Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/290

 Q66 COTTAGE, FARM, AND VILLA ARCHITECTURE. representations of natural objects, such as the sun, moon, and stars, as is sometimes done on the window- facings and barge- 467 boards of the cot- tages in Russia ; of animals ; of the flowers of plants ; of their leaves, &c. In fig. 467 a, b, c, d, and e show a few of the simpler patterns. 549. Various other articles might be employed to cover and ornament the walls of cot- tages, according to the effect intended to be produced. Trellis-work of various kinds gives a gay and dressed a])pearance, suitable for the immediate neighbourhood of a large town. A marine character may be given by shells ; a rustic one by bark of trees ; and a grotesque one by roots of trees ; that of a Dutch cottage by glazed quarries (square tiles) ; and that of a Russian log-house by the outside slabs of trees (the first pieces sawn off, to reduce the trunk to a square, and of course flat on one side, and round on the other) ; the expression of warmth may be produced by clothing the walls with reeds ; and of coolness by blue slates, &c. 550. The use of barge-boards, ornamental chimney tops, vases, verandas, terrace parapets, balconies, flower-stands, mignonette boxes, §-c., may be consider, d as having been suf- ficiently illustrated in the preceding chapter. We have not hitherto, however, mentioned one very simple but neat cottage ornament, the sparrow pot, 468 fig. 468, which is made of common potter's ware, and projected from under the eaves of cottage roofs at regular distances, by simply placing the pots, which have holes in the side of their bottoms, on nails or wooden pegs. The use of these sparrow pots is, to prevent the birds from dirtying the walls or windows with what falls from their nests, by keeping them farther from the wall ; they also supply an easy means of taking either the birds or their eggs. We have seen a swallow pot for the same purpose, made by Adams, Gray's Inn Lane ; but we are not certain that it succeeds. High and ornamental chimney tops will, how- ever, generally be found to afford suitable angles and recesses for that bird (so useful to the cultivator in destroying winged insects) to build in. 551. The Doors of Cottages may be ornamented by adding strips of deal, in the form of muntins, styles, rails, beads, &c. ; by ornamental hinges and latches ; or by studding them over with imitation door nails. The plain door, fig. 469, may be rendered archi- tectural, in the Gothic style, at a very trifling expense, by fillets nailed on so as to produce the effect of figs. 470, 471, or 472, or that of fig. 473 ; or by nails, as in figs. 474, 475, and 476. The woodwork shoiild be painted in imitation of oak, and the heads of 469 470 473 474 475 476 n the nails should be black. These nails are to be procured complete, of different shapes, in cast iron ; but they are equally fit for producing effect when the heads are made of wood, and fastened on by a brad. When properly painted, it is impossible to distinguish the wooden nails from the iron ones. The shapes of the heads of these nails may be round, square, triangular, or polygonal ; and with either flat or raised surfaces. A few of the different forms are shown in fig. 477. Ornamental hinges, or plates of iron as 477 in figs. 474 and 475, into which ornamental nails are driven, may also be imitated in wood, and completely disguised by paint ; a-s may be certain parts of common latches, the