PLANllBP i WM ^ mm m Ml m '<\< lilRTF:x^^5V:gfflp:||: f>- v LOS ANGELES z NOR' "^MOOL UNIVERSITY of CALlFORNTi* LOS ANGELES LIBRARY HARPER'S HOME ECONOMICS Edited by ISABEL ELY LORD Director of the School of Household Science and Arts, Pratt Institute HOW TO COOK AND WHY. by Elizadeth CoNDiT, Assistant Supervisor in Household Science, and Jeshie A. Long, Instructor in Cookery, Tratt Institute. PLANNING AND FURNISHING THE HOME, by Mahy J. QiiiNN, Instructor in Desicn. Scliool of Household Scieucfe and Arts, Pratt Institute. Each volume Ifinio, Cloth, $1.00 net; Sent postpaid for $1.07. Others in Preparation. HARPER & BROTHERS. NEW YORK VLKTICAL LINKS EMl'llAM/i: THE HlilGHT Of A KooM PLANNING AND FURNISHING THE HOME PRACTICAL AND ECONOMICAL SUGGESTIONS FOR THE HOMEMAKER BY MARY J. QUINN INSTRUCTOR IN DESIGN SCHOOL OF HOUSEHOLD SCIENCE AND ARTS PRATT INSTITUTE ILLUSl-RATED HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS NEW YORK AND LONDON ^yD5\ L^, i'-iil « < » « I • • » • • t • • • • PRINTCD In the UNITED STATES OF Ah PUOLI^HEO SLPT^MSCR, 1914 C'9 CHAP. CONTENTS PAGE Editor's Introduction ix I. Building the House i II. Which House Shall It Be? 8 III. Renting a House or an Apartment . . 23 IV. What We Need for the House .... 35 V. Rugs and Curtains 55 VI. Chairs and Tables of the Past ... 68 VII. Old English Furniture 7S VIII. Old French Furniture 99 IX. American Colonial Furniture .... 109 X. Furniture of To-day 117 XI. What to Do for the Halls 127 XII. The Family Living-room 133 XIII. The Dining-room 146 XIV. The Bedrooms i55 XV. The Kitchen and Laundry 164 XVI. Handy Man's Chapter 174 XVII. SoMiE Useful Books 182 Index ^^7 ILLUSTRATIONS Vertical Lines Emphasize the Height of A Room. (PhotographbyAliceBoughton.) Frontispiece Colonial (Upper) ; Dutch Colonial (Low- er). (Courtesy of Alymer Embury, Archi- tect.) Facing p. 8 HouseShowingEnglish Inlfuence (Upper). (Courtesy of Wilson Eyre, Architect.) House Showing Italian Influence (Lower). (Courtesy of Alymer Em- bury, Architect.) " 14 Elizabethan Furniture " 78 Jacobean Furniture " 82 Dutch Influence " 86 Chippendale " 90 Hepplewhite and Sheraton " 96 French Furniture " 104 Some Samples OF Colonial Furniture . . " 110 Examples of Simple Furniture which may BE Bought in Stain, Enamel, or Un- finished. (Courtesy of Leavens Furni- ture Co., Boston.) , '■ u8 vi ' ILLUSTRATIONS Pleasing Examples of Modern Mission Furniture and Reproduction of An- tique Facing p. T24 A Simple Hall " 128 A Corner of a Living-room with Built-in Book-shelves. (Photograph by Alice Boughton.) " 136 A Convenient Butler's Pantry .... " 150 A Corner of an Attic Bedroom. (Photo- graph by Alice Boughton.) ** 156 EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION ONE of the important problems of home life is that of making the physical setting of the home a beautiful, restful place. The furnishing of the home, as well as the planning of it for those who are fortunate enough to be able to build, is the most striking expression of the family ideals. If the furnishing is done with little thought and on the recommendation of the furniture sales- man, then the family ideal is not high as to this particular subject. Some people prefer to have just what "everybody" has; many a house- keeper wants some piece of furniture just because a friend or neighbor has it. But more and more home-makers are longing to express themselves in beauty of line and color and pattern in the furnishings of the rooms they live in. The book Miss Quinn has written is for such home-makers as this last group. It will be of service to those who have homes of long standing that can be made more beautiful, to those who are planning a new home, to the woman who has a whole house, to the woman with a small apart- ment, or to the one who has but one room, to the X EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION girl of high-school age who wishes to help in- telligently in her present home and to know how to plan for a future home of her own. The book differs from other available books on the subject. There is a group of valuable books on historic furniture, intended chiefly for the connoisseur, and another group of practical books, which either give nothing on the historic side or deal with expensive furnishings. Miss Quinn has written a book between these two classes, with a statement of principles and a rapid review of historic furniture because these are necessary as a basis, but with the practical side of details, directions, and prices that will assist the buyer of average means. Giving prices is always a difficult matter, and usually brings criticism, but, on the other hand, the possible range of prices is of the first importance to the average purchaser. Perhaps the main purpose of the book is to show that the family whose purse is slim can nevertheless have a beautiful setting if intelligence, interest, a reasonable amount of time, and the knowledge this book gives can be added to the money available. Isabel Ely Lord. Pratt Institute. PLANNING AND FURNISHING THE HOME PLANNING AND FURNISHING THE HOME BUILDING THE HOUSE THE home-maker who is fortunate enough to be able to build the home cannot be too persist- ent with questions about everything concerning the construction of a house. There are a multitude of details that must be faced before the first spadeful of earth is turned. Every member of the family should express his ideas and desires, and every need and limitation and possibility of the family life should be considered before a site is chosen or plans drafted. If part of the family go to and from work each day, it is necessary to be near the station or trolley. If there are children of school age, it is imperative to select a community which has good schools. If doctors' bills are to be avoided, the prospective builder will do well to 2 PLANNING THE HOME consider the purity of the water-supply, the drainage possibiHties, and the sewage disposal. Are the taxes high? Are the water, gas, and electric-light rates high? In two adjoining sub- urban towns not far from New York, one has gas costing eighty cents a thousand feet, in the other gas costing $1.50 a thousand feet. Water and electric-light rates differ similarly. The cost of these necessities is twice as much in one suburb as in the other, and with no difference in value received. Are your grocer and butcher near? Is fuel easy of delivery? Is the land ready for build- ing? How much draining, grading, and road- building will be required ? Is the soil good for gardening and trees and shrubs? A small augur which can be purchased in any well- stocked hardware store will bore the depth of a cellar and reveal the soil as gravel, sand, clay, or sometimes tin-can-and-rubbish-fillcd-in land. It is always advisable to make this test of the soil, even when the neighborhood is a familiar one. Who are your neighbors? What are the restric- tions? ,Will the site grow more valuable — that is, will it be a good investment ? Ask these questions, then weigh your purse. The amount of money you have to put in the building of your house will to some extent detennine the selection of a site. Also for most people there are sentimental preferences, or business or professional reasons BUILDING THE HOUSE 3 that urge the selection of one site rather than another. From the very beginning it is well to have the advice of a good architect, for few experienced laymen can make plans and specifications and adequately direct the construction of a house. The .architect's charge is usually about six per cent, of the cost of building. This includes suggestions, and consideration of site, sketches of plans, and ele- vations to be submitted for criticism and sugges- tion, the final finished plans and specifications, and the supervision of the building construction. The architect assumes responsibility for materials and workmanship meeting the specifications. Usually, architects require a payment in advance or an agreement to pay for work done on plans, in the event of a change being made, and the con- tract given to another architect. It is also well to have an agreement as to time of completion and the payments to be made during the progress of building. Do not engage an architect because he is the friend of a friend or because you have heard that he is successful. He ma^^ have built a beautiful church or theater and yet be entirely inefficient as the designer of a house. Select an architect who has specialized in building houses, and then make sure of the integrity of his work by a personal inspection of houses he has planned. Go over houses that he has built if possible. Explain your needs and ideas and preferences to him. 2 4 PLANNLNG THE HOiME The layman can be of much help to the architect by fitting himself for intelligent co- operation. The man of the family knows his own needs better than any architect, and his wife knows them better than he. It is a poor house that has been built without a good housekeeper's criticism or without careful consideration of her needs. Together the house-builder and the housekeeper should go through new houses and houses in process of construction with a critical eye and an inquiring mind. They should each keep a note-book in which they jot down the ideas and suggestions as they arise. It is foolish to intmst these to memory. Ix)ng before the time comes to build the home - makers should be preparing themselves by gathering from magazines, catalogues, and even from newspapers, clippings of plans, ele- vations, and photographs of houses outside and in. A portfolio into which to slip each bit as it comes along makes collecting easy. The collection should also include furniture, decoration, kitchen equipment, anything and everytliing that would be suitable for the new house. When the time draws near for building these should be sorted out and notes made for the architect. The clipjjings themselves should be shown to the architect for any detail, for it is hard to describe in any but picture form the effect you wish to get in building. When it is not possible to have an architect one BUILDING THE HOUSE 5 must be sure to have an honest local builder who is a good workman in charge of the building. This has advantages and disadvantages. The local builder knows what materials are easily- available, how to get them to the ground, and where to find capable workmen. He also has realized in his community the pride and profit of good work and the penalty of poor work. He frequently has the disad\^antage of being ignorant of new building processes and of the possibilities and adaptations of materials he has not tried. What he does know well should be utilized. A strong, well-built house is the ideal of every honest builder. But such a builder cannot be held responsible for poor arrangements, for badly proportioned rooms and doors and windows, for wasted space or lack of closet-room. It is difficult for most people to see from drawings and plans what the finished house will really look like, but it is not difficult to make a small cardboard or paper model to scale, in accu- rate proportions with window and door spaces, ^•hieh will give an idea of the appearance of the outside of the house. Then, too, it is helpful to make a floor-plan and place inside walls of card- board with doors and fireplace, and then to im- agine yourself going from room to room. This is also a great help in planning the placing of furniture in each room. It will call attention to poor arrangement of rooms, or circulation, to use the architects' term. It will call attention to 6 PLANNING THE HOWE wall-spaces and to the placing of windows or doors. Only too often houses are built with bedrooms that have not the right wall-space for bed and dressing-table, and with halls or closets — even rooms — that need more light and better venti- lation. Of course, the need for keeping within a definite sum of money comes up throughout the planning and building, and it should be squarely faced at the beginning. A great many misunder- standings and disappointments will be avoided if, before any plans are made, one-fourth of the entire amount that may be used for building is set aside, temporarily forgotten, and left to meet the many details and small adjustments and changes which continually arise in the building of a house. The other three-fourths is then to be the outside sum to be given the architect. He plans for this, and then when the time comes, as it surely will, that the home-maker asks for some change, there is a reserve fund to provide for the payment of it. When the amount to be si)ent has been decided upon and the site selected, go over the land and consider every part of it as a possible site. The size of the lot helps to determine the proportions of the building. The house should be placed to get as much light, and sunshine as possible. Trees and any natural beauty should be pre- served and emphasized. Rocks and irregular sloping land with trees and shrubbery offer oppor- BUILDING THE HOUSE 7 tunities for successful placing of an informal house, with irregular gables and casement win- dows, for curving walks and winding approaches. A steep slope may be utilized for a convenient laundry entrance from the cellar, or for terraced gardens or flower beds. A flat country lends it- self to a more formal type of Colonial or Renais- sance arrangement. Near the larger cities there is a wide range of building materials, and there are competent work- men available. It is always cheaper to use materials near at hand or easy of transportation, and thus to develop the type of house best suited to the materials and workmanship available in the community. Houses, like people, must have something in common to be able to live together harmoniously. An informal rambling cottage on a flat flower- bordered lawn would be incongruous and dis- turbing among plain Colonial neighbors. But the simpler the house the easier it will agree with everything about it — ^and usually with every- body within it. II WHICH HOUSE SHALL IT BE? WHAT cliilJ has not passed through the stage of walking back and forth from school and guessing at the number of rooms in a house as counted by the windows and doors? And how attractive bay-windows and donner-windows seemed ! A center tower in the roof, a cupola with windows to all points of the compass, reached the apex of youthful arcliitectural ambitions. But the years bring a recognition of the needs of every-day living. The house of romantic fan- cies is rebuilt into a house reserved in architec- ture, suitable to its surroundings, and beautiful within its limitations of style; a worthier stand- ard for measuring both the inside and outside of a successful house. Fortunately, every one's preference becomes generally defined, at least so that it is not neces- sary on the eve of planning a house to amble back and forth, trying to decide whether the venture or adventure of building shall take the form of a Colonial or a half-timbered, a Renaissance or bun- galow type of architecture. COLONIAL (upper) DUTCH COLONIAL (lOWER) WHICH HOUSE SHALL IT BE ? g Each has much to be said for it. The siiitability of one or the other depends on the kind of land, the trees and background, the neighboring houses, the available building-material, and the manner of living, as well as on the fa.mily's likes and disHkes. The Colonial house has many successful proto- types, and in the eastern part of this country has sentimental and historic associations. Its charm lies in its simplicity and the beauty of its propor- tions. There are three styles of Colonial houses: the New England, with simple gable-roof; the Dutch Colonial type, to be found around New York, on Long Island, and in New Jersey, with gambrel- roof and stolid proportions ; and the more elegant and pretentious Southern Colonial, wdth broad front gable and Colonial portico. The New Eng- land Colonial house is usually rectangular in shape, w^th windows symmetrically spaced on either side of a central front door. The roof has a gable at each end. The appearance of the chimneys from the out- side of the house should be considered. They should be placed to emphasize the symmetrical balance of the door and windows. A small Colo- nial house which is built on a flat stretch of coun- try has a chimney at one end, and the impression the house gives when smoke arises from the chim- ney is of a locomotive steaming across the lot. The owner hopes that the tall Normandy poplars which have been planted near the gable end of the lo PLANNING THE HOME house opposite the chimney will soon grow tall enough to balance the height of the chim- ney. The door is an important feature of the Colonial house. Here much of the decoration centers, and one cannot do better than copy one of the many fine doors from one of the old houses. It may be a very simple door with beautifully proportioned panels, or one of the more elaborate doors sur- mounted by a semicircular lunette, with lead- paneled glass, and with panels of leaded glass on either side of the door. The manufacturers of interior trim, window-frames, and doors are mak- ing very good reproductions of Colonial details. Decoration should always be placed at points of use, and emphasize the use, and the door of beau- tiful decorative detail, emphasizing as it does the main entrance to the house, is fundamentally sound in design. The windows are usually broad, the window- frame itself simple in design. Small panes of glass may be more difficult to clean, but they add im- measurably to the beauty and interest of both the exterior and the interior. The wide clapboards so attractive in the old houses have been revived, but the narrower weather-board also gives the same simple and austere impression to the exterior of the house. The gambrel-roof and the broader proportions of the Dutch Colonial house make it less austere than its New England neighbor. Like the up- WHICH HOUSE SHALL IT BE ? ii turned hull of a ship of one of the Dutch sea-cap- tains, it seems to inclose the house with a more amiable exterior. The projecting second story, so frequently seen in the old Dutch Long Island houses, is a relic of the day when there were no gutters to carry off the rain, and the projection protected the foundation from damage by water from the roof. The squat sturdy character of the Dutch Colonial house should be emphasized, otherwise the gambrel-roof is Hkely to give the house a top- heavy appearance. The Southern Colonial type of house must needs be large and spacious, or its dignity will lose itself in a box-like structure with a meaningless monu- mental pillared entrance. It is only necessary to look about the average American city at the conglomerations of archi- tecture with broken roof lines, ill-balanced win- dows and doors in great varieties of shape and construction, to reaUze how superior are the fine simple structure and good proportions of the Colonial type of architecture. Inside