June 1948

Do you have the right window?

Their steep back yard was a washout

What's the best terrace for you?

ONCE you've decided that you want an outdoor spot for relaxing-- whether it's a terrace, loggia, patio, barbecue, or grotto-- the question is where you want it and what kind to build.

Don't laugh at your children's dreams

YOUR child's first interests are like his first teeth. They are not going to stay, but they should be carefully guarded so that those that follow them will come in straight. If you scoff at his early interests, you will lose golden opportunities to gain his confidence and guide his thinking.

Closets with a plan

This could happen to your house

YOU telephone a local bug chaser. He drives to your door in his jeep, sticks a big hose from his fog sprayer thru your door or a window, and fills your house with a "dry" fog. Ten minutes later the job is done, the man and his jeep off to another job. No more bugs of any kind in

Put your card table to work

Garden clinic

Hints for the handy man

When repairing anything with many small bolts, screws, and other elusive parts, lay the parts on the sticky side of a length of tape as you remove them. You can easily put them back in the same order in which you took them out.

TRUMAN

AS I RECOMMENDED to the Congress last February, we must take steps both to increase the immediate volume of housing construction and to achieve progressively better housing at lower cost over the years ahead. Without measures to achieve both these objectives we shall be in danger of a serious drop in housing production. Such a drop, now or later, would affect and injure the stability of our whole economy. This happened when housing production declined after 1925-- and it would happen again.

WARREN

THERE ARE NO NEAT building formulae in my brief case to take to Washington, when and if. ... Nevertheless, as chief executive of the state with the most acute housing shortage, I have accumulated a folio of attitudes, views, and recommendations.

STASSEN

THE HENRY FORD APPROACH is the thing to save America's house-building program. What Ford did in mass-producing automobiles, the United States should be doing in mass-producing houses-- thousands and millions of them.

TAFT

SINCE 1943, when I was appointed chairman of the Senate subcommittee on housing, I have been concerned with plans, studies, and legislation to deal effectively with housing in this country.

How to dress up a drab house

YOU could have found the counterpart of this house in any town in the country-- perhaps you're living in one yourself. It was just another house, big, solid, and drab, with tan walls, dark woodwork, and dull, deep-colored furniture.

What's it like to live in Hawaii?

THE young engineer just out of M.I.T. said he was going back to the mainland. He'd been in Hawaii a whole week and he was still looking for Dorothy Lamour in a sarong.

12 big ideas work for you in this small house

DURING the past decade, you have seen or heard about a lot of wonderful new ideas for homes-- ideas that make homes easier to take care of, or more pleasant to live in, or better suited to the things you want to do.

How to choose and place your trees

PLANT your trees on paper first. That's the place to change your mind. It's no fun to chop down an old friend. And trees have a way of catching hold of your loyalty, so that you'll swear by them-- even when they're badly placed, and even when they shade your lawn to death, litter the sidewalk, or darken your living room all day.

Hedges make a lot more livable

"YOU can shut out the street-- even most of the noise, if you'll just put hedges to work for you."

Four sure ways to Keep your garden bright

Will your living room work overtime?

How to hold your own against Ulcer

FOR weeks, Fred Smith had been uneasily aware that an office associate named Grimes was gunning for his job. One day Grimes trapped Fred in an expensive boner, and in an ugly scene implied that he was going to put the skids under his rival. That evening Fred placed an eggnog on his night table. He was awakened about 2 a.m. by knifelike pains in his middle. He sipped the eggnog, the pains vanished, and he slept thru the night like a baby.

Build you fireplace with a woodsman's know-how

Easier dishwashing

HERE'S how to do dishes-- the quickest, easiest, and best way to wash them by hand. The job is by no means in the push-button class yet, but we can show you how to spend less time at it.

Dyeing for a new color scheme?

IF YOUR living-room draperies are looking dejected, the slipcovers tired, you can treat them to a springtime face-lifting for a few cents. Modern, improved dyes make dyeing a quick, foolproof process. There are 10 steps to follow.

Where to get it

Smart cook!

Do you make the most of your waffle baker?

Dinner in 10 minutes

Take it easy with toilet training!

IF YOUR baby fusses and fights about bowel training, or if he just seems to ignore the whole thing, don't let it upset you. And, what's more important, don't let it upset the baby. His natural acceptance of bathroom routine may be given a long setback, and serious behavior problems may develop if you try to enforce a too-rigid training program.

How to re-cover your outdoor furniture

NOW that you're bringing your porch and garden furniture up from the basement, it's time to give it a critical look. Do the cushions and the seats reflect the bright colors of your summer garden-- or are they drab or brittle or mildewed? ...

