boards on top. The opening left in the
centre should be one inch smaller than the mirror. When eight of the
spikes have been driven into the frame at regular distances the mirror
must be fastened on the back with strips of leather or sail-cloth, as
shown in diagram (Fig. 48). The diagram also shows how the oars are
held in place and the rope attached. The knot in which the rope is tied
is called a true-lover’s knot, and can readily be fashioned by studying
the diagram. Small nails driven through the rope where it crosses
the back of the oar will keep the loops from slipping out of place.
The remaining four spikes are to suspend the hat-rack from, and must
be driven into the wall so that two will hold the top loop, and the
others the extreme upper corners of the side loops.
The frame and oars may be painted black and the spikes and ropes
gilded, or the whole will look well painted yellow or brown.
A handsome screen can be made in the following manner: Procure a nice,
firm clothes-horse, saw off the legs close to the bottom cross-piece,
then cover the whole neatly, on both sides, with dark green cambric.
Next tack smoothly on one side of each fold light-brown wrapping-paper,
which comes quite wide, and may be bought by the yard. For the border
use dark-green canton flannel cut in strips eight inches wide. Tack
this around each fold of the screen with gimp-tacks, and paste the
inside edges smoothly over the paper.
The decorations of the screen shown in the illustration are composed
entirely of products of the sea.
Two panels are shown. One is decorated with sea-weed, dried starfish,
and shells. Sea-weed and shells also are used on the other, but a group
of horseshoe crabs take the place of the starfish.
Sea-weed of various kinds suitable for this use can be found along
the coast, and they may be gathered and dried in this way. Loosen
the sea-weed from whatever it is attached to, and while still in the
water slip a piece of stiff paper beneath it and lift it out. Quite a
number can be carried on the same paper, but they should be taken home
as soon as possible and placed in a tub of fresh water. The tub will
give the larger kinds room to spread out, when a smaller vessel would
cramp and rumple them. On sheets of paper, of the kind used for the
screen, carefully lift each sea-weed out of the water, and with a small
camel-hair brush straighten the parts that are too much folded, and
separate those that lie too closely together. Should a plant be very
much crumpled when taken out, quickly replace it in the water and try
again.
[Illustration: Marine Screen.]
When they have all been satisfactorily spread on the paper and have
become partially dry, they must be pressed by laying the paper which
holds the sea-weed on a piece of blotting-paper or folded newspaper,
and over it a piece of linen or fine cotton cloth; then over that
another piece of blotting-, or news-paper; then again the paper with
sea-weed, and so on; when all are finished the entire heap should be
placed between two boards with a moderately heavy weight on top. When
the sea-weed is quite dry—which it will be in three or four days—it
will be found that some varieties will cling closely to the paper on
which they have been spread, while others can readily be removed. Do
not try to separate the first-mentioned kind from the paper, but with
sharp scissors neatly trim off the edges around the weed; the paper
underneath being the same as that of the screen on which it is to be
pasted, it will not show. The other sea-weed can be taken from the
paper and fastened to the screen with mucilage.
[Illustration: Horseshoe Crab Bag.]
Before commencing the decoration some idea of the design, or the effect
to be produced, should be decided upon; then with deft fingers the
articles used can be glued in place. When the glue is dry the whole
must be given a coat of white varnish. This will help to hold things in
place, and will also keep the sea-weed from chipping off.
An odd little bag for holding fancy work is made of two large horseshoe
crab shells, with a satin bag fastened between them and tied at the
top with a bow of ribbon. The main part of the bag can be of cambric
the color of the satin, cut to fit the shells, the puff showing at the
sides being of the satin.
[Illustration: Vase.]
[Illustration: Candlestick.]
A pretty little vase can be made of the shells of three sea-urchins,
of graduating sizes, placed one upon another, the smallest on top. The
small hole in the bottom of the largest one should be filled up with
damp plaster-of-Paris—which will harden very quickly. The other two
shells must have the small holes enlarged to the size of the one at the
top; they can then be joined together with the plaster, and the vase be
used for flowers or vines. A sea-urchin and good-sized starfish make
the prettiest kind of a candlestick, and the addition of a brass-headed
tack on every point but one of the starfish gives it a nice finish
and furnishes feet for it to stand on; the point left without a foot
forms the handle by which it may be carried. The tacks should be
stuck into the fish first, and then the sea-urchin fastened on with
plaster-of-Paris. Not more than ten minutes are consumed in making a
candlestick of this kind, and it will be found to be quite as useful as
it is pretty and unique.
The walls of the cottage can be decorated in many ways with the
beautiful ornaments the sea furnishes. Over one of the doors in the
cottage alluded to at the beginning of this chapter there was an
ornamentation that looked exactly like wood-carving, but was only a
group of starfish arranged and tacked on the wall in a decorative form.
The fish being nearly the exact color of the background, the deception
was almost perfect.
If the walls of a room are divided off into panels, and each panel
decorated in the manner described for the screen, the effect will be
most exquisite.
On entering such a room one might almost imagine oneself to be a
mermaid, and this a lovely chamber beneath the sea.
So much can be done by one’s own hands it depends greatly, if not
entirely, upon the taste or time one is willing to devote to it what
this sea-side habitation shall be; whether the little cottage shall be
in harmony with its surroundings, seemingly a part of the place, or
whether it shall be only a cheap frame-structure, looking as though
it belonged in a country town and had been carried to the coast in a
capricious gale of wind, with decorations, if it has any, inappropriate
and unsuited to the sea-shore.
=How to Dry Starfish.=
Collect the most perfect specimens of all sizes, wash them in fresh
water, and then spread on a board in a dry place (not in the sun) and
leave them undisturbed for a few days, or until thoroughly dried.
=How to Polish Shells.=
Wash your shells in clean, fresh water; procure a small quantity of
muriatic acid and have in readiness two-thirds as much water as acid.
Place the shells in a basin, pour the water upon them, then the acid;
let them remain a few minutes, then take them out and wash again in
clear water. Rub each shell with a soft woollen cloth. A fine enamelled
surface can be given by rubbing them with a little oil and finely
powdered pumice-stone, and then with a chamois-skin.
To bleach fresh-water shells to a snowy whiteness, wash them perfectly
clean and then put them in a jar containing a solution of chloride
of lime, place the vessel in the sun, and, when the shells are
sufficiently bleached, remove and wash them in clear water. Polish them
in the manner before described.
[Illustration]