the Colonial house the arrangement of rooms must necessarily be somewhat symmetrical and formal. A hall with stairs in the center and rooms on either side is the usual arrangement of the Colonial house plan. On one side of the hall there may be the living-room with a fireplace at the side or one end of the room, and on the other side of the hall the dining-room, with butler's 12 PLANNING THE HOME pantry leading to the kitchen in the wing at the back of the house. A plan which offers many advantages for sub- urban life, particularly if there is a large build- ing-plot with an attractive view or garden in the rear, has the kitchen on the front, separated from the front hall by a narrow hall inclosing the so- called back stairs. This ball prevents the kitchen odors from reaching the main center hall and also gives a convenient access from the kitchen to up- stairs as well as to the front door. The butler's pantry connects the kitchen with the dining-room which is at the back of the house. The dining- room overlooks the garden, and there may be an adjoining porch for dining out of doors. The h\ing-room extends through the other side of the house, with wide entrance behind the hall to the dining-room and with doors leading to the back porch and garden. The stairway in the main hall does not extend to the back of the house, as there must be a wide space for entrance from living-room to dining-room. This eight or ten feet square may be used for a writing-room or small library alcove of living-room. The frequent criticism that a Colonial house is stiff and formal for the informal American manner of living is contradicted by the adaptations of exterior and the many different interior arrange- ments that are possible if the individual needs of the family life are seriously considered and in- cluded in the planning of the house. WHICH HOUSE SHALL IT BE? 13 However, a Colonial type of house is not suit- able for all places. A rugged, pine-tree-covered mountainside needs a more picturesque and ir- regular architecture. But for a city or suburban house, in flat or rolling country, the simplicity and severe dignity of a Colonial house has a distinction that is sadly lacking in the more so-called original architecture of our American cities and towns. The English style of half-timbered plaster house is an adaptable style of architecture. It may be s>TTLmetrical or irregular in exterior and interior plan. Its chief charm depends on the contrast and variety of materials used and the rambling and irregular plan of both elevation and inte- rior. In the English half-timbered house the second story is usually higher than the lower and fre- quently extends over it. The roofs are steep- gabled, with groups of dormer-windows. In Elizabethan days the beams which formed the main structural uprights of the house were great trunks of oak-trees, placed root-end up to sup- port the overhanging eaves and protect the foundation from undermining by heavy rains. The uprights were strengthened by vertical and diagonal intersections of oak beams. The spaces between these were filled in with plaster. The roofs were of thatch or slate, and the whole effect of the exterior of the house was of strength and picturesqueness. With our modem develop- ment of construction the beams arc no longer an 14 PLANNING THE HOME essential part of the structural frame of the house, but are retained for their decorative features. The most attractive feature of the English style of house lies in the possibilities it offers for in- fonnal arrangements and adaptations of both exterior and interior. Rooms may be planned in size and proportion according to their needs, in irregular arrangement and with easy communica- tion between them, and the elevation be made to grow up naturally from the floor-plan. There is something especially pleasing in the irregular arrangement of windows and groups of windows in the EngUsh style of house. Casement- windows and projecting dormer-mndows with leaded glass have a charm and domesticity which adds to the beauty of both the exterior and the interior of the house. The English style of architecture is not adap- table for the formal streets of the average Amer- ican city, nor is it suitable for a narrow space of a small building-lot. It needs an expanse of lawns with gardens and carefully planned shrubbery and trees to give it an amiable setting for its pictu- resque irregularity. The Renaissance type of house is growing in favor with those who appreciate the large, simple proportions and distinctive formality of the Ital- ian influence. The tile roofs and stucco exte- rior aflEord an opportunity for color and contrast hitherto neglected in our domestic architecture. The floor-plan is usually rectangular or square HOUSE SHOWING ENGLISH INFLUENCE (uPPER) HOUSE SHOWING ITALIAN INFLUENCE (LOWER) WHICH HOUSE SHALL IT BE ? 15 in shape. The windows are symmetrically ar- ranged. Those in the lower floor are uniform in size and are usually larger than the windows on the second floor. An interesting variation to the rectangular lines of the main structure occurs in the arched doorway or windows. A garden in formal Italian style makes an effective approach or background to a house of this style. The interior plan requires a rather formal ar- rangement of rooms, placed according to the proportion and size of the floor-plan. The bungalow is the mushroom of American architecture. Its inforaial arrangement is espe- cially adapted for small country houses, of one story, with perhaps a room or two with dormer- windows under the roof inclosure. It is particu- larly suitable for mountains or hilly country with trees and rocks, and needs a varied background to counteract the irregularities of structural form. Any style of architecture may be chosen which allows adaptations to the special needs of the family and is in harmony with the character of the surrounding country and adjoining houses. But there are distinctive proportions that are fundamental to each style. Many variations of details are possible, but a violation of the main essential features will result in a mongrel type of architecture. Photographs of the old houses and palaces from which the modem types of good domestic architecture have evolved, are available through magazines and photographs and pubHc 1 6 PLANNING THE HOME libraries. A study of these ^^ill develop an appre- ciation and critical judgment of what is good in architecture. The range of building-materials now available gives scope for variety and interesting combina- tions hitherto impossible. Our diminishing forests will eventually limit the supply of wood, but the possibiHties of brick, concrete, and stucco building are developing each year. Frame houses and wood construction offer very few advantages. However, the initial cost of building is smaller than either brick or concrete. The frame house also is more adaptable than the brick or concrete house. It can be enlarged or changed with less labor and expense than the brick or concrete house. But these are the only advantages. The frame house is shorter-lived. It is in prime condition for only the first eight or ten years after it is built. After that its value decreases. Repairs are con- tinually necessary. It should be repainted on an average of every four years at least, varying ac- cording to the climate. Both the labor and the paint-materials are expensive. Insurance rates arc higher for frame houses than for brick or concrete construction. In ten years the cost of upkec]) plus the difference in insurance rates will probably (.;qual the original difference in cost between the frame and concrete or brick house. A frame house is also likely to be wanner in summer and colder in winter. It would seem that WHICH HOUSE SHALL IT BE ? 17 there were little to be said in its favor, but in a large part of the country it is much less expensive to build, and this must needs be the deciding factor with many prospective home-builders. The difference in cost of wood construction varies greatly in different parts of the country, according to the proximity of timber-land. Brick as a building-material has hundi-eds of years of satisfactory service for its recommenda- tion. Although it admits of fewer structural varia- tions than wood construction, it is far more per- manent. The insurance rates are less. It is cooler in summer and wanner in winter. The decorative possibiHties of brick building have developed rap- idly both in the brick masonry and in the color and quaHty of the brick itself. The skilful brick- mason can add much to the decorative effect of a house by variations in the arrangement of the brick. The checkerboard pattern makes an inter- esting wall when contrasted to full-length brick laid in cornices, and over doors and windows. Stone facing is a decorative addition to a brick wall. A wall of tapestry brick, with mottled color from over-firing, gives an interesting color pattern. These variations of brickwork require masonry of a high degree of skill, and shoidd not be intiiistcd to the average workman. Concrete construction has developed by leaps and bounds, until now it not only offers peiina- nence and adaptability, but it is an available process of building throughout the country. It i8 PLANNING THE HOME offers very interesting architectural and decorative possibilities. A few years ago concrete had the disadvantage of absorbing moisture, and a con- crete house was very likely to be a damp house. But the best concrete now on the market is mois- ture-proof. The hollow-tile construction, the last word in concrete building, is permanent, fire-proof, and adaptable to many variations of architecture. The poured concrete houses are usually clumsy and of ugly proportions. Stucco finish on metal lath is another successful method of construction. The stucco may be of different colors and vary from a rough to a smooth troweled finish. Tiles inset at doors and windows may be used as decorative detail. The cost of building-material varies in the dif- ferent parts of the country. In the vicinity of New York wood construction for a house costing between $5,000 and $10,000 to build A\dll cost about 18 cents a cubic foot, brick construction about 22 cents, concrete or stucco 21 cents a cubic foot. In the Middle Western states wood construction for a house costing between $5,000 and $10,000 to build will cost between 15 and 17 cents a cubic foot. Brick construction will cost about 20 cents a cubic foot, concrete and stucco about 18 to 20 cents a cubic foot. On the Pacific coast wood construction for the satnc house will cost between 9 and 13 cents a cubic foot, brick construction will cost between 10 and 14 cents a cubic foot, concrete and stucco construction WHICH HOUSE SHALL IT BE? 19 will cost between 10 and 14 cents a cubic foot. Availability of materials and labor is a deciding factor. It would be reckless and extravagant to place the responsibility of concrete building in the hands of workmen unfamiliar wdth its use, in a community where wood was plentiful and car- penters skilful. The details of the building have much to do with the beauty of the exterior as well as the interior of the house. Architectural decoration should emphasize the main structural lines. It should be concentrated at windows, doors, and cornices, but unless the main proportions are fine in themselves the decorations will add nothing, and may even detract from the eftectiveness of the house. Aside from their ugliness, it is recognized that large porches standing across the front of the house afford little privacy, and they also darken the adjoining rooms. A porch needs vines and shrubbery to relieve the bare skeleton of its struc- ture. One built at the side or rear of the house, shielded from the street by treUis or shrubbery, is a much more intimate and practical luxiu-y than when in direct view from the street. Trellis or latticework placed symmetrically on either side of doors or windows is often a decora- tive feature. In Germany and France apple and pear trees are trained on to garden wall or trellis, and are useful as well as very decorative. The 3 20 PLANNING THE HOME more fonnal front-door stoop, or hooded entrance, has a reserve that is suitable for the main entrance to a city or suburban house. A seat built on each side of such an entrance adds a hospitable touch. Doors and window-frames which are well spaced may be effectively emphasized if painted a color not too strikingly in contrast to the rest of the house. A small Long Island Dutch Colonial house has a gambrel-roof extending low over the one story of its front elevation. The house is painted a dull gray color, and the roof has the weather- colored shingles. The front door, trimly inclosed between two low box-trees, is painted a bright yellow color. A thick box-hedge at the street has a low gate painted in the same bright yellow color as the door. The close-cut lawns and cinder- walk add to the attractiveness of the place. The grouping of shrubbery and plants about a house serves to connect the house with the adjoin- ing land and to lessen the severe outline of foun- dation. Too much cannot be said in favor of discriminating gardening. Plants and shrubber}- blooming at different times can pro\'ide color from early spring to freezing weather. Varied-colored foliage and careful grouping of flowers of many colors have unlimited decorative possibilities. The interior finish of the house should be car- ried out in the character of the architecture. Painted or enameled woodwork, ivory color, or gray, or tan to hamionize with the color scheme of the house. AVood i:)anchng and wainscot should WHICH HOUSE SHALL IT BE ? 21 be fine in proportion and finish, but it is rather expensive for the average house. It is especiall}'' suitable for dining-room and halL The stairs and stair-rail should have the same refinement of design as the rest of the woodwork. The spindles are usually painted in the color of the woodwork, with banister of mahogany. The mantel of the Colonial house is a distinctive feature. It is usually of wood in the same color as the woodwork, and should be of simple beau- tiful proportions. Rough plastered wall and beamed ceilings and dark woodwork belong in houses of the English half-timbered style. Ingle-nook fireplaces -^^ith built-in seats are only suitable for the infonnal interior of this type of house. vStairs and stair-rail should be of the same dark wood and similar in character to the rest of the woodwork. Built-in furniture of seats and china-closets or drawers are always questionable. The work of a cabinet-maker should go into the making of fur- niture, and the built-in furniture made by the average carpenter is usually crude and clumsy. The yellow varnished woodwork and elaborate cabinet-mantels which are put into many of the houses of cheap construction are always ugly in color, and almost impossible to combine harmo- niously with any furnishings. The tops of cabinet mantels can easily be removed. The varnish can be taken off, and the mantel and woodwork painted. 2« PLANNING THE HOME There are many beautiful tiles on the market which can be used effectively in the fireplace. The Moravian tiles are lovely in color, and quite inexpensive. The Mercer tiles, made in Pennsyl- vania, come in beautiful colors and glazes, and, while they are rather expensive, they add a charming decorative touch to the fireplace. The Grueby tiles are also soft in color and interesting for the fireplace. The placing of lights and the design of lighting- fixtures are features too often neglected in the planning of a house. Side-lights are usually more attractive and useful than ceiling lights. Sockets should be placed in baseboard of a living- room and bedroom or Hbrary for table-lamps or for movable reading-lamps. The hardware, hinges, door-knobs, and han- dles, as well as the lighting - fixtures, should be carefully selected. There are many designs in hardware and lighting-fixtures, and it is not diffi- cult to find those similar and suitable to the style of the architecture. It is very essential that there be a unity in the exterior and interior appearance of a house. Noth- ing should be left to the selection of the builder. Careful consideration of all the details of finish in relation to the style of architecture \vill help one to choose wisely, and the result will be one of permanent and increasing satisfaction. Ill RENTING A HOUSE OR AN APARTMENT THERE is SO much uncertainty connected with finding a desirable house or an apartment or a flat to rent that the element of choice adds keen- ness to the first few days of search. But day after day of climbing up-stairs and down, refusing bad plumbing, poor floors, dark rooms, and ques- tionable neighbors will chill the enthusiasm of the most optimistic house-hunter. The most important requirement is a place with fresh air and sunlight, and it is fortunate that the value of land does not control air and Hght in all our cities. Apartments and houses are built, even in large cities, with all outside rooms. Nothing is more precious for health and good spirits than srmHght and air, A lonely child giv- ing her impression of a woman of great nobility and sweetness of character, said, "She is like sun- light coming in through the shutters." An}^ one who has lived in a gray rainy country or in a dark house will testify that light and sunshine are inseparably connected with buoyancy of spirits and courage. Any doctor will testify that dark- 24 PLANNING THE HOAIE ness and dampness are first aids to disease. Even with rigorous medical super\asion germs are left in dark rooms of many a house or apartment to be multiplied into infection for the innocent and the unsuspecting new tenants. And how many cases there are which are without careful medical supervision! Marl^le entrance-halls with oriental rugs and smart Hveried elevator-boj^s do not compensate for a lack of sunshine, proper ventila- tion, and good plumbing. Light, sunshine, and air are necessary in both town and country, but there are many considera- tions of renting wliich differ according to whether one is renting in a city, a small town, or a rural community. In a small town, or in a community where land is not valuable, but where it is difficult to hire help, one must he careful not to acquire too much room with the corresponding too much work. Although it is often possible to get a big ram- bling house with large rooms and high ceilings and wide halls for less rent than a small compact house or a well-planned and cared-for apartment, the work of keeping up the larger house, the looking after porches, shutters, cellar, and attic, and the cost of heating would make it much more expen- sive than the higher initial rent of the smaller house or apai-tment. On the other hand, in a large city more space, and even the effect of more space, which may be secured by arrangement of rooms and furniture, is to be sought for in an