TT 320 cO"^ • * * "% '^J**^-% JLV -^0^ C,vP 'bV" "^^ :| \ THE OWNER'S HOUSE BOOK Devoted to the subject of Artistic Decoration and Color Harmony in House Painting. COMPILED BY LEADING ARCHITECTS, HOUSE-DECORATORS, MASTER-PAINTERS AND COLOR-EXPERTS. Published by POOLE PAINT ASSOCIATION, ST. LOUIS, MO. ^ UBWABY o« CONGRESS Two Conies Received AUG 23 1906 CopyriKiit Cniry CLASiff <^ XXc. No. 7 S3 S 20. COPY B. 1/ COPYRIGHT, 1906, BY A. W. POOLE A WORD ABOUT THIS BOOK IHIS book is a book for the folks at home. In it there is a story good to read, a story that will make the home a home of good taste as well as the home of good humor and good character. We believe the book is needed; it is devoted to the subject of artistic home decoration, and our best evidence of its popularity is the thousands of inquiries we are receiving from the people who ask for it. Every single day that dawns adds one more credit to the sum of American good taste; sees some new beauty wrought to make the home ideal. Home decoration and home improvement have long since ceased to be fads and fan- cies. They are real; intense; vivid realities. Even our common schools and high schools all are teaching and striving in their various ways to this great end. Nor have the people proven slow to learn the pleasant lesson taught — the story of beauty, the theme of art, harmony of color, delightful appear- ance of the house itself, the inspiration of it and the help it is in every way to all who feel its influence. The results of this great movement are attested and reflected in every town and village, and, you might say, upon nearly every roadside in the land. Time was when the shack and the cabin in moss or whitewash wera as good as the best. All that is changed or changing. Advancing standards have displaced these crude and primitive expressions, and marked them out of date. More pretentious dwellings now take rank as the a'verage of the American home, and these in their turn must look still up and up to better things, refinement, culture, harmony, and the principles which underlie. This country is a home-country; a home- loving country. Nowhere on the face of the earth lies there a land like it. And certainly none having more varied charm of situation or higher beauty of natural setting and environment. Travelers and writers from the old world who come to study, some of them avowedly to criti- cize, end by falling in love with it at last, admiration of its spirit, its enterprise, and the constant advance of the people along progres- sive lines. Yes, the ''backwoods'^ are still here; so are the mossbacks, the pullbacks and the unwilling* But go into any live town or village of to-day and compare it with the same site a few short years ago. The world is getting better and the American houseowner and homebuilder is literally in the van of the procession. He knows that when the Ftsench lord said that **home was merely a place to go'' he most certainly failed utterly to appreciate the key- note of the life of the people of the United States. Home^ with us^ means more than "a, place to go to." Home, to us, is the place not to go away from; the heart center of our lives; the bright ob- jective of all our aims, ambitions, efforts; a place of peace. And more than that — a place of pride, **1 know him by the house he lives in." And the house has its rights, too. You can shame a house by neglect and ex- pose it to the sneers of passersby until, as Howell says, '*It seems to wince when you glance at it." A house, a home, is as much entitled to its proper dress as those who live inside of it. And it should dress to its part according to its character^ station and neighborhood; we might also say according to the occasion, though residence "occasions^' may mean a many a year. To do this well — at least to help in the art of making the home all that it can be in appear- ance, and that, too, in good taste, quiet elegance and harmony — is the purpose of this book; the only book of its kind ever ventured, so far as we know* And we may be permitted to say another word, that those who have written for it have been very carefully chosen for their respective tasks, in order, first of all, to make sure that it be plain and practical. It must be to be helpful. So that nearly every point in the volume will be found at least clearly stated, and the many hints and directions contained — good and trust- worthy — and ready for the working to make home beautiful and true in the highest and best sense. ART IN HOME DECORATION HE best of architects may draw the designs; capable contractors and builders carry them out^ but unless the house is decorated ar- tisticaliyt with due regard to the proper blending of shades into a harmonious color scheme, specially adapted to the purpose, the structure lacks the finishing touch which sets the seal of approval upon the home and makes it a house worth having. It is because of a proper consideration of surroundings, and a realization of the effect of light and shade, that the modern home builder turns away from the dear old house done all in white with staring green