The present tendency among well to-do people is back to the original idea of scattering rugs upon a smooth, polished surface. The ideal floor is undoubtedly of hard wood, properly laid and highly polished. This is the most sanitary, durable, and beautiful of all floors. It is the easiest to clean, and furnishes an ideal foundation as a basis for any interior decoration. The growing wealth of farmers as a class throughout the great central West and elsewhere, by reason of im proved machinery and modern scien tific methods of agriculture, has re sulted in the building and furnishing of many homes having floors of this sort in the smallest towns and rural districts throughout the United States. Moreover, modern means of transpor tation, as trolley systems, interurban electric railways, automobiles, and the upbuilding of local telephone systems, have promoted the building in rural neighborhoods of a vast number of summer homes. There is hardly a community in the United States where modern houses constructed with pol ished hard-wood floors and furnished with Oriental or domestic rugs as floor coverings is not to be seen.
Another great educator has been the periodicals devoted to home making and especially catering to the class of suburban residents above mentioned. These models have set the fashion for bare floors and rugs, and there is no doubt but that as time goes on this custom will become increasingly popular.
Hard-wood floors may be laid under certain conditions over old floors, and be all the better for having another flooring beneath them, but they are somewhat expensive. Hence numerous ingenious methods have been used to secure the same result by imitation.
To Imitate Hard-wood Floors.—Ob tain a suitable hard-wood filler, and press it into the cracks in the floor according to directions. Take care to smooth the filler exactly level after the cracks have been filled. When this substance hardens, the floor will be smooth and cven, and all danger from draughts will be permanently done away. Next apply good stain of any desired color to match the wood work, or apply a suitable paint mixed with varnish that will dry, leaving a bard, smooth, glossy surface.
Soluble Glass for Floors.—Instead of the old-fashioned method of using wax for polished floors, etc., soluble glass is now employed to great advan tage. For this purpose the floor is first well cleaned, and then the cracks are well filled up with a cement of water glass and powdered chalk or gypsum. Afterwards a water glass of 60° to 65°, of the thickness of sirup, is applied by means of a stiff brush.
Any desired color may be imparted to the floor in a second coat of the water glass, and additional coats given until the requisite polish is obtained. A still higher finish may be given by pumicing off the last layer, and then putting on a coating of oil.
Or denim of good quality in solid colors may be laid upon the floor as a background for the rugs. But when this material is used the rugs must be large enough and numerous enough to cover most of the surface and receive the greater part of the wear.
Or use heavy building paper pasted smoothly to the floors, and apply to this two or more coats of varnish paint. This material wears well and presents u good appearance.
Or heavy unbleached cotton or denim may be treated by tacking it against a building or laying it on a floor which is not in use, and applying with a paint brush one or two coats of lin seed oil. After this is dry, apply a coat of varnish or " lac " paint, let dry and apply a second coat. After wards apply a coat of varnish. Let the cloth dry thoroughly before using. This is a good and cheap substitute for oilcloth and linoleum for kitchen floors and all other purposes.
Or matting may be used, especially in bedrooms, sewing room, sitting room, and even in the parlor if the rugs are of the right size and number and of sufficiently good quality.
Or the floor may be covered, espe cially in the sitting room, where there is more or less tracking in of mud and dirt, and in bedrooms, with a good quality of linoleum, which may be stained and painted in imitation of a hard-wood floor, or to correspond with the woodwork.
The great advantage offered by the bare wood or a smooth surface such as linoleum is that it can be readily kept clean and free from dust, dirt, and all sorts of vermin. Rugs may be taken up and beaten out of doors and thoroughly aired on the line, and every particle of dust and dirt can be readily removed by wiping over the floor with a damp cloth drawn bag fashion over the head of a broom. Good rugs, both Oriental and domes tic, are no more expensive than the same grades of carpet, and their use is to be decidedly recommended for artistic and sanitary reasons as well as from a labor-saving standpoint.
Denim.—Denim is perhaps the most generally popular floor covering as a background for rugs when cost is taken into account. But it is not, of course, as durable as carpet, and does not come in fast colors. When partly worn, however, denim may be woven into rugs or converted into carpet rags.