RENTING THE HOUSE OR APARTMENT 25 apartment or flat for restfulness and relief from crowded streets and the multitudinous layers of match-box homes. In a small i^lace the water-suppl}'-, the drainage arrangements, the gas and electric light facilities are all to be questioned, whereas these may be taken for granted and must be accepted in a large city, where boards of pubHc works and health and building departments are active. But in large and small cities alike the quality of the plumbing, the condition of the pipes, the acces- sibility of traps is fundamental and should always be carefully examined. Poor quality of plumbing and short cuts in repairing practised by some plumbing firms seem almost as atrocious in their possible consequences as the direct poisoning of medieval days. A succession of illnesses in one family was due to a large drain-pipe which a plumber had cut and patched with a piece of tin can from the ash- barrel soldered over the opening. It was traced by the bad odor which arose through the frag- ments that remained of the tin patch. The average householder's ignorance of plumbing, and distrust of the plumber are largely responsible for the poor quality of work. When the builder does not realize the importance of sound plumbing and will accept poor work at cheaper prices the av- erage plumber will meet that demand. There are two main problems in plumbing — the carrying away of sewage and the keeping sewer- 26 PLANNING THE HOME gas from coming through the pipe into the house. The carrying away of sewage is by a system of connected pipes; the prevention of sewer-gas entering the house is effected by traps near each faucet and drain and by the vent-pipe to the roof. Each faucet should be used frequently enough to keep the traps full of water. Re- frigerators should never be directly connected with pipes leading to the sewer. An intelligent plumber can explain the system and problems of plumbing in a short time to one interested and curious to know about it, and most plumbers are very glad to do so. Then the mechanics of plumbing ceases to be a mystery, and intelligent appreciation allows the plumber a pride in the integrity of good work. One can gain a standard of judgment through a careful reading of the building and health laws of a city which requires a high standard of sanitation, and by a comparison of existing conditions in other places with these laws. In renting a house it is well to know thoroughly the condition of the house and the need for repairs. A few rainy days will reveal leaks in roof or gutters, and prevent a later loss to books or pictures or rugs. A small fire may be built to test the draughts of a fireplace. Furnace and steam or hot-water plant should be accepted only on written agreement of conditions that guarantee satisfaction. In many cities the minimum degree of heat to be supplied in an apartment-house RENTING THE HOUSE OR APARTMENT 27 or flat building is specified by law, and it should always be included in the lease. Windows, doors, shutters, locks, and catches, porches, fences, and walks should be examined and deficien- cies enumerated and repaired before the house is accepted. An honest landlord and lessee will find it to mutual advantage to have a definite understand- ing of the conditions which will govern future repairs. With a less scrupulous landlord the lessee is at a decided disadvantage in trying to secure even necessary changes or repairs after the lease has been signed. In renting from a com- pany or -an agent it is wise to inquire and to know from those who have had experience with the company, what its policies are in regard to the tenants and their needs. It is frequently im- possible to obtain very necessary repairs from an agent, yet the legal restrictions of the lease cannot be broken by the tenant in default of these re- pairs. There is something to be said for the landlord. The tenant who rents a house or apartment knows the cost and the unavoidable wear and tear on furniture, and the work involved in moving, yet he is usually reluctant to pay even a small part of this cost of moving to improve the rented apart- ment or house. It is often economy for the tenant to make repairs of paint or paper, and in the case of poor floors, new parquet floors laid at the ten- ant's expense will cost no more than the time and 28 PLANNING THE HOME effort of several years' cleaning and caring for old floors of poor wood in bad condition. The landlord's attitude is often one that has grown out of his experience of careless tenants. He is usually willing to meet the reasonable de- mands of careful permanent tenants. If the ten- ant considers the rented house or apartment as a place that will be his home for several years and attempts to make it comfortable, convenient, and attractive, the landlord will be more amenable to demands for improvements. In a small city or communit}'' one knows the different sections and so knows something of the general character of the people of a neighborhood. In a large city one cannot be too careful, especially if there are children in the family, to find out about the neighborhood, the other tenants of the house, and the schools in the vicinity. In both small towns and in cities one does well to keep off the much-traveled thoroughfares. In a smaller place it is desirable to have the privacy, the freedom from noise and dust of a quiet street ; in a city one avoids the elevated roads and the streets with trolley-lines, and the cobbled streets of the morning market and milk-wagon traffic. The top floor apartment is usually more desir- able than those on lower floors, for there are the advantages of better air, more sunlight, and less noise from the street. It is not possible for every one in a city to live near a park, but wise parents will seek the vicinity of park and playgrounds. RENTING THE HOUSE OR APARTMENT 20 Not only is there better air, but there is the opportunity for healthy play which will do much toward counteracting the difficulties of bringing up children in the city. Inside the house or apartment much can be done with fresh paint and wall-paper. Unless the wood- work is too crude and cheap, and the floors im- possible, almost any place can be transformed with patience and good taste into a home of interest and charm. The woodwork should be painted the same color throughout, a neutral color, either somewhat darker than the wall-paper or a deep ivory color that will give the emphasis to the structural lines of door and window. At the same time the one color throughout will keep a uni- formity of background which is very necessary for the unity of the general furnishing. For the same reason it is usually better to have all the living-rooms of the house papered with the same or very similar wall-paper. The lighter the paper the larger the rooms appear. When two or three rooms open into each other with a vista through, light wall-paper and woodwork give an impression of much more space than there really is. Frequently it is advisable to pay the extra cost of a more expensive paper than the landlord will provide. The cost of hanging the paper is paid in either case, and a few dollars added to the allowance for papering will go into a better paper. This is rarely suggested by landlord or agent, but always allowed. 30 PLANNING THE HOME If the tenant is fortunate enough to have a fireplace, the room should be planned to give the fireplace the distinction it deserves. There the brightness of brass, or the color of the tiles, or the black of the grate and fire-irons emphasizes what is surely the most attractive single feature a house can have. If the house has the white or black marble fireplace mantel, one can only make the best of it. With the light mantel the walls and the wood must be kept very light, repeating the color of the marble in the woodwork or cur- tains. If the mantel is the dark green or black marble the difficulties are greater, but a very dark floor and woodwork or furniture painted the color of the marble will help mitigate the difficulties. Floors show the wear and tear and lack of care more than any other part of a rented house. Even when previous tenants have taken excellent care of the floors there has been the interval of moving, with the dragging of furniture across and in. The nails in the heavy boots of the workmen do not improve the floors. Surface scratching on good floors will soon disappear with an application of oiling and waxing and polishing. Floors that have been varnished, if the wood is in good condi- tion, should have the varnish removed, and the process of oiling, waxing, and rubbing will result, if one has patience, in a floor of good appearance "and wearing qualities. A floor which is in splinters from the use of alkali stains and scrubbings may sometimes be RENTING THE HOUSE OR APARTMENT 31 planed down to a firm, smooth surface. The ama- teur should leave this piece of work to a good carpenter. Sometimes if the floor is not worth the work of planing it down, the simplest treat- ment will be two good coats of paint or good var- nish. It is possible, by paying enough, to get a varnish which will not crack, scratch, or show water-stains. This is the varnish that is usually used on boats, and, while it is quite expensive, it pays if the floor is to be used very much. There is an old house in the country which has been made over into the summer home of two in- genious working- women. The floors were all of wide pine-knotted boards with discouraging cracks between. They found that the expense of re- flooring the living-room and hall made new floors in the dining-room and bedrooms impossible for the first few years, yet they could not put up with the old floors. They purchased heavy, tough wrapping-paper, dark in color, and after all the cracks had .been filled they papered the floor, covering it entirely, using only ordinary flour- paste. Over the dining-room floor, when thor- oughly dry, they put two coats of varnish; over the bedroom and up-stairs hall floors they put two coats of paint. The results were not only good- looking floors, which were easily cared for, but at the end of eight years the dining-room had been revamished only four times and the bedrooms and hall had been promised a new coat of paint for the next season. A painted border of floor-space with 32 PLANNING THE HOME a rug covering the center of the floor is sometimes an expedient solution of poor floors. But whereas floors may be made over entirely or changed to meet new requirements, those who rent apartments or houses usually have furniture which they already possess and which they must use. This will limit to some extent the selection of a house or an apartment unless one wishes to contribute to the upkeep of a storage company. If there are large old pieces of furniture, a tall secretary, a four-posted bed, then small rooms and low ceilings are impossible. It is always difficult to find an interior archi- tecture hannonious w^ith the type of furni- ture one possesses. If the furniture is of old mahogany, one will be surprised at the number of apartments and houses finished with so-called Craftsman woodwork. This is usually of soft, dark-stained wood in imitation ceiling-beams and wall paneling, utterly unsuitable for any but one type of furnishing. Perhaps the imitation beams and panels could be removed and the walls and dark wood painted a color suitable for the more delicate Hues of other types of furniture. If one had only Mission or Craftsman furniture, it would be discouraging to find so many apartments wdth light walls and painted woodwork, and so impos- sible as a background for this furniture. And nowhere is it more important that there be a unity, a similarity between background and furniture than in the small house or apartment. RENTING THE HOUSE OR APARTMENT 33 In the larger spaces of big rooms, incongruities do not force themselves in the foreground. They are mercifully lost in the unifying effect that large open spaces bring. In a small room or group of rooms, tmless there is a similarity in the important lines and character of woodwork and furniture, there is a restlessness and incongruity that pre- vents the beauty of any single part of the room or piece of furniture from having its full value. It is usually possible by changing the color of the woodwork and walls of the average house or apartment to make it harmonious with one's fur- niture. Walls can be repapered or repainted, and if covered with burlap they can be painted over with ordinary house-paint. All previous paperings must be removed from the walls. This is done by covering them with a thin paste for a few hours and afterward scraping off the dampened layers of paper. This should always be insisted upon. The ugly chandeliers which hang down from the centers of the ceilings should be removed, and either inconspicuous side-lights installed in their place, or side-wall connections made where most useful. In a living-room or library alcohol or kerosene lamps give an even and attractive light. The clumsy mirror and shelves over the mantels, the gewgaw fretwork over side-doors or openings can be easily removed without injury to the walls and stored in the cellar with the chandeliers and imitation wall-paneling to await the next tenant. 34 PLANNING THE HOME We hope they will be forgotten or disappeax in the mean time. A landlord or agent is more easily convinced that these changes can be made inexpensively and without damage to the apartment before the lease is signed than afterward, and the wise tenant is willing to pay part of the cost. Some part of a room, some corner or wall- space, will suggest itself as suitable for building in a few detachable book-shelves — perhaps with drawers or cupboards underneath for papers, maps, drawings, etc. In the bedrooms, if there is space for bed and dressing-table, and if there is closet-room and good ventilation, it is easy enough to make adjustments for books and boots, for chair and sewing-table. It is rather fun doing over a rented house. When one builds a house one feels the responsi- bility of its being right ; and, as it seldom evolves completely satisfactory, there is always the feeling that it might have been improved upon. When one rents a house and has no responsibility for what is essentially wrong in arrangement or con- struction, one only reaps satisfaction and praise for what has been improved upon. When a flower is made to bloom in a wilderness there can be but praise. There is opportunity in this coun- try for much of this gardening. And every one who rents house or apartment has a chance to be a gardener. IV WHAT WE NEED FOR THE HOUSE IF the standard which WilHam Morris set when he said, "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or beHeve to be beauti- ful, " were heeded, there would be a universal riunmage sale. And what restful places our houses would become, cleared of the useless and the ugly ! Every house which attempts to be a home, something more than a place in which to sleep and eat, provides comfort for those who live in it. But how little thought is given to another and a very precious quality, the beauty of the furnish- ing of the house. The first impression a house gives is a fair indi- cation of the success of its furnishing. If it seems cheerful and well ordered, we may know that whoever had the furnishing in hand planned it weU and took pleasure in carrying out the plan. If it suggests comfort as well as beauty, we may know that practical interests were considered and that the importance of plamiing a house to be lived in was not overlooked. Is it restful? Is the color harmonious and pleasing? If so there 4 36 PLANNING THE HOME was thought of beauty of open spaces, and simple Hnes, and discrimination in the selection of color scheme. And does the whole house seem a suitable back- ground for those who live in it? Frequently we hear that a house should have individuality ; but what house has not some individuality, however reluctantly it may be admitted? It is impossible to evade showing taste or the lack of it. Every house that has been thought- fully planned and furnished from the point of view of suitability and beauty has in it some- thing of fine individuality, and is necessarily a reflection of the taste of whoever directed the furnishing. And a house which has been care- fully planned by those who live in it has char- acter, too, and is more interesting than one which has been done throughout, a la carte, by the aver- age professional interior decorator or the furnish- ing-shop. Almost every one will agree in words on what makes a beautiful house. It is agreed that there must be color harmony, careful selection of furni- ture, and beauty in arrangement. But how to accomplish this? For in reality the furnishing of a house suitably and with beauty requires plan- ning and discrimination, and, however delightful the problem may be, it is one that is not without difficulties. It is necessary to use art as a working-tool. This mav sound difficult, but artistic appreciation WHAT WE NEED FOR THE HOUSE 37 is not confined to those who have studied in art- schools. A miUiner's apprentice may have better taste than a portrait-painter. Beauty makes a universal appeal, and taste is a matter of culti- vation. If artistic appreciation is to mean more than the passing pleasure of the moment, if one is to know what is good, and why it is good, one must have some knowledge of fundamental artistic principles. These are not difficult to understand. The principle of harmony or unity is an important one, yet its essentials are simple. Any one can appre- ciate it. Simply stated, harmony or unity is a measure of similarity. It requires that things which are to be used together be similar. As a working-tool in house-furnishing it will eliminate what is incongruous, too varied, or contrasting. Unity decrees that a room is inharmonious if there are too many colors used in it, or if it contains too many different types of furniture. Things which are to be combined harmoniously must be in large measure similar whether they be ideas, people, or colors. The principle of balance is perhaps instinctively appreciated. Simply stated, balance is an arrange- ment which gives equivalence. It may be an equivalence of color, of spacing, of foim, of light and dark. All about us nature has evolved count- less illustrations of balance of form and aiTange- ment in plant and animal life. We have two eyes, two arms, two legs, and symmetrical, balanced 38 PLANNING THE HOME figures. As a working-tool in furnishing a house, balance brings to it an order and a simplicity and prevents chaotic arrangement. We must take into account the balance of wall- spaces when hanging pictures, and balances of size and form, in arrangement of furniture. A long drawing-room of light walls and woodwork which has a grand piano and high book-shelves in one end and only a small table and light chairs in the other end, seemed to slope down toward the piano. There was no equivalence in the placing of the furniture, and the room was disturbingly end-heavy. A third principle is more difficult to define. In savage and civilized man alike there is a spon- taneous response to rhythm, and whether this I^rinciple is expressed in the rhythm of a dance or of running water, of the lines of chair or table, or of a glint of color iimning from rug to chair, and chair to window — wherever there is this charm of movement there is a touch of beauty. Artistic appreciation and the development of good taste in house-funiishing resolves itself into a matter of analyzing and putting all the details to the test of these artistic principles. Artistic expression and discrimination has a twofold value. The fine pleasure it brings to the individual is a reward in itself, but the beauty it creates in the home is an invaluable contribution to the happiness and joy of the family. Good taste has also an economic value. It means free- WHAT WE NEED FOR THE HOUSE 39 dom from the slavery of fashion and cheap imita- tions. There are styles in furnishing just as there are styles in hats, but the discriminating buyer who knows what is good and why it is good is able to select what is in itself beautiful enough to survive the change of fashion. A good chair does not become less desirable by change of fashion any more than a fine piece of old needlework point- lace loses its value when a different pattern of machine-made lace becomes fashionable. A good general plan of furnishing will evolve out of a careful consideration of the limitations and the possibiUties that the house or apartment offers. But even with a well-defined plan it is frequently difficult to conform to it. The shops have so much that is attractive and interesting that unless a fairly definite plan and color scheme has been decided upon it is hard to hold one's fancy well in hand. There is the danger of buying all sorts of things which are individually interest- ing or beautiful, but incongruous together and unsuitable for the special needs of the room for which they were purchased. So often the mistake is made of planning one room at a time or buying one piece of furniture at a time without regard to a general scheme. The result is usually a hodge-podge of different types of furniture and a restless impossible com- bination of color. A room with rich paper and velvet hangings will lose all its dignity if an adjoining room is furnished in Mission furniture. 