blinds, or the later inharmonic Queen Anne style, towards a design which will not only bring out the best points and hide the poor ones of the surroundings, but will also secure an artistic whole. Having decided upon one or more really exquisite shades, the next thing is to select the several possible combinations. So many make the very serious mistake of never giving this a thought. Taking the shades which meet their personal likes, they give no study to the location or site of the house, and results are to be seen oftentimes, not only along country roads but in city streets, which are far from pleasing. C^* 6^* C^* Color Back from the grassy road, surrounded Plan by large grounds, tree-filled, is an ideal I country house, painted Continental Buff, with trimmings of Satin White. During the hot summer days the yellow and white effect among the green trees is delightfully cool and fresh; while, when winter^s blasts pile up the snowdrifts, the yellow sheds a gleam of sunshine upon the fields of white, and then it is that the Elm Green roof and White window sashes show up best. a^*' 6^* ft^* Color One of the most artistic houses to be Plan seen in a flourishing town of the Middle n West is one crowning a sloping elevation of green, velvety lawn, guiltless of trees. which fronts the street. This beautiful home is painted Pearl Grey, with Sage Green trimmings, and sashes and lattice work on the piazza of Coach Green. The Pearl Grey, light and airy, keeps the house from looming up too darkly against the sky, while the Sage Green lends solidity to its general effect. fi^* ^3^ ft^^ A city home requires a different treat- Color ment, particularly when the paint is Plan liable to discoloration from smoke and m soot. Then Tile Tan with trimmings of Spaniel Brown, and sashes of Crow Black will produce an effect scarcely to be excelled for richness; and, strange to say, is one generally overlooked. If the house is in close proximity to houses or blocks of stone or brick, this combination of colors will show up all the more bril- liantly for the contrast. ^5* ^^ fff^ Cruiser Grey (so named because it is the Color shade of our fighting ships during war plan times), combined with Satin White for jy trimmings, is a combination not to be surpassed as an unobtrusive one^ calm- ing in its effect upon the eyes, and grati- fying to an artistic appreciation. If a stable adjoins a house so treated, it, too, should be painted in like manner. Trees as a background of such a combination of shades add to the beauty of the grounds and house. ^*' c^^ t^^ Color For simple elegance and richness, and for Plan striking effect as well, perhaps no better V can be suggested than the combina- tion of Roman Red and Cavern Green. These two colors withstand smoke and dirt of the city as do few others* and because of this alone are suitable for house, stable, garage or the many build- ings of the city; while in a setting of green trees, show up brilliantly on country home or wayside cottage. Such a com- bination is one of which few tire, and gives the buildings upon which it is used impressiveness, whether in crowded or open spaces. ^*' ft^^ 6^^ uoior Two of the most harmonious colors fji possible to combine to effect perfect artis- *■ tic completeness, are Covert Drab and 10 vn Partridge Brown, the former being used for the body of the house, and the latter for trimmings, thus producing a warm richness of tone, combined with quietness and elegance of color, which will accord with any surroundings. ft^* e^^ i^* A smart and attractive scheme of color Color for a house, or house and stable, is Auto pign Tan with Claret Maroon trimmings. This is a most striking and tasteful ar- rangement, giving a richness and up-to- date look to a place, whether in city, town or country. Special attention is called to this combination for those whose home is in the midst of large grounds. 4^* e^"* «^* A summer home, whether cottage, bun- rjolnr galo or houseboat, requires those colors pi«|, in keeping with the general surroundings, yru and in harmony with each other. In other words, restfulness of color is more to be desired than smartness of style. A cottage or bungalo will prove specially restful in Wave Green with trimmings of Sage Green. With these should go a thin coat of Quaker Grey for the shingles to heighten the artistic effect, as well as to preserve them. In painting the houseboat, the combination of the two greens mentioned above is very suit- able for the house, but as the deck is used for a walk, at least two coats of Quaker Grey will be required, and three would be better. Give the hull of the boat three coats of Cavern Green, and if the last coat be followed by a couple of coats of Spar Varnish, the end of the season will show a boat that will winter well. ^* ^* ft^^ Color Still another harmonious combination. Plan that blends well with any surroundings, IX is Lavender Drab with Leaf Brown or Covert Drab trimmings. With either of the recommended colors used upon a house with much fret work, the effect is particularly pleasing, for it brings out the fancy work like lace. 8^* c^* ^^ Color For a square house, or one of the Colo- Plan nial style, there can be nothing prettier X than Quaker Grey with Satin White trimmings. This color scheme gives a stateliness and grandeur that severe 12 styles of architecture demand, while the soft blending will never jar the most sensitive eyes or most correct taste. ^^ ^^* ^^ Sunset Yellow trimmings on a house of Color Pearl Grey is perhaps one of the smart- Plan est combinations to be found, the vivid- XI ness of the yellow lighting up the house color, making it lively and cheerful, as well as agreeable; the cool of the Pearl Grey being a good foil to the brilliancy of the Sunset Yellow. For a house among trees, this combination is specially good. ^^ c^* 9^^ Zenith Blue, although one of the most Color delicate and striking of colors, is scarcely Plan appropriate for a city home, but when XII toned down with Satin White trimmings, and hidden away in the trees, the effect is particularly pleasing. This same Zenith Blue is always an effective trim- ming for a Pearl Grey house. f^* ^^r* f^r* Cameo Pink with Covert Drab trim- Color mings is another of the most modern Plan combinations, and it has a very excellent XUI quality, that of not being common. 13 As stated in the beginning, these sugges- tions are but a few of the wonderful artistic combinations possible to the house- owner who is willing to take advantage of our art department's special service. All that is necessary to obtain this help (and entirely without cost) is to send us a written description of your home, or better yet, a photograph, if you can do so without too much expense or trouble. THE ARCHITECTURAL PHASE "The architect is he who can build a house, as one may say, by squinting at a piece of paper." — Dickens. HERE was once a German philosopher who declared that architecture was *^frozen music ;^^ and I sup- pose his meaning was the expression in physical substance of symphony in form and harmony in color. In a very excellent book upon Westmin- ister Abbey, the learned Canon Farrar, says: ^'Outward impressions are as meaningless without inward suscepti- bilities as are colors to the blind/^ It is ventured by the writer, however, that no reader of this volume is without appreciation of these truths and values, for otherwise the matter would have remained dull and uninteresting, and the book unsent for. As it is, the American people are enthu- siastic students of the beautiful, no less than of the practical. ^'Life without labor is guilt; labor without art is brutality.*^ The -^"^ i^ there is one above another who Archi- niust needs be honest in his own behalf, tectural om whose sensibility should be attuned Phase to right, that one is he who builds; and not alone the architect, but the contractor, the material man, and the maker of houses. Because his work is for the years; for other days than now; for others than himself; and because of all labor it is the most in evidence— the boldest and the biggest. See it there where it stands in the very midst of the out-of-doors, where every eye beholds it, where every man has a concern in it, if it be good or bad; a common belonging, benefit or detriment; a public thing, a great matter! First of all we must have honesty of pur- pose, high resolve to make the home substantial in construction, beautiful in finish, comfortable and pleasing to others than ourselves, Ruskin, who is perhaps above all, the ethical prophet of architectural truth, dis- courses wonderfully of this: **l would have, then, our ordinary dwellings built to last, and built to be lovely; as rich and full of pleasantness as may be, within and 16 without; with such differences as might suit and express each man^s character and occupation, and partly his history. Therefore, "when 'we buildt let us think that ive build forel?er, *^Let it not be for present delight, nor for present use alone; let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for, and let us think, as we lay stone on stone, that a time is to come when those stones will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say as they look upon the labor and wrought substance of them, *See! this our fathers did for us!'*^ Of all modern architecture during the past five centuries, in whatever country, we find no models so suitable to the purposes of the American home as those supplied by England. Nothing, on the other hand, so impossible to our use as those of Egyptian or Moresque design. No people have so closely studied the great facts of home life and home beauty with such fidelity and success as have the English. The result is a degree of excellence in both design and color har- mony unequaled and certainly unexcelled 17 The Archi- tectural Phase The Archi- tectural Phase even in the brilliancy of Venice^ the taste of Florence, or the variety of the French capital. Should you fall in love with an enchanted ancient style of dwelling that is built of stone, you must, on no account, do what Theodore Roosevelt tells us in his history of Cromwell that the Stuart King did, namely, '^flinch/' It was fatal to Charles, and it will be fatal to any successful