November 1948

How-to for the handy man

Handle for table radio. It is a simple matter to equip a small table radio with a convenient carrying handle. Use a plastic drawer pull-- you can buy one at the dime store.

Veneer or solid?

WHEN you buy furniture, one of the first questions you'll have is whether to buy veneer or solid wood. Is one better than the other? Or more durable? Or worth more for the money?

Garage with 6 uses

IT'S nothing new to toss into the garage everything you don't want, or have no place for, in the house. But it is new to find a garage that's deliberately and painstakingly planned to take it.

Staffordshire lamp base

Peasant designs add sparkle to your Christmas gifts

PEASANT designs have a lot of gift appeal-- and they're fun to paint. So dress up an old doll trunk, an unfinished record cabinet, or a simple wooden chair as a Christmas present for your home or for a hard-to-please friend. You can use any (or every) color in the rainbow and make the design as simple or fancy as you like.

Peasant designs

Mix antiquing or glaze. Mix your own glazing (or antiquing) base with two parts turpentine to one part clear varnish. Add one tablespoon purified linseed oil to each half pint of the turpentine- varnish mixture. Then add the tube oil color you want to tint your glaze.

What? No basement?

MY HOUSE is 8 years old. Neighbors have long since stopped looking in this direction, but strangers still come to wander about and occasionally ask to be shown the works. I am only too happy to show. I like to point out the laborsaving convenience, the homelike warmth, the expanse of sunny windows, the combination of beauty and functional design.

They did it over with chintz and color

THERE are a lot of people who tell you they did it for $236 or $359. Then you read about it and find they got their new furniture out of an attic and their wallpaper out of a box that fell off a truck in Maine. Highway 2, between Mercer and Skowhegan.

Baths and closets

HOW well your bathroom handles those busy hours in the early morning and late evening depends on how well you've arranged it. Five by seven feet is the minimum space for a bathroom with toilet, washbasin, and five-foot tub-- plus storage. Every inch more than that five by seven gives you more potential space for a shower stall, built-in linen cupboards, or extra towel racks.

A good house all the way thru

Something old something new

Spring bulbs you can flower indoors

IF YOU plan now, you can cut winter short. You can order spring to come to your house 8 to 12 weeks early. You can insure now that you'll be able to sit down to breakfast with jaunty red tulips and king-size daffodils in the window, while outside it's still the tail end of winter.

Striking new colors--easy to blend!

WANT a color scheme like one of these for your living room? It's yours for the taking. You don't have to stick to furnishing in safe beige and gray any longer. These crisp greens and lush pinks are part of a palette of 20 Grand Rapids Furniture Guild colors which you can mix and mate with decorator's daring in your own home.

Its four rooms do the work of seven

SMALL rooms, each with one purpose, are on their way out. High building costs have forced the issue. Today, no matter how much space your family needs, you will be wiser to divide that space into several big rooms than into a lot of cubbyholes.

Let's help them hear

ON A single day not long ago, these are the things that happened to a little 8-year-old named Jimmy. He was late for school because he didn't want to be with the other children, and he loitered and didn't hear the bell. In class, he didn't know the answer to a simple question and the other kids, as usual, muttered "Jimmy's a dope."

11 tips from a mother of 3

ARE you a new mother so baby-bound you haven't time for anything but washing diapers and making formula? That was my problem when I had my first baby. Now that I have three, I've learned some tricks in timesaving.

Prizes for your recipes

NEW contest calls for recipes to publish in the Cooks' Round Table next June. We have prize money for your best spring salads and berry or cherry pies. It takes just a minute to write down your favorite recipe, but you'll win $10 for that minute if you're chosen Cook-of-the-Month.

How to double your shelf space

Bye, bye, blackboard!

WHAT happens when you tell Johnny to sit up straight? If your experience is like that of most parents-- very little.