40 PLANNING THE HOME A li\nng-room udth light wood and painted furni- ture becomes absurdly trivial if it opens to a dining-room of dark paneling and Elizabethan furniture. A discriminating visitor remarked of one very costly New York house that she would have to change her costume with every room if she were to feel at home there. Defining a general plan and conforming to it makes for unity in the furnishing. It is important that there be fundamental similarity throughout the whole house, a likeness between each part and the whole. If the house is to be restful and digni- fied it is very necessary that the general plan be harmonious, and harmony is dependent on sim- ilarity. Not that it is necessary that there be likeness to a degree of monotony. Variations of color and contrast add a zest and interest when introduced in the details and subordinate furnish- ings of a room, but too much variety in form and too many variations in color are always disturbing, and it is impossible to have restfulness with much variety. In making a general plan the sum of money one has to spend usually brings its own very definite limitations, although it is cheerful to know that an expensively fiirnished house is necessarily no more beautiful than an inexpensively and simply furnished one. The size of the house and the size and uses of rooms determine what furniture is necessary and suitable. One does not buy large elaborate pieces for the rooms of a .small house or WHAT WE NEED .FOR THE HOUSE 41 apartment. The number of windows, the amount of Hght — particularly in a city house — decide what the color scheme should be. In planning the general scheme of furnishings there are some aspects more fundamental than others, and certain considerations which should take precedence of others. It is well first to plan the general character and decide on the color scheme, then afterward fit in the details. To do this look at each room ; look at vistas from room to room, first, from the point of view of an archi- tect; second, from the point of view of the color- ist ; third, from the point of view of the craftsman and decorator. The point of view of the architect will consider first the skeleton of the room, the large proportions, the vistas through rooms. It is the architect's point of view which asks: Are the wall-spaces of good proportion, the woodwork beautiful? Shall they be emphasized? Or are they to be changed by curtains and placing of pictures and furniture? Are the doors and windows iSnely spaced ? Is the detail of woodwork good ? Are the rooms light, or shall the effect of light be height- ened? The wall-spaces, the woodwork, windows and doors make up the skeleton of the room, and their treatment is the most important part of furnish- ing. Most women have long since realized that elaborate trimming does not make a gown beauti- ful, and the well-dressed woman knows that the 42 PLANNING THE HOME distinction of a gown depends almost entirely on the lines and proportions. The same principles which underlie the beauty of a gown are funda- mental in the spacing and arrangement of a room. If a room has good woodwork, fine windows and door-spaces it is well to keep the walls and win- dow-spacings definite and clear. A slight contrast in color between walls and woodwork will empha- size the spacing. For instance, the woodwork may be of ivory or dull gray, in contrast to a medium dark neutral color of walls, or the woodwork dark in contrast to light-colored walls. The windows should be curtained to cover as little as possible of the woodwork. The emphasis on structural lines presupposes good proportions and beautiful woodwork, and also requires a very discriminating selection and aiTangement of furniture. This restraint to fine structural lines will always produce an impression of distinction. One may sometimes feel that such a room lacks warmth and glow, but one never feels that the room becomes monotonous as a more colorful one so often does, nor proves common- place as a less simple one does. Unfortunately, the increased cost of lumber and labor has resulted in many houses and apart- ments having woodwork which invites obHvion. Badly put together and ugly in proportions and detail, it must be made unobtrusive. Then it is well to have woodwork and walls almost similar in color and to subordinate the woodwork of WHAT WE NEED FOR THE HOUSE 43 windows and doors as far as possible to the main proportions of the room. Walls and woodwork which are similar and light in color will make any room seem larger and will also make furnishing a less difficult problem. Then the architect's point of view will also con- sider the proportions of the room. Are they to be kept as they are or to be changed ? Does the room seem too low-ceilinged? If so, all vertical lines must be emphasized. The walls may be papered with unobtrusive striped wall-paper. The picture- rail should be high, adjoining the ceiling. Tall pieces of furniture may be placed to carry up the vertical lines. Tall, narrow built-in book-shelves will add to the impression of height. Long, straight curtains may be hung, and everything possible should be done to keep the vertical lines of curtains and furniture clear and dominant. But if the ceilings are too high ? Then the pic- ture-rail can be dropped to coincide with some architectural line of door or window ; broad, medi- umly low book-shelves built in, and the center of interest in the room placed at about the average eye-level. Short curtains may be hung, drawn back at each side, to emphasize the width of the window. Everything possible should be done to keep the horizontal and low levels dominant. The architect's point of view in furnishing con- siders the structural lines of the skeleton, and the large proportions. It gives the room its funda- mental and most important furnishing. The ar- 44 PLANNING THE HOME chitect's furnishing should pass on a beautifully- spaced and arranged shell of walls, windows, doors, and floor-spaces, to the colorist next, and after- ward to the decorator and the housekeeper for their additional point of view. So much of the charm and pleasure of a room depends on the color impression ! No part of the furnishing is more expressive of individuality than the color scheme. The problem of selecting colors for a room is one that requires very careful atten- tion. No woman would attempt to buy colored sewing-silk without having a sample for matching, or buy trimming for a dress without a sample of the dress material. Yet when it is a matter of selecting color in curtains, or rugs, or upholstery materials, the same woman will rely on red being red, blue being blue, or green being green, and accept dozens of shades of difference between the same colors in one room. There are innumerable shades of reds and blues and greens. It is possible to dye with modern coal-tar dyes nearly eight hundred shades of blue ! Even neutral tans will run from many shades of pink tans to tans of warm yellow and green tones. Then, too, in deciding on a color scheme it must be kept in mind that different colors have different quahties. Red is always a penetrating color. Why else are danger-signals always red? Yellow is a luminous color, and gives the impression of Hght. Blue is a retreating color. Curtain materials should not be selected with- WHAT WE NEED FOR THE HOUSE 45 out matching or comparing them to the wall- paper. Upholstery materials should not be chosen without comparison to the wall-paper and cur- tains. Walls, curtains, upholstery material, and rugs are the four most important color spaces in a room, and if a similarity of color runs throughout all four, the smaller details of varying color will take proper subordinate places. It is not difficult to dye materials to match any color, and full directions for dyeing are given in Handy Man's Chapter. For those who have not had training in color harmony, and who have not cultivated color discrimination, this simple little problem will be very illuminating. Collect many samples of one color or two colors. Say a living- room is to be done in blue-and-gold. Collect sam- ples of innumerable shades of blue and of gold in different materials — silks, cottons, wools, and pa- per. Try to arrange them in gradation, shading from light to dark. Place in the center what seems to be a middle shade of pure blue; on one side arrange gradations toward violet-blue, on the other side toward green-blue. Do the same with the gold, running the gradations on one side to a greenish-tan, on the other side toward orange. This will help one to appreciate the subtleties of color, and to realize that a whole color scheme may be spoiled by a sHght variation in color. A room should have a predominating color, and adjoining rooms should be of the same or of similar color. For instance, tan and green stripe may be 46 PLANNING THE HOME used in a hall which adjoins a room of plain tan paper. It is wise to keep walls of neutral and unobtrusive color. The more neutral the large masses of color are in a room, the more varied and brilliant the details of decoration may be. The brighter the color of the large masses, the less variety of color may be used in the room. A little bright color goes a long way. If a room has gray walls, woodwork, and furni- ture, the upholstery, curtains, and rugs may intro- duce various other colors. If the room has blue walls, and mahogany furniture, only one other color can be used to any extent in curtains and upholstery materials. It is always safe to use soft, dull colors. It is much more difficult to suc- cessfully combine bright colors. It is also true that walls of neutral color are more restful and permanently satisfying than walls with strong color. One grows as tired of an aggressive wall-paper as of a bright-colored suit which has been worn through a whole season ! And rooms with the large masses of dull color have the advantage of lending themselves easily to changes in color and arrangement. The blue vase may be replaced by a green one, the bright orange cushions covered in other colors, the lamp- shade changed, and the whole room assume a different appearance at a minimum cost of time and expense. It takes knowledge and imagination to use strong color and striking patterns success- fully. WHAT WE NEED FOR THE HOUSE 47 Rooms which have Httle or no sunHght should have yellow the predominating color. Tan, old gold, dull orange, or soft yellow-green should be predominant in the larger masses of color. The details of pattern and accessories of furnishing may introduce other colors in small quantities. In rooms which have plenty of sunlight, almost any color scheme may be used. Only where there is plenty of sunlight throughout the day should blue, gray, violet, or green be used as the pre- dominant color. Light colors make the room seem brighter and larger. Aside from marking a rooin seem smaller, dark colors have a serious disadvantage. Dark green, blue, brown, or red walls absorb so much light that twice as much gas or elcctricitj^ is necessary for illumination as if light walls were used. Dark walls materially increase the gas and electric-light bills. The finish given to walls in modern houses is either a rough plaster, which may be painted, or a smooth plaster finish which may be painted or papered. Rough plaster walls are an effective background. Frequently the color is mixed with the wet plaster. The walls may also be painted in water or oil colors. Painted walls have some advantage over papered ones. If painted with oil the color will last for years, and may be easily cleaned by careful washing with warai water and soap. If too much oil has been used in mixing the paints, there will be an unpleasant surface 48 PLANNING THE HOME gloss on the walls. There are many varieties of water-color paints on the market. Some are quite inexpensive and can be directly appHed over wall- paper or oil-painted walls by the average un- trained, inexperienced person without difficulty. It is usually difficult to have the average painter get the right color, unless accurate directions are given for the mixing of colors. Yellow ocher added to white paint or enamel will give a satisfactory ivory color for woodwork. Black will usually neutrahzc a color which is too bright. Yellow will always add warmth to a cold gray or green. The growing interest in house decoration has created a demand for wall-papers of good quahty, design, and color. Tans and grays are good colors for backgrounds, and a simple pattern, or a stripe in the same or similar color, is more interesting than the plain color. Patterns should be unobtru- sive. Large color patterns are seldom suitable for any room, and, although it is possible to use a pattern or striped paper in a hall, it must be similar in color to the paper used in adjoining rooms. Flower patterns are effective in very simple bed- rooms, especially in country houses. Pictures should not be hung on patterned wall-papers, for the effect of pictures and wall design is at cross- purposes, and results in restless confusion. The Hghting of a room plays an important part in the color impression, and the effect of both day- light and artificial light must be considered in furnishing a house. Daylight should be softened WHAT WE NEED FOR THE HOUSE 49 by the curtains, and neither at day nor night should the Hght be too glaring. Many colors lose their intensity at night. There are very few blues, for instance, which hold their color under artificial light, and mauve and violet become quite gray under gas-Hght. A room at night may seem to be in dull, soft colors, while the bright daylight may reveal the same room in a garish color scheme. When gas and electricity supplanted the meager candle and kerosene lights there was a natural desire to burst forth in efTulgence, and in conse- quence much more light than is necessary is used in the average house, and much is wasted, by lack of concentration at necessary points. To-day attention is being paid both to the scientific and artistic aspects of lighting. As has been said, dark rooms absorb light, and deep shadows are cast by the furniture, which involves a large waste of electricity or gas. Light rooms, unless there are proper shades on the lights, may have a glare which is injurious to the eyes, and very tiresome. There are two methods of artificial lighting — the indirect and the direct. In indirect lighting the source of hght is concealed. Lights are placed behind a cornice molding and their light is re- flected from the ceiling in a diffused light through- out the room. Or the lights may be concealed in inverted holders suspended from the ceiling. This light is very even and is suitable for large halls or so PLANNING THE HOME for public buildings. It is at least a third more expensive 'than direct lighting. Direct lighting, with sources of light obvious, is much more suitable for lighting the average house. A hall or kitchen may be successfully lighted by indirect method, but in a living-room or bedroom a completely and evenly lighted room is as tire- some to the eyes as it is unattractive. The chan- delier that hangs down from the center of the ceiling into the room is always ugly and reduces the apparent size of the room. vSide-lights are generally more useful and at- tractive than ceiling lights. If a room is low, ceiling lights close to the ceiling will add an im- pression of height; if the ceiHng is high, side- lights placed just above the eye-level will make the room seem less high. There are always some parts of a room more in use than others. There are always some parts of a room more attractive than others. An open fire, the soft light from a reading-lamp with a side- light near the desk when necessary, gives all the light that is needed and makes a room much more interesting and restful, with its concentration of light and its half-lights and shadows, than a room which is garishly lighted throughout. There is something aggressively bare about an unshaded light, and a visit to the shops for lamp-shades and shades for side-lights will disclose so many mon- strosities of glass-bead fringe and passementerie and artificial-flower trimmings at large prices that WHAT WE NEED FOR THE HOUSE 51 it is well to know that any one can with patience make a good lamp, candle, or side-light shade and that the simiale ones are the best. A wire frame may be ordered in any size to fit any lamp, or to be attached to