house scheme. You must draw the stone and carry it up to the very peak. If the architect tells you you must have bricks to be laid in Flemish bond, as would be the case had you lost your heart to that other rare old form, do not think you may throw in a couple of Palladian windows, and use weather- boards. It will not do. It would be no worse form to order two courses of soup at the same dinner. It is true that the great Italian architect strung these favorite openings along in charming sequence in the Basilica at Vicenza, but that masterpiece in monu- mental design expresses nothing of the Anglo-Saxon home feeling. In the lan- 18 guage of the stage, **always procure what the play calls ior,'* Build the house smaller, use brick, and no better color treatment than Tile Tan for the body decoration trimmed in Spaniel Brown and Crow Black sashes. Just the thing, you will say, for your city house, or your town house in a manufacturing district where soot and smoke always subdue the more vivid artistic combinations. This combination is at once rich, handsome and substan- tial. There is nothing better where your house stands in a crowded thoroughfare or a closely built-up city block or down- town district. If your home is to be of wood — not brick and not stone — select some good histor- ical model (such as those recommended by the architectural department of The Poole Paint Association, St. Louis, Mo.). Do not fail to use shingles for the entire exterior, if your building fund will possi- bly allow. Here Roman Red and Cavern Green, or Covert Drab and Partridge Brown will *Vest the eye and satisfy.^^ If a summer home or small cottage, you can get all the * Vitch-colonial'^ inspira- The Archi- tectural Phase The ^ tion needed by obtaining Poolers New Archl- England Types — the classics of old tectural Salem, Ipswich, Danvers, farm houses Phase of the Berkshire Hills, town houses of old Connecticut and Massachusetts villages, etc. Have you built on this wise, then do not forget the body color in Wave Green with trimmings of Green Sage. There is nothing quite so fetching in ordinary small-home surroundings. Colonial houses, however, are by no means '^all a^shingle,^^ like the House of the Burgo- master at Maplewood, N. J. Many of the best, both architecturally and artistically, are plain or beaded weatherboard exteriors. The color harmony in all these cases may vary as widely as you please, but you^ll find nothing rarer or prettier than the com- binations recommended. 20 MORE PRETENTIOUS HOUSES UT at Lake Forrest, III, there are some splendid types of the larger and most costly styles of American residences. Some of these of the early Tudor type — strong, simple lines; wide, dignified en- trances, etc. They suggest old English manor-houses, and this impression is further intensified by the mellow tone of the coloring — continental buff, brick and the trim in satin white, and clinging vines. In some of these homes the first story is of brick, the second of plaster between cross-beams of wood, dark-stained with Partridge Brown. Over some of the doorways Japanese ivy, and deep window boxes of flowers above. In the West, where lies our low, rolling country, the more unpretentious your colors, the better the effect. Nothing conforms so perfectly to the rest- ful stretches of green fields as the warm More Preten- tious Houses Spaniel Brown of the exterior, the re- peated lines of the roofs, a great brick chimney Roman Red, pleasing the eye, and through it all a very promise of cosi- ness and comfort within. In exposed positions where, as one may say: ^'This is a house by the sea, upon a hill'^ — what could you imagine better than a sturdy base of lichen-clad bowl- ders, the sides shingled or boarded in Pearl Gray, with Sage Green trim, simple pyramid roof, the lines and angles curved and softened like the wings of a sea-bird folded above its nest — a veritable clustering of harmonies to make the house a nature-part of the prominence it rests upon. HOME DECORATION APPLIED IN PRACTICE LONG through the pages preceding we have gone over the ground preparatory to the real actual work itself and the choice of materials. We have scanned the various color com- binations, ideas and schemes, the art side of the question as well as the archi- tectural phrases of the problem. This brings us to the carrying out of the color treatment and its execution in actual practice. Now, suppose you have chosen your art combination, made up your mind to paint your house according to '^Color Plan VI,'' Covert Drab and Partridge Brown trim- mings; what about the paint? ^^ Where shall I get the colors?" 