Yon don't need a new house for built-ins

Paste a wastebasket

Use shutters inside your windows

Old kitchen gets gay

Get next to a neighborhood nursery

WE'VE got a child-care center in our neighborhood. It's expertly managed, up to date, and best of all, it's free.

What to do with your small piano

Treat yourself to a summer retreat

Sewing hideaway

Dining nook

How to read a set of plans

READING plans isn't a complicated art. If you can recognize the symbols used in the building trade, you can readily understand and read the plans for any home. Here are the floor plan, rear elevation, and a section of five Star Home No. 1806 which appears on page 44. They probably don't mean much to you.

Home furnishings clinic

Q. Our front door opens into the living room, and the stairway starts up to the left just inside. The kitchen door is directly opposite-- with a double doorway to the dining room to the right of that. How can we give our living room more privacy?

Get set for easy summer living

JUNE'S here, July's coming, and you're faced with housekeeping in hot weather. But instead of just talking about the weather why don't you do something to make your work easy? You, your family, and your house can change seasons, too.

how-to helps

School's out-- and garden lovers are faced with a perennial problem: how to grow both a garden and a family. Don't scold the kids for running their bikes over your fragile flower borders-- instead, cultivate hardier plants and shrubs in the skirmish areas, and plant your delicate blooms above the stamping grounds in window boxes or hanging baskets.

Blankets need summer care, too

SUMMER care will keep your blankets fresh and lovely for next fall. Air and brush them frequently while they're in use; launder them well before you store them in your linen closet for the summer.

How to screen a porch--for $40

THE carpenter gave the porch a quick once-over. "It'll cost at least $200 to screen it," he said. We were staggered. "Two hundred dollars! What will a cheap job cost?"

When you write about your subscription

Bugless picnics this year

Try this on a boxy house-I

THE cheapest house you can build for the floor space inside is a two-story house with a square floor plan. Thirty years ago most city houses were built with just such a boxlike plan. Usually a porch was tacked on the front to soften the boxiness.

Metal furniture--for indoors or out

How to mate a shaped valance

MANY a window can be made more attractive thru the added decorative touch of a shaped valance. Add height to a low window by placing the valance well above the window frame (but remember, let the valance come low enough to cover the top of the frame).

Give your dog a break this summer

UNLESS you've already done something about it, that dog of yours probably looks and feels musty and moth-eaten about now. He's fuzzy, frowsy, disheveled. But a few chores on your part will put the old sparkle in his eye and the zest of life in his veins.

Could you live in a garage?

Could you use another closet?

Whose birthday party is it, anyway?

BIRTHDAY parties for children need to be simpler. The main thing is to celebrate the day in a memorable manner suited to the child being honored.

Easier dishwashing

Is your year-round home the same?

IN THE planning of a good summer home are several ideas you can use to make your year-round home more pleasant. A good summer home is placed to make the most of a view of mountains, a lake, or the ocean.

Bleed the Parting Guest

No bigger, but much better

How to make a hammock

ALL of us have an occasional urge to lie down. Most of us have two trees, or at least a couple of porch posts. I had both, but I didn't have the urge to pay the cost of a new hammock. So I made my own-- for less than $3.

JUNE GARDEN GUIDE

JUNE is the month of lush growth and profuse flowering. Perennials and shrubs put on a display that should renew your enthusiasm for gardening. Your annuals and vegetables, too, are growing rapidly now. Keep after the weeds: they steal food and water needed by your plants. You can use straw, peat, shredded redwood bark vermiculite, or one of the other new mineral mulching materials to cover the soil completely. Or you can rely on cultivation as your weed killer.

How to plant a narrow strip

ABOUT 7 out of 10 of us have strips too narrow for shrubs. These problem strips are a nuisance to mow, but they can be assets when handled well.

New Under the Sun

Water keens your garden alive

Choose a time most convenient for you. Early morning (left) gives you the most for your money.

Replant those vacant spots now!

The diary of a Plain dirt gardener

June 1 For weeks, we've mainly had rain and chilly weather-- so am behind in work, and gardening is pretty much of a misery. Only a few tall bearded iris in bloom at our place-- and today was visiting day for our local iris club.

What's participating life insurance?

AFTER talking with two life insurance men Jack B. doesn't yet understand why one quoted quite a lower rate than the other. He's still wondering, "But what is the difference between participating and nonparticipating life insurance?"

If garden tools crowd four car

How to teach your child to love the dark.

IS YOUR child afraid of the dark? It isn't funny. I know. I went thru it all with Sally when she was little.

THE MAN NEXT DOOR

Some women cherish the belief that their handbags are highly ornamental pieces of luggage. But they're getting so big that when six or eight of 'em clutter your living room it resembles the depot on a busy day.