any side-wall fix- ture. This frame should be covered by winding it with tape or ribbon. The outside of the shade should then be sewn to this tape first at top, then the bottom, and perhaps at the sides,- according to the design. Plain silk may be used for the outside, stretched tight across and sewn to the frame, or the silk may be plaited, sticking pins into the plaits all around the top, and afterward stretching and running it in similar plaits at the bottom. Pinning it at both top and bottom be- fore sewing allows for corrections being easily made. Stencil designs in heavy paper, pasted over silk or paj)er, make very attractive shades. All shades should be lined with plain silk in color. The lining should cover the turned-in raw edges of silk which has been used for the outside of the shade. For finishing the top and bottom edges, a fine guimpe braid, lace edge, or silk fringe may be effectively used. Shades for lamps may be circu- lar, hexagonal, or octagonal. Shades for side- lights are usually semicircular. No one feature of furnishing can more easily mar or improve the appearance of a house than the arrangement of artificial lighting, and a carefully lighted room adds considerably to the 5 52 PLANNING THE HOME attractive appearance of the room and to those who live in it. It seems more than bad taste to live in a house with ugly, crude colors and garish lighting. How many cases of nerves and headaches have been given by the red-patterned wall-papers? Nerve speciahsts have long since realized the value of restful colors in the furnishing of sanatoriums, but the nervously ill person and the nonnally healthy person are alike responsive to the effect of color and hght on the nervous organization. So much joy and pleasure may be had from beautiful color that too much consideration cannot be given to this phase of the furnishing. The framing and hanging of pictures is an im- portant detail of the general furnishing. A large dark picture, heavily framed, and hung in the cen- ter of a light wall will have an emphasis quite beyond its proper significance. By reason of the same objectionable contrast and emphasis, a pic- ture with a very light or a white mat should not be hung on a very dark wall. Pictures should take their places as part of the background of the room. They should be con- sidered and placed as so many spots or patterns on the wall. It is assumed that the pictures in themselves are interesting, so they should be hung low enough to be examined at close range. They should be placed in a balanced arrange- ment either irregularly or sjmimetrically spaced, so that a simple pattern is made by their rectangular WHAT WE NEED FOR THE HOUSE 53 shapes on the walls. It is more interesting to group small pictures together than to scatter them. A narrow gold or colored wood frame close to the picture or with a mat is generally an accept- able and unobtrusive way of framing a picture. But to be framed correctly each picture must be considered as an individual problem. The mat or the frame, and even the frame itself, may echo the color of the picture. Etchings and engravings should be framed with a light mat and a plain, narrow black or gold frame. Mezzotints and all color-prints may have gold frames, with the predoininant color of the print repeated in the color of the gold. A gold frame which is too bright may be brought to a dull tone of gold, harmonious to the color scheme, by giving it a transparent coat of paint and turpentine. For instance, a gold frame given a transparent coat of either green or brown paint diluted with turpentine, becomes a harmonious setting for a Rembrandt color-print of rich reds and browns. The Persian manner of inclosing a picture within a band or bands of bright color may be successfully followed in framing prints or pictures which are full of color and fine in detail. Japanese prints are attractively framed with mat of Chinese or Japanese paper. A narrow black frame will bring out the clear black lines of the print. The framing of pictures should not be intrusted 54 PLANNING THE HOME to the ordinary picture-dealers. The size, color, and pattern of a picture may mar or make beau- tiful the wall on which it hangs — and it is much too important a detail of furnishing to be haphazardly treated. After the architect's and the colorist's points of view have decided the main arrangements and colors of the room, the work of furnishing is but begun. Each detail of furniture, upholstery, rugs, and bric-a-brac should be considered carefully in relation of one to the other and to the whole room. There is satisfaction in doing a room well, and there is satisfaction in producing a beautiful room or house, but what is more important, is the pleas- ure and joy it gives others ! Bric-a-brac! What sins are committed in your name ! The housekeeper must not allow her senti- ment or her friends' generosity to clutter up man- tels, tables, and shelves with useless articles. Vases, ash-trays, cups and saucers, and innumer- able inappropriate grotesqucries, decoratively in- tended, must be severely dealt with and banished either to the ash-barrel, the store-room, or the gift-box. A few vases for flowers, a tray perhaps, a pair of beautiful candlesticks may add touches of color and design and add to the decorative effect of the room. But too little bric-^-brac is better than enough ! V RUGS AND CURTAINS EARTH dark, trees lighter, sky lightest," says the landscape-painter. The interior deco- rator translates that to "Floor darkest, walls lighter, ceiling lightest." This gradation should be included in the first planning of the furnishing. A dark oak floor, neutral gray walls and wood- work, and light ceiling offer an example of grada- tion, from dark through medium to Hght color values. A light maple floor in a room with dark wood- work or walls is as strikingly unsuitable as a light ruffle would be on a dark skirt. Floors are usually of oak or maple, both of which darken with age and constant oiling and waxing. Often it is ad- \asable to use a wood-stain to darken a new floor. Frequent waxing and rubbing will soon produce a beautiful surface quality on the wood. It is always economical in the long run to put in a good hard-wood or a parquet floor, for a poor floor demands a discouraging waste of time and labor. In European countries where wood has become 56 FURNISHING THE HO^IE very scarce, linoleums in beautiful dull colors and small patterns are used very effectively. In Hol- land, where hard- wood floors would be an absurdh'' expensive luxury, clean dark linoleimi is the usual background for the rugs. One firm in this coun- try has recently put on the market linoleums of good quality, which are beautiful both in color and design, and have guarantee of long wear. Carpets which cover the entire floor harbor dust, and are difficult to clean. Our hard-wood floors with rugs that can be easily cleaned are more sanitary as well as more beautiful. There is a wide variety of rugs on the market, and with some searching, rugs may be found that are suitable for any color scheme and possible for the most limited income. They range from the beautiful Oriental to the modern rag rug. Of course, every one longs to possess beautiful Oriental rugs; and since their superior wearing qualities and beautiful color design have been demon- strated and appreciated the importation has in- creased enormously. But the buyer must be very careful in selecting Oriental rugs. A real antique rug, or one that is over seventy-five years old, is a perfectly safe investment. They are rare and costly. Among the thousands of new antiques it is possible now and then to find a really good old rug, but the inexperienced buyer is more likely to be attracted by the bright colors and silky sheen of the new rugs, which are being made by the thousands in Oriental factories, RUGS AND CURTALNS 57 If these new rugs are well made they are as desirable as the old ones, but unfortunately the demand for antiques has stimulated a production of bad imitations which have neither the endur- ance, nor the beauty and distinction of the old rugs. Dealers sell, and even guarantee as antiques, rugs which have been recently woven, bleached to soft colors, and rubbed with glycerine or a chem- ical composition to give a silky sheen. If the bleach has not been thoroughly rinsed out — and it seldom is — the rug will quickly wear through in spots. The gloss will also disappear after a few weeks' wear. But how is the inexperienced buyer to know how to tell an old rug from a new one? There is no one sure way. A careful study of texture, design, and color of old and priceless rugs which are in museums or expensive shops will do much to teach an o]:)servant person and will show the in- feriority of modern imitations. How does one know the difference between a piece of old hand- made lace and a machine-made imitation? How would you teach a person to distinguish between a piece of hand-made embroidery and a machine- made copy of similar color and design? Perhaps some one answers, "But you can vSee that, and feel it." So with a rug. Any one who has seen and examined really fine rugs will be a discriminating buyer. But there are a few ear-marks that it is well for the amateur to bear in mind. If cheap, crude 58 FURNISHING THE HOME dyes have been used, the bleaching and washing process has caused some of the colors to run, and there will be places where the colors have spread from one pattern into a lighter pattern or from the pattern into the background. A rug which has been very much bleached will have soft dull colors on the surface. By separating the threads and looldng closely into the back of the rug one can see the sharp bright original colors of the yarn. Another way of telHng a very new rug is to wet a piece of cloth and rub it quickly on a spot on the rug. When it becomes warm the smell of chloride of lime which has been used in the bleach- ing will be quite apparent. Just as the back of an old wool coat which has been rubbed against desk or chair becomes shiny and hard on the surface, so with a rug. The back of an old i-ug has a hard, not necessarily stiff surface which has come from years of rubbing on floors. The old rugs, too, are usually more closely made and the knots are tighter and closer together than in the modern imitations of the same rugs. There are many well-illustrated books on rugs which will vshow designs and colors and give in- formation about the good antiques. Good Orien- tal rugs may be purchased from $25 to $25,000. Chinese rugs are very beautiful, but the old ones are so expensive that they are beyond the possibilities of the average purse. This is also true of some of the beautiful Aubussorj carpets RUGS AND CURTAINS 59 with their French elegance of design. Their prices, ranging from $ioo to $250 a square yard, make them prohibitive for use in the average house. The beautiful Donegal rugs which are on the markets, of deep wool pile, in plain colors, are made, not in Donegal, but near Dublin. They are very beautiful in texture and color and very durable, but rather expensive for the average house. A rug of 12 by 14 will cost about $200. The present fashion of using plain-color velvet rugs without pattern is a welcome one indeed! These rugs are lovely in color and texture, and range from light shades to dull, effective blacks. Frequently in our small houses the pattern and color of Oriental rugs makes it difficult to combine them with other furnishings, but the rug of plain color, harmonizing with the dominant color of draperies and upholstery materials, keeps a rest- ful unity of color and pattern in the room. Oriental rugs are seldom available in sizes large enough to cover the center of the floor. Several small rugs are difficult to place well and make too many spots. They are likely to interfere with the flat effect that the floor should have. The plain-color rug comes in any width, at prices rang- ing from $1.50 to $15 a square yard. Some of the plain-color rugs show dust and footprints more than others, and these should be avoided. It is always wise to walk across such a rug as it lies on the floor in the shop for your consideration. If it shows footmarks it should be discarded at 6o FURNISHING THE HOME once. Ugly-patterned rugs and carpets may be successfully dyed to soft, plain colors. The results in such cases are often surprisingly attractive. The original pattern shows as a darker shade of the ground color. Such dyeing is not expensive, but of course cannot be done at home, as the size and weight of material prohibits this. Jute rugs are very inexpensive and are made in beautiful colorings. They are only suitable for the very simplest of furnishing, and will not stand heavy wear. Neither are the colors very fast, and where exposed to direct sunlight they fade quickly. Jute rugs cost from $3 up. The old-fashioned rag rug has possibilities which are not realized by the average person. The rags are dyed before weaving to suit any color scheme, and it is possible to make rugs of very beautiful colors. One Arts and Crafts group bought a large quantity of old velveteen skirt binding, and dyed and bleached and redyed this, to good color combination. From this rugs were made that were unusually attractive in texture and color. One of dark greens and golds and rich oranges was par- ticularly lovely. Directions for dyeing are given in Handy Man's Chapter, and, as every town or country community has at least one rag-carpet weaver, it is possible by dyeing the rags one's self to have rugs of beautiful color at very little cost. Care should be taken that strong warp is used. In the rag rug on sale in the shops, frequently the warp is poor and breaks after short use, thus RUGS AND CURTAINS 6i making the rug useless. One disadvantage of rag rugs is that they gather dirt in the folds. They should be beaten thoroughly every week, and at least twice a year either steam-cleaned or washed. Vacuum cleaners do not add to the longevity of rugs and upholstery. One firm refuses to guar- antee tapestries or rugs that arc to be cleaned with vacuum cleaner. Oriental rugs should never be steam-cleaned, but washed in soap and water. When they show signs of wear it is well to have them mended by an Oriental who makes a busi- ness of doing this. The cost is slight and the life of the rug much lengthened. These men also wash the rugs well and cheaply. It is wise to change rugs about, frequently, to distribute the heavy wear evenly. Rugs are one of the expensive items in furnish- ing, but it is much better to buy them of good quality, for the cheaper ones are made largely of cotton and jute, and with very little wear they be- come drab in color and frayed and worn in spots. A good Oriental rug will outwear a half-dozen do- mestic rugs. After wall-paper and rugs are chosen, it is well to consider next the curtaining of a room. Cur- tains wear out^ they fade, they change with fash- ions. "I am looking for curtain materials" is frequently heard in spring and autumn, and the multitudes of different curtain materials in every shop may well keep one long a-search for the right 62 FURNISHING THE HOME texttire, color, and perhaps patterns. Lace cur- tains with their elaborate patterns and staring white stiffness have fortunately come to a well- deserved end. Figured madras with its large pat- terns and crude colors has also passed even the department store's approval. But we are still buying simple nets and scrims and lawns and Swisses, and good reproductions of old damasks and figured velvets and gay chintzes. Why are windows curtained? Usually for one of two reasons, or a little of both. One reason for curtains is to soften the glare of incoming light; the other reason is to shut out the out-of-doors, and not present the drama of one's family life to the passer-by. And there is the outside appear- ance of curtains to be considered as well as the inside. All the shades should be of one color and a coior suitable to the window-casing and the outside of the house. This will give the outside of the house an impression of unity and orderliness. If it is desirable to have another color for the inside of the shades, double-faced shades are only slightly more expensive than those of one color. Inci- dentally, shades should be kept rolled to the same level, and not only all shades but all curtains which show from the outside should be somewhat similar in color, texture, and method of hanging. Once and three-quarters the width of the win- dow for net curtains and once and one-half the width for heavier materials will give the necessary RUGS AND CURTAINS 63 fullness. The construction of the window-frame and the general style of furnishing of the room largely determines the length of curtains. If the walls are thick and the frame of the window ex- tends into the depth of wall, making a recess of the window inclosure, long curtains of chintz, silk, or velvet may extend to the floor, and emphasize the structural inclosure of the window. In a simply furnished room, and where the window- frame extends neither in nor out, but is fairly flush with the wall, the curtains should extend to the bottom of the window - frame. Sash - curtains should be short enough to clear the window-sill. The length of curtains should always coincide with some structural line and emphasize either the length of window inclosure or the length of the window-frame. Ample allowance should be made for shrinkage of curtains. It is well to allow at least twelve inches for scrim and at least six inches for nets, muslins, and other cotton wash-materials. It is often well, with such curtains, to leave the bottom hem (of triple thickness) fastened only with a basting or running stitch until the first laundering. The hem is then easily ripped and readjusted after the shrinkage. Scrim will shrink a great deal even after several launderings, and should have special allowance made for this. There are many inex- pensive nets which may be used for the outside curtains. They should be edged with a narrow braid or lace edging and hung on a separate rod 64 FURNISHING THE HOME close to the window-frame. A more formal ar- rangement is one where the net is made into a panel, with medallions and insertions of real lace, and hung straight and fastened close to the glass. For the inside curtains a heavier material should be used, of quahty, design, and color suitable to the furnishing of the room. Soft silks and heavier damasks may be used, hung straight at either side of the window. The many charming chintzes now on the market add design and color and give a cheerful, gay effect to an infonnal room. One must be very careful to have the curtains repeat the colors used in rugs and upholstery materials, otherwise the windows stand out in vivid contrast and make unpleasant breaks in the background of the walls. Where there is a group of two or more windows the net curtains should be hmig at each window, the