'What do they cost?'' ''How do I know I am getting the best?" It was not originally our intention to raise this question, but so much mislead- ing information has been given out, and there is so much misunderstanding about 23 Home it, that a little wholesome daylight data Decora- will be quite as welcome help to the tion house-owner on this question as the applied other parts of our little book. tice When you go to buy paint, take the ad- vice of the oldest heads in architecture and in art — and go to a good paint dealer. There isn^t any such thing as safe or guaranteed ready-mixed paint. Paint, mixed and canned, lives as long as the oil lives and no longer. The only thing it outlives is the guarantee, which usually expires as the can is opened. The very best linseed oil made dies in the can. For when you stop to think of it, it is true that this is unfortunate, but canned paint is always either dead paint or dying paint, for the oil in it is its very life and soul, and the chemical action or ^'working*^ which goes on inside the can eats the vitality out of the oil and leaves the paint exhausted, dead and lifeless. And the reason is this: The oil being a vegetable product and the lead a mineral, they fight each other till the life of the oil is consumed. 24 Ready-mixed paint in the can is ready- Home mixed paint in the coffin* And yet, you Decora- may chance to be lucky enough, if you tion watch the goods coming into a dealer^s applied store, or happen to see them on first inPrac- arrival, to get a can fairly fresh. Still tice you^re taking the long end of the risk '\ even then, for the well-known principle on which the ready-mixed paint manu- facturers make their enormous profits is in stocking up the dealer and loading down his shelves with dying stock. Just notice, next time you^re in the store, how often youVe seen those same old cans before. And then think how the paint inside is dying in them, slowly dying day by day — all the while waiting for somebody to come along and buy and let in a little long lost air and light. Ready-mixed paint, if fresh, and honestly made of lead, zinc and good linseed oil, good dryer and good color pigment, is all right. But you never know. You can^t tell. There isn*t any way to be sure about it. 25 Home Decora- tion applied in Prac- tice If the meat packers succeed as they have in refusing to date their cans, how can we expect the money-making maker of ready-mixed paint to sacrifice his im- mense profits just for you and me. He won^t do it. He doesn^t do it. And he^II never do it till the law forces him, and that, unfortunately, looks as if it were a long way off. From the house-owner*s point of view there is another very suspicious feature about ready-mixed paint, and that is the price. The fact of the matter is that when you buy ready-mixed paint, you^re not buy- ing paint at all. YouVe asked to pay the full, regular paint price, while half the can is really nothing but lifeless lin- seed oil — which never costs more than forty to sixty cents a gallon. There*s the cheat of the ready-mixed paint business; you see the profit for those who get you to buy it. YouVe paying a paint price for poor oil. You are forced by the ready-mixed paint maker to pay him a fancy price for oil that you can buy yourself as cheap as he can. 26 As a matter of fact, the truth of this whole general question of ready-mixed paint richly deserves exposure. It is time it was taken up by the press and published to the public for what it is worth, in the same way as canned meats and impure foods. The consumer, in short, is never pro- tected by the can trade in ready-mixed paints. The result is that your house looks well enough for a year or two, then the dead oil brings out the chalking, scaling and powdered condition which proves you have been deceived. Bad as this showing is, it is true in hun- dreds and hundreds of disappointing, ex- asperating cases reported almost daily. Nor are these all of the abuses in the paint industry. There are many others, and you, the house-owner, have a right to know the details; in fact you have a right to know all the secrets and mysteries of the work. That is why we are pub- lishing them here and now, in this little book. Some expert dealers arc enthusiastic for lead — nothing for them but lead. Yet [V Home Decora- tion applied in Prac- tice Home Decora- tion applied in Prac- tice they admit that zinc has its value — adds to the brilliancy and luster and makes paint cover and spread better under the brush. Still you^II find many an honest dealer who fights hard for pure lead and will tell you that that is the only way. But, is it? Pure white lead is absolutely poisonous in the first place. It is expressly prohibited by the French Government and placarded like small- pox wherever used in Germany. And it does not make the best paint, though you pay the most for it. Used alone with linseed oil, color pig- ment, and mixed by hand, it does make good paint if the oil is pure, if the pig- ments are good, and if the mixing is long and thoroughly done, and if it is mixed and left over night to properly ripen, which should be done, but never is done, There^s another misleading thing about lead — a bad thing — and a point you can prove in almost any neighborhood by in- vestigating a little for yourself. 