How to be comfortable in an old kitchen

how-to helps

Christmas is coming-- and, if you're like the rest of us, your spirit is singing, but your pocketbook is flat.

Do you say it correctly?

IF HOTEL menus tie your tongue, foreign food phrases have you stumped, and even cook books toss around terms outside your vocabulary, this guide is made-to-order for you. In the parentheses after each word you'll find one or more correct pronunciations from which to choose.

Closets and storage

DO YOU need more closet space? Somehow everyone, from Fibber McGee on, always seems to be short on storage. You can't stretch your walls to make room for an extra bedroom or hall closet, but you can make better use of the space you have.

Quick way to make bolsters

WANT to dress up your bed, sofa, or a mattress-and-springs combination that you use as both sofa and bed? You'll find bolsters are your best bet. Whether it is round or square, the trim lines of a well-made bolster, tightly stuffed with cotton and upholsterer's moss, will add dignity to your bedroom or living room. And bolsters are easy to make, too, when you follow these simple directions.

Spacesaver desks

WHATEVER the size of the spot you call home, you'll need a desk where you can write letters, draw checks, and make up your grocery lists.

Card party for a shut-in

Here's how you can Panel a room with plywood

PANELING a room with plywood is one of the most exciting jobs you can do in your home. It is exciting because so much can be done to make a room handsome with so little skill and not too much time.

Where to put it

Floors of concrete

CONCRETE-SLAB floors have come into the housing picture rather suddenly. Part of the cause was a shortage of hardwood flooring. But there are four other good reasons, and every one of them is important if you are planning a new home or a ground-floor addition to your present home:

Your dog and mine

How can we cure our Cocker Spaniel of barking at callers, snapping at children, and generally misbehaving? Because we don't have other pets or children, our dog has become king of the household. What shall we do?-- Mrs. C. H. A., New York.

How to make Scalloped dressing-table skirt ...and sash curtains to match

HERE'S a smooth-looking dressing-table skirt with two big ideas you'll want to copy: a spill-resistant plastic film top and readymade pleats around a scalloped hem. It's an easy skirt to make. Just follow these directions step by step.

Home furnishings answers

Your family albums for November

Moussorgsky: Pictures at an Exposition. Vladimir Horowitz, piano. Eight sides. (RCA Victor)

One big bedroom will fit three boys

New floors for old

How to make tailored bedspreads

TAILORED bedspreads like the one below are easy to make. All you do is stitch five 3-yard strips together-- then trim the spread to suit your fancy. And you can make tailored bedspreads out of almost any material-- from sheer dotted swiss to heavy satin.

Everything's under the eaves

IN THE average story-and-a-half house, all space is put to work except that triangular space under the eaves. It's hard space to work with, because it has no set height nor depth. But it is a wonderful place to store things. And if your attic is big enough for a bedroom, you can make the room seem much larger by tucking everything under the eaves.

Stow more in your bathroom

New aprons you can sew

HERE'S a fashion show of aprons-- they're different, even dramatic, yet very easy to make. They'll perk up your role as homemaker, or make wonderful gifts.

Keep troubles small

NOVEMBER GARDEN GUIDE

Dig your tuberoses, tuberous begonias, and gladioli. In the Upper South, dig dahlias. In the Lower South, wait until spring. In the Middle South, you'll have to take a chance on a guess. Adjust your lawn mower to cut high now that your winter lawn of ryegrass is ready for its first cut. You can still sow ryegrass in the Middle and Lower South but don't delay.

The diary of a plain dirt gardener

Nov. 2 The calendar tells me that tomorrow is Maggie's birthday. So the boys and I are ready. It was mentioned, mebbe, at the close of last month, that we are to plant a collection of named varieties of narcissus at the edge of the shrubs across the south side of the house-- an ideal location.

THE MAN NEXT DOOR

When I reflect how much courtship and marriage depend on pure chance, luck, and accident, I marvel that at least two marriages out of three seem to turn out remarkably well.