With a little picture magic, trans­form a handsome furniture piece into what is distinctively children's furni­ture. Decals are bright, educational.

Wardrobe-chest of drawers has decal plaque on front. Plaque is attached with escutcheon nails.

Decals are used primarily to decorate the things we live with and the rooms we live in; in addition, they amuse children and serve as toys.

First, a few words on how to select the decals. If you bear in mind the age of the child, the color scheme of the room, and the general effect you would like to achieve in the decor, the selection of the proper decal series is fairly easy. Remember that juvenile furniture is going to be used in a room for a long time. The chest of drawers and book shelves may be used in a nursery for a baby, and after the baby grows they will be continued to be used. The soft pastel paint on the baby furniture can be removed or painted over so the furniture can "grow" with the child. The same ap­plies to decal decorations: Fuzzy baby decals can be removed and more suitable designs applied as the child grows older, since decals can be easily removed with a special, inexpensive remover.

Sand down all edges and varnish over plaque. To make bookends, wedge bottom into notched board.

Holes are drilled in the rabbit plaque that is shown on page 142. to enable making inside saw cuts.

In general, decals can be used to create a center of interest (a decoration on one wall) or an over-all decorative effect. If you decide to create a center of interest, and if you use only a few decals on a wall, group them closely together, much as you would hang a cluster of small pictures, at eye level. If you prefer to use more decals, attractive border effects can be made by using decals in a straight or an undulating wavelike line; the mistake here is in using too few decals.

If you decide to use decals to create an over-all effect, use them throughout the room either as a border or groups of de­signs as outlined above. A word of caution: you are creating a room that is interesting to adults, but these decorations are being used primarily to interest and amuse small children. Therefore, when you are selecting "an eye level," lower it to a juvenile eye level.

Furniture decoration was the original use to which decals were put. When you are decorating furniture be sure that the paint or varnish is thoroughly dry. If decals are applied to a freshly painted surface, they tend to bond to the surface and are more difficult to remove.

It is not practical to decorate the top surface of tall pieces such as a very high bureau since the decals will not be seen, but a low play-table is an ideal surface since the decals do show. To decorate the drawers of a dresser the areas available for decoration are between the handles on a drawer with two pulls, and on either side of the handles of drawers with one pull. To decorate the sides of a dresser, book shelves or toy chest, decorate the lower half rather than the upper half because the decal is closer to the eye level of the child.

Children's beds and cribs are probably the most decorated items in a nursery. You can either put a single decal on the inside of the headboard, or a group of decals. The same holds true for the outside of the foot­board, but do not forget that the inside of the foot of the bed or crib is a surface seen by the child, and therefore should be deco­rated to amuse and please him. Naturally, always use the same color-matched decals in furniture decoration as in the wall deco­ration, and be sure the theme is the same.

As for the utilitarian aspect of decals, they can be applied over hairline cracks, nail holes, and stains on walls or furniture. If there are two children in a room it is easy to use pink decals to identify one child's bed, dresser drawers, toy box, etc., and blue decals to identify the other's. This idea can further be carried out by using little black and gold letter decals to spell out the child's name on his drawer, etc.

For a more outstanding effect and dura­bility, decals can be placed on thin non-porous plywood, then cut out and tacked on the object. But it is advisable to shellac the plywood surface first and sand it when dry. This type of relief-decal decorating can also be used on walls, enabling you to change the pictures and motifs without af­fecting the walls.

On very porous woods, like the Nakora used in many of the projects in this book, relief decals are particularly advisable.

All of the decals used in this book were chosen from the great variety of patterns made by the Meyercord Company for use on children's furniture. Complete appli­cation instructions accompany the decals. •