28 Notice how lead, after it^s been on awhile, crumbles and dries out so that if you happen to rub your coat sleeve against it, it comes off like so much flour. Hand mixing and hand manipulation is never so evenly executed as machine work; the hand and arm is bound to tire and falter; the machine never does. It mixes uniformly, mechanically and per- fectly. Lead paint, hand-mixed, does not solve the paint problem. Zinc paint, ready-mixed, is never safe to buy. Zinc paint, hand-mixed, is as doubtful as lead. Perhaps the worst paint sold in this country is what is known as catalogue paint; or cheap, common paint, ready mixed, canned and put up in vast quan- tities and stored to be sold as ordered. The marvel is that the public can be induced to buy this kind of mail order paint. Paint is not a mail order propo- sition, and mail order houses have never sold paint successfully and never can, in the judgment of the ablest men in the business, and the reason is that in order Home Decora- tion applied in Prac- tice Home Decora- tion applied in Prac- tice to reduce the price they must necessarily reduce the quality, and instead of getting pure linseed oil you get cheap rosin oil, and instead of lead you get adulterants made of marble dust, white earth, etc., which gives the substance weight, but it is absolutely valueless as paint. We think it only fair to the reader to sound a note of warning on this subject, because the confidence of the people in so-called mail order houses has been well bestowed; but the mail order houses are not paint manufacturers, and they can^t make and sell paint and sell it fresh by the method they have adopted. The result is that thousands of disappointed customers and shabby looking houses bear witness to the fact that *^catalogue paint'^ has proven a most disastrous failure in the history of the paint business. You can figure this out for yourself. If you consider how much good, pure linseed oil costs, and how much white lead costs, and how much zinc costs, and how much color pigments cost, and then compare the prices. And no mail order house is able to buy these materials any cheaper than the 30 public generally, for the reason that they are sold on the open market and quoted publicly every day on the exchanges. In other words, nobody has an inside track on prices in paint. Catalogue paint is fraud paint, and we deplore the fact because catalogue companies and mail order houses have kept their skirts pretty clean of scandal, but some one or two of them seem to have yielded to temptation at last, but we prophesy that public repu- diation will not be long delayed. You can^t fool the people twice on poor paint. What the public wants is better paint, not worse paint, and certainly not decep- tive, fraud paint which is not paint, but a base adulteration which will not wear, which does not keep^ its quality and appearance, and which ■ proves an| in- variable disappointment to the buyer. Then there is another widely heralded method of marketing paints, called by various names, and which has proven after all to amount to nothing else than the assurance of fresh mixing for each order, which is then offered to you and the public direct from the manufacturer. The plan, like the paint, when tried out, is questionable. Home Decora- tion applied in Prac- tice Home Mixing single orders is out of the question Decora- with any large, responsible manufacturer tion receiving hundreds and thousands of applied orders per day. There is nothing in in Prac- such claiming. In other words, such paint tice is put up like ready-mixed paint, and by no means worth anything like the price asked for it, which price is based on the mythical mixing for you and me in per- son, which does not take place. Biscuits are not boxed for us, any of us, individually; nor butter wrapped fresh for your table, or mine either — yet it would be fine, indeed, if it were only true. There is no greater thing in the world than strong personal character and good personal reputation, but personality and paint don^t really mix in what you would call a profitable way. When you buy a roast of beef you buy it for what it is; you buy it on account of itself and its own quality, and you don*t pay much attention to the personal- ity of the butcher or his moral make-up. This is a good deal true in about the same way with paint. In other words, personality is hardly an •^ issue, nor is it an ingredient in paint. 32 What we all want to know about paint is what it is, what it is made of, how long it wears, and whether it is worth the money, and questions like that. It doesn^t make so much difference who makes it, so long as it^s good, but there is a way to judge paint, and only one safe way, and that is to judge it the way the expert dealer judges it — by the pigment* For paint is pigment, oil is oil. Judge it not by lead, nor 2inc, nor maga- zine announcements, nor by the can, nor by the guarantee, nor by any one test of all of them. Yeast doesn^t make bread. Nor does flour. Nor water. Nor salt. Nor any two of them. Each has its value, its place, and part in the combination which produces the general result. It^s the same with paint; even more em- phatically than with bread. Buy the pigment yourself irom your own dealer, if you can get the best ; buy your oil fresh from him; he has it ( if he hasn^t he wouIdn^t be in the business this long) . Home