August 1956

1956 Home Improvement Contest

THIS CONTEST covers any improvement to your home and surrounding property. And you have 128 chances to win in the four divisions-- Exteriors, Interiors, Additions, and Kitchen-Utility areas-- explained in detail further on. You are officially entered in the contest when we receive a Preliminary Entry Form from you.

IT'S NEW for the handyman

How to gain control of an injured dog

For your back-yard barbecues

How they live on $5,000 a year

A rather short, broad-shouldered man in his 30's with the deeply bronzed face of an outdoor worker, Jack W. earns what he once would have considered a princely income.

They had a room for improvement

A shelf will do the trick

Latest Garden News

If your clematis doesn't flower, it could be that the days aren't long enough says Dr. Judd Haney of Michigan State University.

Striking new notes in color

A new way to plan a house

Center core, post-and-beam construction, modular plan are terms that may not be immediately friendly to you, but they can mean a very great-- and good-- deal to you in any future building plans.

Exciting trends in today's kitchens

Back in fashion with the Oriental look

You don't need a new house to enjoy the beauty and simplicity of furnishings in the new Oriental trend. Proof is the older home of the Dr. Chester Howards of Berkeley, California.

Five happy people did this...

Posts panels, planks, and beams

Melon jubilee

A whole parade of melons is traveling cross-country. Even cranshaws (delicate as hothouse flowers) go far from their Western home these days. So look to your neighborhood market for new and old-time treats like the juicy wonders you see in our picture.

ABC's of flower arrangement

New table furnishings and accessories

Frosty desserts

New kitchen units--with walls and all!

Right and wrong accessory arrangements

Personal help in home building, remodeling, and decorating

When you're looking for ways to make your home more comfortable and attractive, look for this seal. It identifies the Better Homes & Gardens Home Planning Center, where you can get personal counsel on your home-planning problems.

New ways with familiar wall materials

When your child objects to naps

Afternoons were so peaceful a short time ago, and such a shambles now! This is the way it often seems to mothers at that fateful moment when Tommy or Janey goes off naps.

Workshop planning

NEW wiring devices...

Variable light control, like one above, lets you choose preferred degree of illumination from brilliant to blackout. Up to 360 watts of room light can be dialed bright for reading or sewing. Then silent, easy twist dims bulbs to a candlelike glow for formal dining or TV (on separate circuit so it won't dim, too). Fine for a night light in bath, hall, nursery.

Does your bedroom speak your language?

More space under an old roof

If an old house is solidly built and not squeezed too much by a narrow lot, it can become an up-to-date home that takes full advantage of its site.

Storage details you'll want to try

How to save when you water

AUGUST GARDEN REMINDERS

Annuals, perennials, bulbs: Keep chrysanthemums watered-- give them a light feeding in mid-August to increase size of blooms. ... Plant colchicums and Autumn crocus as soon as the bulbs are available. There is still time to plant iris, Oriental poppies, and Madonna lilies.

Sew these zip-together pillows

The diary of a Plain dirt gardener

Aug. 1 There are a lot of purty posies all around, outdoors, in spite of the heat. Glads and dahlias are beginning to perform. Plenty of bloom on petunias, marigolds, and other annuals.

The story back of your china

Shopping by Mail

THE MAN NEXT DOOR

Don't try to prove to your wife that you've always been right about everything. Remember, when you proposed, you told her you knew you weren't good enough for her.