inside curtains hung only at each end of the group. A valance of the heavier material may be hung across the entire group, connecting the two inside ctutains. Casement-windows with small panels of leaded glass require but one curtain to each window. Casement-windows with clear glass may hsivc net ciu'tains next the glass fastened to rods at top and bottom and curtains of silk, chintz, or outside material, either at each end or hung at each wdn- dow. For semicircular and half-semicircular win- dows, net with an insertion patleni of lace or RUGS AND CURTAINS 65 medallion repeating the shape of the window may be fastened straight to the window. Plain net or scrim may be arranged in plaits radiating from the center of semicircular window or from the comer angle of the half-semicircular window. Semicircular lunettes over windows should be similarly curtained. Very high windows will ap- l)ear shorter if two sets of half-length curtains are used, one hung on the lower window-sash, the upper one hung from a rod across the top of the window-frame, extending over the low^er curtain, just enough to cover the rod of the lower sash-cur- tain. Valances may be used on all windows, but they are especially necessary across groups of two or more windows and over very broad single win- dows. By carrying the materials of the side- curtains across they frame in the window and keep an arcliitectural unity. A simple ruffled valance may be gathered on the rod with the side- curtains. If the window is a large one, the valance should be hung on a separate rod and extend across over the entire curtain arrangement. These simple valances are suitable for light-weight mate- rials and in informal rooms. In a foraial room, where the curtains are of silk or velvet, the shaped valance may be used. It is fastened on a special box-like arrangement, which extends out from the window-frame. The side-curtains should hang straight at cither side. In all cases care must be taken that the curtains 66 FURNISHING THE HOME are hung so that they may be easily drawn to- gether and open again without interfering with valance or other curtains. If the walls are plain in color and flat in tone, pattern curtain materials may be used. If the walls are patterned plain curtain materials should be used. Many shops carry chintzes and wall- papers of similar patterns, but these are difficult to use in combination, requiring, as they do, the utmost simplicity in furniture, rugs, and uphol- stery materials. Chintz is more effective when used with plain walls. Various attractive nets may be had at prices varying from 30 cents to $1 a yard. Silk dra- peries cost from 75 cents to $4 a yard. Very at- tractive chintzes arc in the market at prices vary- ing from 25 cents to $4 a yard. For windows where but one curtain is to be used, there are many attractive materials in scrim, swiss, dotted and figured muslins and dimities. One country house of dark-wood interior and rough plaster walls was very effective with curtains of yellow checked gingham on either side of the low, broad windows. And a low-ceiling dining-room of gray walls and blue woodwork, and blue and white china, had cm'tains of wide blue-and- white-striped muslin. There are many inexpensive materials possible for curtains, and one need not be restricted to the curtain-furnishing department of shops. Often most attractive colors and patterns may be found among the cotton dress fabrics. Especially is this RUGS AND CURTAINS 67 true if the dye-pot is called into assistance. The directions for dyeing given in Handy Man's Chapter will enable one to evolve beautiful colors harmonious to the rest of the furnishing of the room out of the least expensive materials. Unbleached muslin, for instance, has interesting texture and may be dyed to match any color scheme. With walls, rugs, and curtains beautiful and similar in color, the house-furnishing is well along the way. 6 VI CHAIRS AND TABLES OF THE PAST CHAIRS and tables make up the large number of pieces of furniture in a house, and a great deal of the unity and beauty of furnishing the average house depends on their selection. Every housekeeper ought to be something of a specialist in what directly concerns her home, but the aver- age home-maker has vague ideas about the history of furniture. She knows that a style of furniture is often identified with the name of a king or a queen. She usually takes it for granted that all French furniture is gilded. And, although she may share in the popular scornful dismissal of the Victorian horsehair furniture, she usually selects and buys her chairs and tables without knowledge of their family history. She supposes that such knowledge is only for the collector, the specialist. But just as it is easier to understand grown-ups if one knows their childhood, so one can be surer of knowing about chairs and tables and their suita- bility if something is known of their cousins, sis- ters, and aunts, and their surroundings. Chairs CHAIRS AND TABLES OF THE PAST 69 and tables have developed gradually from simple chest and trestle-board beginnings. That is why it is necessary to give these brief chapters on the history of furniture, outlining the important es- sentials of each period. It is an outhne that can be filled out with more detail as the housekeeper's knowledge and interest in chairs and tables in- creases. There was published in England a few years ago a book on old furniture which comments on the extravagant and indiscriminate buying by Amer- icans. The writer charges that Americans have demoralized the European dealers and shop- keepers. He says that the American buys without knowledge or taste, and is willing to spend any amount of money for something that is distin- guished by notoriety or price. And then the au- thor describes his development as a collector. He confesses that he did not know very much when he began to collect old furniture; that he made mistakes; and that, although he learned much, there is yet much to learn. He tells that in London twenty-five years ago he bought a fine Chippendale arm-chair for five shillings ($1.25) which would now bring fifty pounds ($250). He bought a Sheraton settee years ago for seven shil- lings ($1.75). He found it in the servants' hall of an English country house. All of England, he ex- plains, was then in the throes of a fashion for draped mantels, antimacassars, and horsehair. That period has passed, and he measures the 70 FURNISHING THE HOME present high standard of taste by the increased de- mand and high prices paid for good old furniture. The bad taste and lack of discrimination of Amer- icans was contemporary with the bad taste of the English. The decline of taste in America was con- temporary with the decline of good taste in Eng- land, just as the good Colonial furniture of the preceding century was contemporary with the best English, Dutch, and French cabinet work of that century. In America in the eighties there was no William Morris or Walter Crane to lead a reaction against the ugliness of the average home. The most con- crete example of this reaction in America was in the form of the Mission or Craftsman furniture. The straight lines and solid simple construction were a reaction from over-elaborate decoration and poor construction. How these two always go together! "Mission," meaning "missionary," ex- plains the reason for the existence of this type of furniture better than it is explained by any rela- tion it bears to the old missions of California. The Mission and Craftsman furniture was an effective protest against bric-a-brac gewgaw ugli- ness; but, although it has strength and often is comfortable, it does not fill the new needs of the house whose doors it opened. It will always be suitable for bungalow, beamed living-room, and halls or porch, but it lacks the finer line and the adaptability necessary for the average city house or apartment. It is often too large, too heavy. CHAIRS AND TABLES OF THE PAST 71 and too clumsy. There is a lack of grace and beauty. It represents the simple beginnings of furniture-making, but only the a b c's of the craft. The need for sound construction and simple decoration that was expressed in this type of furniture was the forecast of a renaissance. It was the beginning of an appreciation of the need for simplicity and beauty in our houses. If a room is to have simpHcity and beauty everything in that room must belong there because of its special fitness for that particular room, and, more than that, it must belong to the particular part of the room where it is to be placed. Then in order to have unity — and this is fundamentally necessary — every piece of furniture should be similar in general character to every other piece. The incongruities one sees ! The unity of a room may be spoiled by one piece of furniture. It may be a fine piece of furniture in itself, but entirely out of harmony with its surroundings. A beautiful Colonial Hving- room may lose its beauty by the introduction of a Morris chair! Yet the house-mistress who per- mits such a room would never think of wearing heavy walking-boots with an evening dress! But you ask how is the ordinary person to know the family traits of furniture and to find the resemblances. They lie in the main lines oj structure and in the general character of the decora- tion. It is in the main lines of structure that the furniture should be similar. And what are 72 FURNISHING THE HOME the main structural lines of furniture and charac- ter of decoration ? It is not as formidable as it sounds to say that it is necessary to know something of the history of the best periods of furniture-making and of the transitions from period to period. The history of furniture is a broad subject, but is not a difficult one. The great epochs stand out clearly defined. The average home-maker can learn all that is necessary to know just as she works out a new recipe. Indeed, it is a new recipe, only it is for making a more beautiful home, and not a new cake. Knowledge of the beauty of the furniture of the past is the only road to the knowledge and taste that are essential to furnish the home of to-day with beauty as well as comfort. Those who know what is good in line and construction of furniture can select and use effectively the old furniture, the reproduction of the old furniture, and the new furniture that is in the markets. And it is very interesting, the history of furni- ture. At first it may seem complicated, but as one goes on the furniture of a period relates it- self to and amplifies the history of the time, and even with a limited knowledge of history, men and manners, kings and dates evolve in a new and vital setting. Nothing can bring us so concretely in touch with the realities of a period as the handiwork of the people of that period. How strangely the piece of needlework or a written date in an old book connects with the past ! CHAIRS AND TABLES OP THE PAST 73 And the furniture of a people tells us so much of the real people. It shows their skill and work- manship. It is a record of their inventiveness or lack of it. It shows the woods of their forests, and of their travel in foreign lands. It explains their manners. How fashion and manners dic- tated to the cabinet-makers and upholsterers! The broad richly cushioned chair of Louis XIV. makes us realize more than any written descrip- tion could the elegance and luxury of that great monarch. When a reproduction of the narrow straight-back Stuart chair in the famous Van Dyck picture can be purchased in a department store the past walks into to-day with as real a feeling as it had for the old lady who used to insist that, "Those Stuart boys were not brought up properly and they never had a chance." • The opportunities for learning about ftuniture and the history of its various periods of develop- ment vary in different parts of the country. The museums in the larger cities are adding collections of decorative arts. The Metropolitan Museum in New York has a fine collection of French, English, and American furniture, and good ex- amples of Italian and German. Any one in- terested in furniture should plan to spend several days there during a visit to New York. In many of the older cities the D. A. R. and similar organi- zations support historic houses which have been authentically furnished in the furniture of their historic period. The Jumel house and the Van 74 FURNISHING THE HOME. Cortlandt mansion in New York City and Wash- ington's home at Mount Vemon are each well worth a visit for the furniture they contain. In the East and near the big cities the antique shops and large interior-decorating shops are fascinating places to visit and offer invaluable opportunities for seeing and studying different kinds of furniture, of different woods, and in vary- ing conditions of wear. These shops always welcome strangers and visitors, and will courte- ously answer questions about furniture and give information about utility and price. The novice need not be frightened at the high prices. She is only finding out what rare pieces of beautiful furniture cost. Only through compar- ing the many kinds of furniture comes the ability to discriminate between the old furniture and the reproduction and, what is most important, be- tween the good and poor reproduction. Then, too, there is always the possibility of finding a bargain which has escaped the eyes of a dealer, a sometimes ugly duckling in its poor condition, to be made over by a skilled wood-finisher into a surprisingly good piece of furniture. In second- hand shops and in obscure antique shops good pieces of old furniture can often be found at reasonable prices, but there are now so many dealers in the market, and so much has been published in the newspapers about the prices old furniture brings, that it is difficult to get really fine pieces without paying high prices for them. CHAIRS AND TABLES OF THE PAST 75 The amateur must be wary of the modem antiques. In Paris are sold worm-eaten pieces of so-called old French furniture that have been im- ported from Grand Rapids factories. The porches of farm-houses on good automobile roads have been known to contain furniture which was sold as family heirlooms and the profits divided be- tween the farmer and the dealer who had placed them there on sale. Although few dealers will offer a modem reproduction and guarantee it as an antique, it is better to go to a firm of high standing if a good old piece of furniture is wanted. There are a great many books written on the history of furnitiu-e, well illustrated, and pub- lished at available prices. Many of them are good reading. It is to be regretted that more of them are not on the lists of traveHng libraries in small towns and rural communities. They would be interesting to the average housekeeper, espe- cially in an old community, and would help to develop an interest and expression in the beauty side of the house. It would be absurd to set up as a standard for everybody the using of old fiuniture throughout a house! In the first place, there is not enough of it; in the second place, few people have time and energy and knowledge to gather old furniture to- gether; and in the third place, it is often in such poor condition that it is not any better than, and sometimes not so good as, the modern reproduc- 76 FURNISHING THE HOME tions of old furniture, nor so suitable in style and price as some modem furniture. It frequently costs more to furnish a house with old fiuniture than with good reproductions, and it costs more to furnish with good reproductions than with some of the very good-looking and well-con- structed new furniture in the market. It is all very well for a person who has inherited some fine old furniture to add what is necessary of the same kind, but an entirely new house to be newly furnished out of a limited purse may be furnished in beauty and usefulness by a selection from the reproductions of old furniture or the new, or a combination of both. But to choose wisely from this unmapped field of new furniture is possible only to those who have gained some knowledge of what are good lines and sound structure from the good furniture that has been made and has stood the test of time and fashion. All over the country a new interest in good furniture is expressing itself. Yet in the average furniture shop and the furniture department of the large department stores of most of our cities there is such a lot of incredibly ugly furniture of poor construction and cheap finish that it is not strange that few houses are furnished in good taste, but it is surprising that they are no worse than they are. Patience and discrimination will find some- times in a kitchen chair better lines and a more suitable chair for the dining-room than another at a much higher price. It is encouraging, too. CHAIRS AND TABLES OF THE PAST 77 to see the great improvement of the last few years. Fifteen years ago, so-called golden oak, with its ugly yellow varnish — insistent in shine, ugly in line and sham carving — was practically the only available furniture. To-day most shops keep at least a small stock of the better grade of reproductions, in response to this increasing de- mand for simpler, better furniture. t VII OLD ENGLISH FURNITURE Renaissance — Elizabethan — Tudor Henry VIII., 1509-1547. Edward VI., I547-I553- Mary, 1553-1558. Elizabeth, 1558-1603. Woods used: Oak, chestnut, some walnut, and sometimes English elm. Upholstery materials: Leather, velvets, fringes. THE old English furniture of Tudor and Eliza- bethan times is of straight lines and is strong and simple in construction. English oak was the wood most frequently used, and it was generally unstained and never varnished. The rich color and dull gloss of old paneled rooms and furniture has been given by time and wear. An old coat will acquire with wear the same kind of a polish. The decoration of the furniture of this period was carving and the variations of turning produced by the lathe. There were few pieces of furniture in these days — only tables, chairs, beds, and chests. The chairs were of two kinds, those with solid paneled backs decorated with carving, and those of open backs decorated with turning. The panels of the solid-back chairs were high, and later devel- OLD ENGLISH FURNITURE 79 oped an open space between the back and the seat. They were sometimes called wainscot chairs, from their resemblance to the paneled wainscot. They had straight lines and solid construction. The legs were vertical and were braced with four rails near the floor. The seats were of wood and sometimes had cushions of tapestry or velvet. Later the seats were upholstered in leather, tapes- try, or velvet cushions, which were fastened on with nails of patterned metal heads. Long narrow tables were used. The diners sat on one side only, and food was served from across the table. The master's chair, usually the only chair in the house, was placed at the