Decora- tion applied in Prac- tice WHAT IS MEANT BY PIGMENTS lOOLE Paint Pigments embody what is regarded by paint experts as the only certain and proved paint quality on the open market. They are made from the standard paint materials; from the raw materials that years of experience has proved make the best paint for buildings. Poole Paint Pigments are ground to the ex- treme degree of fineness in most modern and improved mills with pure matured linseed oil and the finest English drier. Every step in the manufacture is watched by experts^ and not one single drop of Poole Paint Pigment leaves the factory until practical and chemical tests prove it up to the high standard we uphold. It is only fair to say, however, that to both dealer and consumer it is after all the Poole method of marketing and sell- ing which really insures the quality and gives the rank and file of paint buyers the only adequate protection anywhere apparent in the trade. Poole Paint Pigments come in soft paste-like concentrated colors, ground in 34 oil but not canned in oil. These colors are shown on a colored insert mailed separately, and it will be noted with spe- cial interest that these tints are the only- shades considered by any of the authori- ties who have thus far written on the subject of color combinations and on the architectural bearing of house decoration. We doubt if we could point to any more suggestive or conclusive reference than this, as proving in the most authoritative manner the superior value and quality of Poole Paint Pigments. A bit back we spoke of the methods of selling. There is a great big fact in that for both dealer and house-owner; both have an interest in knowing what it is. In the first place our plan is based on the certified proved quality of Poole Paint Pigments. The paint made from these pigments wears, and wears well, on an average nine years. The Association guarantees it absolutely for eight years — one year What is meant by Pig- ments. 35 ments What is less than the proof period experience has meant demonstrated, EJL«+e ^^ know this paint; we know what it is, what it does, how it wears, holds its luster, brilliancy and integrity — and we sell it to you on just that basis and no other. We do not tell you it is canned fresh for you. It isn^t. There isn^t any reason why it should be. You buy it in con- centrated pigment form, ready to be mixed fresh with good, pure linseed oil. And a very important point right here is that it is easy to mix because you pour in the oil fresh, and right then is the natural, proper time for the mixing; a great deal easier, in fact, than to stir up the hardened settlings in the bottom of the ready- mixed paint can. Poole Paint Pigments keep their qual- ity no matter how long your dealer has carried them. They are not in oil, there- fore they keep, and the oil is fresh because it has not been mixed. Your dealer may have Poole Pigments in stock one year, two years or even longer; it's just as good and fresh and 36 ready when it reaches you as it was the day we shipped it. That's the chemical and physical differ- ence between Poole Paint Pigments and canned ready-mixed paints, lead and oil, and zinc paints, canned and stale. Make sure that all paint should be fresh mixed when it is put on; then, and then only, do you get the full life of pigment and the full life of the oil. You can't find a pound of Poole Paint Pigments that isn't as fit as a fiddle. It can't be any other way. It can't be otherwise than perfect and the reason is that here, at last, you're buying the actual base of all paint — paint pigment — not paint that is dead or dying in the can, nor are you paying paint prices for worn-out linseed oil. So much for the quality side of the equa- tion. And when you figure it all out its just this same bed-rock point of quality which spells the true character of paint — and everything else. Our selling plan does not seek or result in any differences between you (the con- sumer) and you (the dealer). What is meant by Pig- ments 37 What is meant by Pig. ments We look at it this way: Here we are making and selling the best paint pig- ment in the world. We are dealers in paint then, of course. Now, we can do either of three things. We can ignore the user of paint, cheapen our product by adulteration and market it through the dealer exclusively, regardless of the public. That^s one way. Lots of manufacturers travel that road and lots of them have reached the end of it. Then, we could do another thing: We could ignore the dealer; cheapen our prod- uct by adulteration, spend the difference in a wide-open expensive campaign of advertising, charge you (the paint user) a double price (as it is done by one or two) and still make money. But is that all weM make? No; it is not. WeM make enemies either way eventually — either the people or the paint trade. We want the friendship and the confi- dence and the business of both. 38 Not the patronage of one at the sacrifice What is of the other. meant Therefore^ we take the third road to ^Y * ^o" results. inents It may be a little narrow in places, but its straighter — and we know where it leads to. Let us understand this another way: We have offered you this little volume devoted to the fair and honest discussion of a great subject. You, the consumer, in accepting our offer, have given us in your turn the best and fairest hearing anyone could ask. This book tells the story of home deco- ration and home improvement and gives you facts which are facts all the way through. Some of them may hurt a little; maybe they pinch a trifle here and there — dealer or home-owner — maybe both, sometimes. But every word we publish is true. And that^s the gist of the whole thing. We are showing you bluntly, and maybe even awkwardly, just why you want Poole Paint Pigments and not doubtful products. 39 What is Have we not earned the right to believe meant that when you buy paint again^ you^II by Pig- buy it right? itients And if so^ why not walk over to that old dealer — neighbor of yours, and fellow- townsman — and tell him what you have made up your mind to use? He*ll be only too glad to make the sale. If he isn^t, we'll see that you get the paint, just the same. He makes a decent, honest profit, and you get the best paint ever produced, at 25 to 50 per cent cheaper than other paint; and by so doing you save 25 to 50 per cent on painting your property. We believe that when we do this we accomplish three results: Not only a close profit to ourselves, but a fair, reason- able profit to the dealer, and at the same time we give you (the consumer) all and more than you ever bought before for your paint money. This entire plan of making and market- ing Poole Paint Pigments has been tried and tested in years and years of expe- rience, and we are absolutely positive that we are right and that the public and the trade is with us in the support of our method. We have always calculated that it was far better for us to please both the trade and the public, even if we only made a quarter profit for ourselves, than it would have been had we tried to make four times as much money for two or three years and then find that we had sunk out of sight through popular disfavor. Poole Paint Pigments come in what we list as 25-lb. gallon cans and 12/2 -lb. half gallon cans, but the gallon cans con- taining Poole Paint Pigments are a little larger than United States standard gallon measure. We have made it our rule to give a substantial extra quantity over and above the regular average amount. This is also true of the l2'2-lb. half gallon cans. You get more paint pigment and the can is larger, weighs more and is greater in dimension. The result of this is that you are always sure of absolutely good measure. In other words, the difference in size between Poole's gallon and the gallon measure of other manufacturers is about What is meant by P«- ments What is meant by Pig- ments like the difference between the baker^s dozen and the figure 12, Now, note as a buyer, whether you are dealer or consumer, that these pigments are the concentrated, condensed, basic essence of paint. They are what give character, color and solidity to the paint when mixed with oil; and every gallon of pigment you buy will take two gallons of oil. Not one gallon, but two gallons. Two full gallons of linseed oil to each gallon of Poole Paint Pigments. The result is that you get three full gallons of perfect paint ready for the brush. And when you compare Poole prices with the prices you are asked to pay for ready mixed paint which retails from $1.50 to $1.75 per gallon, you find that by our plan you get 25 to 50 per cent more paint value. Why? Because in Poole Paint Pigments, it^s all paint — every bit of it — for you buy your oil separately, and get it fresh from your own dealer at the regular market price. 42 You get the best paint possible to be made — the best paint that is made^ the best paint made anywhere. In other words, Poole Paint Pigments, mixed with pure linseed oil, yield you the best paint ever sold on the paint market. It^s the selling plan that does it. Don^t buy cheap paint. Cheap paint is cheat paint. And it doesn^t make any difference how they ask you to buy it, whether by mail order or from a dealer. It^s what you don't get that makes it deceitful, not the method of delivery. What is meant by Pig- ments 43 IN CONCLUSION I HE Poole Paint Association and its officers beg to express the earnest trust and con- fidence that the public gen- erally will avail itself of the new free service of our Art Department and of the Department in Architecture as well. A complete correspondence bureau has already been established, and the letters, questions and queries of our house- owner friends, and dealers also, will receive at once prompt attention, and without cost, all that our new facilities enable us to contribute to up-building and beautifying the American home. 237 90 * » >. J. • • • » 4W ^^ ; %,^^ /^'. v./ ^^^^^^^ ^- '^^ • ^•i \<^' 'fU.rS *^-^ " . » .0' V^ ■> o ♦ aV "^^ o>. «. "Jf^^^^Z" ^^ a'*' "J * aV '^>. 0^ A • .»' HECKMAN IXI BINDERY INC. |§| 1^ MAY 90 N. MANCHESTER, INDIANA 46962 .^'\ Ctv • '^ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 013 962 766