head of the table. Guests and other members of the family sat on long benches. These benches had no backs and, hke the chairs and tables, were braced with fotir rails near the floor. Chests had a low bulbous leg at each cor- ner to keep them from the damp floors. Later these developed into cupboards and stood on higher legs and had drawers under the cupboard spaces. In the cupboards and dressers were kept the pewter and silver as well as the food. All the fumittu-e of this period was large and massive. The beds were huge and had large carved posts and solid tops and backs. The decoration of the furniture of this period is always subordinate and restrained to the vertical parts of the structure. The carving had some details of Gothic designs, but also developed 8o FURNISHING THE HOME flower, animal, and scroll designs, and the popular linen-fold design was frequently used. The carv- ing of the English Renaissance is less elaborate and skilful than that of the French and Italian of this period. The turnings used on both chairs and tables were varied in spacings and propor- tions, and were very similar to the Flemish and Dutch work of that period. The cheese-leg table made in Flanders was not unlike the bulbous melon-table of England. The Renaissance was similar all over Europe. However, in each country it developed national characteristics. It presents the beginnings of the home ideal and has given us examples of splendid, strong, and useful furniture. Few houses of to-day are large enough or simple enough to be furnished with such furniture, but the long dining-table may be used with the early Jacobean chairs, and the chests and cupboards will give dignity to any hall or room suitable for their use. This furniture is not reproduced very much in this country. It is too expensive and too large for the average house. England — Jacobean Furniture Early Jacobean. — James I., 1603-1625. Charles I., 1625- 1649. Commonwealth, 1649-1660. Late Jacobean — Stuart. — Charles II., 1660-1685. James II., 1685- 1688. Woods used: Oak, chestnut, beech, and walnut. Upholstery materials: Tapestry, leather, velvets, needle- work. OLD ENGLISH FURNITURE 8i The Jacobean period followed the Elizabethan, and the change in the lines of the furniture of the two periods is very gradual. The transition was toward less heavy construction and lighter do-,. sign. The early Jacobean furniture had turned' legs and uprights ; the Hues were straight. Tapes- try and leather upholstery were put on with large brass or silver nails. Some of the nail-heads were of hammered or pierced designs. The high backs of the Elizabethan chairs grew shorter and more open, and there was usually a space between the frame of the seat and the lower part of the back panel. The back was frequently made of turned vertical rails. The banister back is of this type. Another Jacobean chair with low back panel and seat of leather and turned legs and braces is called the Cromwell chair. It was used by Cromwell when he was Protector of the Commonwealth of England. These chairs were similar to those made in Flanders and Holland. The Cromwell chair is very like the Rubens chair, so called because they were in the great painter's house in Antwerp. The Windsor chair, so well and inexpensively copied nowadays and suitable in so many places, is also of this period. The name is accounted for by the story that Charles II. saw this chair which had been made by a country workman in front of his cottage near Windsor, and he ordered 1 On the lathe. 82 FURNISHING THE HOME several made for a room at Windsor Castle. The later Queen Anne wheel-back was a combina- tion of the Windsor spindles with the center straight splat of a Queen Anne chair. This panel sometimes had a circular open pattern in the center, which gave the chair the name of wheel- back. Later chairs of this type had spindles and a center splat with very simple open designs, anticipating the later Queen Anne and Chippen- dale back. The slats were straight and were not curved to fit the lines of the body. These chairs were made with and without arms. The finest examples of the center-slat back and spindle arm- chairs sometimes had cabriole legs, showing the Dutch influence, which so dominated the Queen Anne period. The Windsor chairs were distinctly cottage furniture and were used in the simpler houses. The slat back, or Queen Anne wheel- back, was not made in America. The chairs of the latter part of the Jacobean period show the French influence in the beautiful carving and increasing lightness of construction. Charles II. had spent much of his early life in France, and his taste had been developed by the elegance and luxury of the French court. With his Spanish wife came the influence of Spanish richness in decoration. James II. continued the French spirit. The edict of Nantes, 1685, forcing all Protest- ants to leave France, sent thousands of skilled OLD ENGLISH FURNITURE 83 workmen into England, Holland, and Flanders and did much toward developing the skill and taste of the English craftsman. The chairs of the latter part of the Jacobean period had beautifully carved upright and stretcher, with back panel and seat of cane or upholstered. Cane had been in- troduced by the East India Trading Company, and became very popular. In the late Jacobean period and in the time of William and Mary it was used extensively for chairs, benches, and beds. Rich tapestries, damasks, and leather, with fringes, were used for upholstery and were fastened on with beautifully designed silver and brass nails. Mirrors came into more general use in the latter part of this period. The long rectangular dining-table of the Elizabethan period, shown in photograph in the preceding chapter, underwent many changes in the Jacobean period. As furniture was more pop- ularly used it necessarily became more adapt- able. The gate -leg table of the Jacobean period had drop-leaves on each side. It could be used with both leaves extended as a dining-table, with one leaf down and against the wall in a semi- circular form or with both leaves down, leaving a rectangular table. The frame of the table was rectangular, with four turned legs firmly con- nected with braces; extending out from this frame on either side was the braced or gate leg which held up the table-leaf. Sometimes there 7 84 FURNISHING THE HOME were gates to each side; this table was sometimes called the thousand-leg table. The top was usually round or oval with both leaves up and rectangular with the dropped leaves. The dressers and cupboards of this period were lighter than the Elizabethan, and they stood on turned legs and had drawers which were paneled in rectangular designs. They had the drop- handles fastened to a plate cut in simple round, square, or circular designs and held to the drawer by a looped wire through a hole in the drawer-front. Oak, sometimes chestnut, was used in the early Jacobean period. Oak, walnut, and beech were commonly used in the later Stuart period. Pear-wood was sometimes used for carving. The Windsor chairs were usually made of hickory. The tables and chairs of the Jacobean period have been very well reproduced. The gate-leg table is now made in oak, walnut, and mahogany, and is a useful and decorative table for dining- room, hall, or Hbrary, The Jacobean chairs with cane panels and seats are strong and attractive and are very suitable for a dining-room or for the straight chairs of the living-room. They are, perhaps, a little too stiff and formal for the average bedroom. The most frequent examples of Jacobean furniture are the banister-back chair, the Stuart chair, the Windsor chair, and the gate -leg table. OLD ENGLISH FURNITURE 85 England — Dutch Influence William and Mary, 1689-1694. William, 1694-1702. Queen Anne, 1702-1714. Woods used: Walnut, beech, oak. Upholstery material: Needlework, silks, leather. It is difficult to draw the line of demarcation between the period of James II., the last of the French-English type, and that of William and Mary, the first of the Dutch-English type. The Dutch influence came definitely into Enghsh workshops when William of Holland, Prince of Orange, became King of England. Beginning with the time of William and Mary, and during the following reign of Queen Anne and George I., the fumitiu'e showed the influence of the sturdy Dutch cabinet-makers. The structural lines of the furniture of the preceding Jacobean period changed completely. The backs of the chairs were curved to fit the line of the body. Instead of the cane and carved panels there was a single flat piece, a center splat, sometimes decorated with re- lief carving or inlay. The top corners of the back were rounded and the seats of the chairs became broader. No stretchers or braces were used underneath the chairs. The curved cabriole leg with the claw-and-ball foot and the bandy leg replaced the straight leg of the earHer period and were used on chairs, tables, chests of drawers, and sofas. The tables were of various sizes and were 86 FURNISHING THE HOME used for dressing-tables, writing-tables, and card- tables. The stiirdy old chests and dressers with drawers also adopted the cabriole leg and added height. With many new drawers added, it grew into the very useful high-boy. Without the upper chest of drawers this piece of furniture is called the low-boy. Grandfathers clocks and grandfathers chairs were popular in this period. The grandfather chair and other furniture was upholstered in needlework and silk damask. The cross-stitch in wool yams in many colors was called petite- point or needle tapestry, and was very popular for chair-covering. Lacquered leather was also used in upholstering. Chinese and Indian de- signs were used in the cotton prints and papers of this time. Up to the period of Dutch influence the furni- ture had been made solid and English woods had been used. But when the ships of the great Eastern trading companies brought back with them the wonderful lacquers and inlays, porce- lains and woven stuffs from China and the Orient the influence was immediately felt. The Dutch and French workmen copied the lacquer and inlays and acquired great skill in veneers. Veneering is a method of glmng thin layers of carefully selected woods on a soHd piece to make the surface of a piece of furniture. The type of veneering known as marquetry differs from that known as inlay in that marquetry has a com- DUTCH INFLUENCE OLD ENGLISH FURNITURE 87 plicated pattern and background, both of veneer. Inlay is a pattern set in the soHd piece of wood, the other part of the surface being the solid wood. Many different kinds of woods, tortoise-shell, and ivory, and metal were used to make the marquetry pattern. The Chinese lacquer was made from a black resin, the varnish gum of an Oriental tree. The Oriental method required a great deal of skill. Sometimes as many as a hundred treatments were given, and never less than five. Designs were put on in gold leaf and often in color. The attempts to copy the Chinese lacquer produced interesting decorative effects, but they did not succeed in getting the quality of the Eastern work. Up to this time wood had been finished with rubbings of oil and beeswax; no varnish or shellac had been used. The attempts to imitate lacquer brought about a deep interest in the manufacture of varnish. Reference has been made in the chapter on French furniture to the famous Vemis Martin. There was a fashion for collecting china and bric-^-brac and small carved and painted gro- tesqueries. Cabinets of lacquer with many shelves were made in England or imported from Holland and China to show these collectors. Secretaries with small pigeonholes and many drawers were made in combination of desk and cabinet. Mirrors were commonly used. They were either of carved wood, sometimes with gold 88 FURNISHING THE HOME leaf, or of lacquer. Walnut was most frequently used in the solid pieces of furniture of this time. Beech and holly wood were also used. For ve- neering and marquetry many imported woods, as well as shell, ivory, and bone, were used. The Dutch period had its contemporary Colonial expression. The fiddle back is one of the examples of the early Dutch period. There were many types of Dutch tables. A popular one had drop-leaves and four curved legs, one of which swung out to support the leaf when up. The tops of some of the tables were cut into a solid piece of wood so as to leave a rim or scal- loped edge to keep the dishes from falling off. The one with a scalloped edge is called a pie- crust top; the one with a plain rim is called a dish top. The top tipped down, and the table could be put against the wall, and sometimes the top revolved. They usually had a central pillar \\ath three finely curved tripod-fashion legs. The furniture of the Dutch influence is par- ticularly well adapted to modem homes, and has been successfully reproduced. A high-boy takes up no more room than the ordinary bureau and contains much more drawer-space. It can stand in hall or living-room as well as in bedroom. A home in Chicago has a lacquer high-boy in the library which is used to hold a collection of Japanese prints and etchings. It would be useful in a large living-room to hold papers, maps, music, photographs, and the many small articles that OLD ENGLISH FURNITURE 89 collect about the interests of the members of the household. In a hall it would be useful to hold linens. In a bedroom it could take the place of a bureau for drawer-space. The low-boy can be used in a hall under a mirror, or in library or living- room as a writing-desk, or in bedroom as a dress- ing-table, and it is a most adaptable piece of furniture. The Queen Anne arm-chairs are always sub- stantial and are good in line. They have one disadvantage in that the buttons and hooks of dresses scratch the splat in the back, and it is necessary to refinish it frequently. England — Georgian Furniture George I., 1714-1727. George II., 1727-1760. George III., 1760-1820. Chippendale, 1708-1779. First plates of design published in 1753 in Gentlemen and Cabinet-makers Director, 1754. Four editions were sold in England and the Colonies. Woods used: Walnut and mahogany. Adam, Robert and James, 1728-1792. Published several books of designs for furniture, doors, friezes, silver- plate, etc. Woods used: Mahogany, satinwood, and painted furniture. Hepplewhite, 1750-1786. The Cabinet-Makers and Uphol- sterers' Guide, published in 1788. Woods used: Ma- hogany, satinwood, hare-wood, tulip-wood, inlay, and carving. Sheraton, 1751-1806. Cabinet-makers and Upholsterers Draiving-Book, published lygi. Woods used: Mahog- any, satinwood, tulip-wood, hare-wood. Beautiful inlay and painted furniture. Upholstery materials: Leather, silks, velvets, cotton prints. go FURNISHING THE HOME Good furniture-making in England was done in the Georgian period and is best known through the work and influence of its great cabinet-makers, Chippendale, the Adam brothers, Hepplewhite, and Sheraton. Mahogany was introduced and used extensively during this period. Some of Chippendale's early work was done in walnut, while later, in Hepplewhite's and Sheraton's time, satin wood, rosewood, pear and apple wood, tulip- wood, and many other kinds as well as mahogany were used. The great Georgian period came in on the heels of the good hne and strength of the Dutch influence. It ended in the beginnings of the redundancy of the Empire curves. Up to this period all of the French furniture and most of the finer English furniture was made for the nobiHty and the wealthier classes. It was not until the Georgian period that the furniture that was made reached all classes. Chippendale The great Thomas Chippendale was the second son of the cabinet-maker and wood-carver of that name. He was seventeen years old when he went with his father to London and began making furniture in the then Queen Anne fashion. Like the Queen Anne chair, his first chairs were made of walnut and had the curved top and splat and the cabriole leg. Chippendale first used the frame- work of the Queen Anne type, with the uphol- OLD ENGLISH FURNITURE 91 stered seat sunk into the framework above the legs, but he later replaced this with the all- upholstered seat which was afterward used wholly by Chippendale, Sheraton, and Hepplewhite. Also Hke the Queen Anne chairs, the back and up- rights were connected directly with the chair- seat. The splat back gave him great scope for variety and richness of design. The splat was opened, and the designs and carving gradually grew more and more elaborate and complicated. The round, sloping shoulders of the Queen Anne chair were lifted up at the comers, giving an upright, square appearance to the back of the chair. The legs of these chairs were cabriole legs with claw and ball feet, and the more curved legs of the French type, or in his late work, the straight square legs. Fre- quently the legs and front rail had carving. The chairs with cabriole and curved legs were usually without stretchers, while the chairs with straight legs had the legs connected with three, sometimes with four stretchers. Chippendale was strongly influenced by the work of other designers. The charge is often made that he lacked originality. While it is true that he copied copiously in ornament and style from other designs, the impress of his own personality was shown in every piece of his work. There was always a vigor and largeness of sweep in his line and splendid proportions in the main parts of his furniture. 92 FURNISHING THE HOME His adaptations of the Dutch and French styles were successful except in a few of the over-elaborate chair-backs in the French Rococo spirit. His work which was done in the manner of Chinese and Gothic ornament is marvelous in the technical beauty of its wood-carving and exuberant in decoration, but it lacks the feeling for subordination of decoration to structure which marks the superiority of his earlier designs. It is over-decorated. Most of these elaborate pieces were made to fill private orders. Horace Walpole's famous house in the Gothic manner at Strawberry Hill is an illustration of the fashion which demanded this grotesque elaborate work from Chippendale. Fortunately, although Chippendale books of de- signs for furniture were used in all parts of Eng- land and her colonies, the influence of this extreme work was not wide. Chippendale was after all a master carver, and the work of his elaborate period was beyond the skill of the average cabinet-maker. Chippendale had many orders and received high prices for his work. For a chair he received as much as $500. A chair which Chippendale had made on order and which has remained in one family until very recently was sold last year for $1,450- Accom- panying it was the bill receipted by Chippendale for $300, which he received for the chair. The original pieces by Chippendale himself now bring fabulous prices, and the furniture made from his OLD ENGLISH FURNITURE 93 designs at that period bring varjdng large prices according to their design and workmanship. Chippendale is best known and admired for the number and variety of good designs for chairs. He made many designs for other furniture. The rectangular tables with four curved legs and carvings on the legs and frame, the circular pie- crust and drop-top tables on central pillar with three spreading legs at base, the tea-table with Chinese feet border carving, are well-known ex- amples of his designs for tables. He made cabin- ets, secretaries, beds, chests of drawers, and many beautiful designs for mirrors. It is to this greatest of all English cabinet- makers that we owe the distinction, strength, and grace of line that was developed in the Georgian period of" furniture-making. English cabinet- makers took rank for the first time with the Conti- nental craftsman, and the results of the work of this period created a whole new field of designs for domestic furniture. Down to the present time, the furniture of this period has not been improved upon, and in only a few cases have slight adaptations been necessary for its adequate ser- vice in our modem houses. Chippendale designs are carried out in good reproductions. The chairs have character and distinction, and may be used in any room in a modern house. Good reproductions are also made of mirrors, tables, and secretaries. Good copies of Chippendale chairs may be bought at 94 FURNISHING THE HOME prices of from $12 to $75, and tables from $18 to $75. The Gentlemen and Cabinet-makers Director, by Chippendale, had a wide infiuence in the colonies, and much of the furniture that was made in this country in colonial days were copies of his work and design. Robert and James Adam Robert and James Adam were of Scotch parent- age. They were sons of an architect, and were themselves trained as architects, and traveled and studied in France and Italy at the time that Europe was swinging in reaction from the elabo- rate design of the Regency and Louis XV. to classical simplicity. The excavations at Pompeii had a deep influence on Robert Adam. The re- straint of classical ornament and the unity of the structure and decoration which Pompeii revealed and which the French designers were adapting make the keynote of the architectural and decora- tive work of the Adam brothers in England. There is much in common between the furniture of the Louis XVI. period and the Adam designs. The Adam brothers designed not only houses and furniture for houses, but also all the details of interiors. The walls and ceilings were deco- rated with delicate-patterned moldings made of stucco composition, which was afterward painted to suit the furnishing of the room. Medallions in OLD ENGLISH FURNITURE 95 relief, cameo fashion, were used on wall decoration. This style of medallion decoration was afterward commercialized by Wedgwood. This modeling in plaster took the place of wood-carving and sup- planted it in popularity. The mantels were of marble with beautiful carved friezes of classical figures and details of vase or urn or festoons of leaves and drapery. The mirrors were of delicate and beautiful de- signs. The lighting-fixtures, the door-locks, the table silver, even the carpets, were designed in harmony with the rest of the room. The Adam brothers did not make furniture. They made the designs and had them carried out under their direction by the best workmen of that time. Chippendale was a master carver in their factory at one time. Some of the best painters of the day designed the ceiling and wall decora- tions and painted furniture. To Pergolesi, Cip- riani, and Angelica Kauffmann is due part of the fame of the exquisitely painted furniture of this period. The straight structural lines and the delicacy of the Adam chairs and sideboards greatly in- fluenced Sheraton, Hepple white, and the later cabinet-makers. The cabriole leg of Chippendale was replaced by the straight fluted leg. The great and new contribution of the Adam brothers was a consistency and harmony of furniture with background, and the subordination of decoration detail to structural line. 96 FURNISHING THE HOME Exact reproductions of Adam furniture and detail of interior woodwork and hardware are very expensive, but there are very good repro- ductions of mantels, of door-handles, of lighting- fixtures, and of furniture made in the spirit of Adam decoration which are available from the firms who ordinarily supply these materials. They are superior in design, particularly the hard- ware and lighting designs, to most of the goods which are on the market. Reproductions of the beautiful sideboard and chairs of Adam design are sold at prices similar to other good examples of Georgian furniture. Hepplewhiie Hepplewhite was strongly influenced by the classical simplicity of Louis XVI. and the beauty and purity of design of the Adam brothers. His own designs had a distinction all their own. His shield-back chairs with wheat-ear or Prince of Wales' feather designs are perhaps the best known of his furniture designs. The shield back, while beautiful in proportion and exquisite in carving, is weak in structure. The legs are often fluted with dehcate turnings and are some- times square and tapering with spade feet. They are held by strong underbracing. He made many sideboards, and frequently used the concave curves. Knife and spoon boxes and bottle -cases were made to stand on the OLD ENGLISH FURNITURE 97 sideboards. Hepplewhite also made secretaries, many oval and semicircular tables, bookcases, wash-stands. He used mahogany and satinwood, and made some painted furniture. Very good reproductions may be had of the Hepplewhite furniture. It is wise to choose those examples which are of good structural lines. Hepplewhite had a school and published a book of designs which had large circulation among cabinet-makers. There were many beautiful examples made from his designs in America. Thomas Sheraton Poor Thomas Sheraton, if he could only see his name written large in every history of furniture and read the praise of the sureness and beauty of his work! His hfe would not seem so much the failure that his lack of business ability and un- fortunate personality seemed to reap. Sheraton, like Hepplewhite, came under the influence of the Adam brothers' classic designs and the Louis XVI. style. Ornament was spar- ingly used, and he took delight in fine inlays and painted decorations. He was ingenious in mak- ing drawers and secret sHding-devices in bureaus and writing-cabinets. Many of his designs were carried out by other cabinet-makers. The furniture by which Sheraton is best known is delicate in line and exquisite in decoration. The backs of the chairs are either of straight line 98 FURNISHING THE HOME or the lyre pattern which preceded his descent toward Empire leanings. He probably made de- signs for more kinds of furniture than any other designer; tables of all kinds, chairs, secretaries, desks, sideboards, knife-boxes, cabinets, and beds. The cabriole leg had gone out of fashion and was never used by Sheraton or Hepplewhite. Sheraton used many kinds of wood, especially mahogany, satinwood, and tulip-wood with inlay and paint, both kinds. The legs are square and tapering, with inlays of satinwood. We would prefer to forget the late work of Sheraton, done under the influence of the new Empire style. The best of his work has delicacy and distinction of design and exquisite work- manship. It is often difficult to distinguish between Hep- plewhite and Sheraton furniture, for many of their designs for chairs and tables are very similar. Both Hepplewhite and Sheraton were copied by Colonial furniture-makers, and many fine examples were made in this country. Good reproductions of Sheraton's furniture are now made and are available at moderate prices. VIII OLD FRENCH FURNITURE Louis XIV., 1643-1715. Due de Bourbon Regent, 1715- 1723. Louis XV., 1723-1774. Louis XVI., 1774- 1793. Empire, 1798-18 15. Woods used: Oak, walnut, chestnut, rosewood, tulip- wood, satinwood, laburnum, maple, holly. Marquetry: tortoise-shell, brass, ivory, and colored woods. Upholstery materials: Tapestry, velvets, silks. Louis XIV. EVER since the Renaissance the artistic skill of the French people has dominated the West- ern world. By superior skill and elegance Paris led the fashions of the eighteenth century just as surely as she leads the fashions to-day. There have been no craftsmen so great as those of the eighteenth century in France. Until the time of the great Georgian furniture-makers in England there was no cabinet-making in Europe that was comparable in craftsmanship to the finest of the French work. Indeed, all of Europe owes the development of artistic crafts largely to France. The Edict of Nantes, issued by Louis XIV. in 8 loo FURNISHING THE HOME 1685, ordered all Protestants to leave France under penalty of law. The great bulk of French Protestants were, like Calvin, of the middle and artisan class, and thousands of skilled workmen — cabinet-makers, designers, weavers, and lace- makers — fled to the Netherlands and England. The first great silk industry in England was founded at Spitalfields by French refugees. Frederick of Prussia, when Louis asked him how he could repay a favor, answered, "Give us more civilization, issue another Edict of Nantes." The furniture of the Renaissance in France was similar in structure to that of the rest of Europe. The structure lines were architectural. There were few pieces of furniture, and these were large and formal. The decoration was of carving, and the designs were similar in detail to the Italian Renaissance ornament. The furniture of the time of Louis XIII. was much like that of the Jacobean period in England, but more beauti- fully carved and more richly upholstered. The diagonal underbracing was used in the construc- tion of chairs and tables more frequently than the paneled stretchers of the Jacobean. Tapes- tries and rich velvet and leather fastened with fringe and brass or silver nails were used in up- holstery. But it was under Louis XIV., the grand mon- arch, that the high-water mark of French skill and taste was reached. His court was the most sumptuous in Europe, and he personally super- OLD FRENCH FURNITURE lOi vised every detail of the etiquette of the court. His patronage of the fine arts under the guidance of Colbert, his minister, surrounded him with elegance and magnificence. The guilds were pro- vided with fine examples of workmanship from all parts of the world for inspiration and copying. High standards in craftsmanship were estab- lished and workmen were forced to meet them. For instance, we read that the first time a work- man was guilty of making poor cloth he was repri- manded, the second time he was fined, and the third time he was forced to stand in the public square wrapped in the piece of poor material and wearing a large sign explaining that he had made that cloth. It is said that this punishment was seldom necessary. It is well to keep in mind the long reign of Louis XIV. He was king for seventy-two years. He came to the throne when Charles I. was King of England and died the year after the death of Queen Anne of England. Beginning with the English period of Charles I., Louis XIV. was con- temporary with Cromwell and the Common- wealth, Charles II., James II., William and Mary, and WiUiam and Queen Anne. It can be easily seen that many changes in fashion and manners would occur over so long a period. In the early part of the period the furniture followed the Renaissance closely in line and or- nament, and throughout the entire period the splendid architectural lines of the Renaissance I02 FURNISHING THE HOME dominated the structure and decoration. There was always symmetry and restraint in the best work of the period. Louis XIV. built that most beautiful place the palace at Versailles. The building, decorating, and furnishing is said to have cost four hundred million dollars. This did not include the labor of the thousands of convicts who worked on it. It is said that when funds ran low men were arrested on the slightest pre- tense and given a sentence of months of labor at building roads or state buildings. Their work re- mains a monument to one of the greatest periods of the world's history. The artisans of France who were designing and making furniture, tapestries, porcelains, and mod- eling in metal and designing interiors were artists and held high position. Royal favor was given for fine work and was a strong incentive to excel in craftsmanship. This recognition of the work- man-artist is shown in the fact that furniture and decoration were signed by the maker. Boule is one of the best known cabinet-makers of the period. He carried inlay and marquetry to the highest degree of skill and beauty. Many dif- ferent kinds of woods were used, but the marquetry which is known as Boule is of tortoise-shell, ebony, brass, and metal, and mountings in design of scroll, geometric patterns, and arabesques. Ebony with brass mountings was much used. The pieces of furniture made by Boule are usually large splen- did pieces of furniture. The main structure, usu- OLD FRENCH FURNITURE 103 ally of oak, was covered with tortoise-shell veneer, which was inlaid with patterns in thin brass or other metal, of foliage scrolls and arabesques. Enamel was often used in the chased work on the metal. Ornaments cast in brass and other metals, and mounted on the furniture, were used to com- plete the decoration of this marquetry. These craftsmen were paid what seemed enormous sums for their work. The best examples of these pieces are practically priceless now, even for museums. The decorations of the rooms were carried out in the same sumptuous way. Painted ceiHngs and panels, molded wall, cornice, door and window panel were decorated in gold and painted detail of ornament. The Gobelin and Beauvais factories supplied the tapestries for wall decoration and upholstery. Beautiful and elaborate patterns were woven in silk materials for upholstery and curtains. It was a period of great beauty, of great luxury, and wonderful craftsmanship, and in its finest expression there was much that was of heroic splendor and elegance. Regency and Louis XVI., Empire The decline began in the latter part of the reign of Louis XIV., and exaggerations and ex- travagances were rampant during the Regency and the period of Louis XV. The restraint of the Renaissance architectural structural principles I04 FURNISHING THE HOME gave way to loose structure and a casual arrange- ment in ornament. It was full of whimsicalities and caprice. Furniture lost symmetry, and all feeling for structural lines disappeared in the elaborate curves and intricate detail of the rococo decoration. Ribbons, garlands, baskets, rocks, the shell design, and Chinese were spread about in fantastic profusion in ornament, with little rela- tion to the form or surface decoration. There was great interest in things Chinese {Chi- noiserie). A messenger had been sent by Louis XV. to the Emperor of China, and he returned to France, bringing a ship-load of treasures as gifts from the Chinese Emperor to Louis XV. Pagodas and dragons appeared in the textiles, papers, and ornaments of the time. The beautiful Chinese lacq- uers led to experiments with varnishes in imitation of the lacquer varnish. Robert Martin was very successful in making varnishes which became the fashion, and in colors of red, brown, gold, and speckled bronze were much used in decoration on furniture of this period. He was given the title of Varnish-maker to the King, and a varnish is still made which bears his name (Vernis Martin). Furniture was very much decorated with metal ornaments. Wildly extravagant designs in the rococo spirit were carried out in candelabra, clocks, chandeliers, and vases so much used in this period. It became the fashion to receive guests while abed, and bedrooms were as profusely deco- rated as salons. FRENCH FURNITURE OLD FRENCH FURNITURE 105 The reaction against the buffooner}' of ornament came before the close of Louis XV. 's reign, al- though it is always associated with the name of Marie Antoinette and the Louis XVI. period. There was a complete reversion to the restraint of pure classic style. Herculaneum and Pompeii had been excavated, and the architecture and decora- tion of the houses had an immediate influence on the design of interiors and furniture. Straight lines and simple classic ornament took the place of extravagant curves and ornament. The elaborate carving and gilding were restrained to rosettes and fluted columns. The legs of chairs, sofas, and tables were straight and tapering. They were square or round and frequently fluted, and with rosette ornament at head where they joined the frame of the seat. The florid rococo designs in textiles were replaced by stripes and formal repetitions of flowers or classic medallion arrange- ments. Cabinet work was exquisite in beauty and technique. Reisener was one of the best cab- inet-makers of this period, and he made many exquisitely beautiful pieces for Marie Antoinette. The elaborate decoration on wall and ceiling was replaced by delicate framework of paneling with fine carving, and painted in subdued colors. The gilding was restrained and subordinated. In all of the artistic crafts the period of Louis XVI. was one of simple elegance and classic restraint. But the garish reproductions of the French io6 FURNISHING THE HOME furniture that are seen in shops and in the houses of the indiscriminating rich quite naturally preju- dice many people against all French furniture. They sweep it all into one category as belonging to what one woman aptly called "Louis Four- teenth Street furniture." It is true that in the furniture of the Regency and Louis XV. period there are many atrocious structvu*al freaks. It is also true that really good reproductions of the best of the French furniture are very expensive. They require very skilled workmen, and, what with the great ex- pense involved in making marquetry, gilding, and metal casting, are quite beyond the limits of even a very good income. As for the repro- ductions of the very beautiful pieces, the copy of a famous cabinet with mounts, in the pos- session of the King of England, took years to complete, and the labor and materials cost $15,000. A copy of the vSt. Cloud bureau in the Louvre cost $10,000. The original pieces are al- most priceless. There are very good reproductions of the sim- pler painted types of French furniture. There are chairs, tables, and beds, beautiful in proportion and line, made in the style of Louis XVI., with cane and enameled or painted wood. There are arm-chairs, comfortable and beautiful in line, which are reproductions of Louis XV. models. All of these can be charmingly used in rooms of paneled walls with woodwork enameled or painted OLD FRENCH FURNITURE 107 in gray or light colors, with appropriate French- period stuffs and rugs either plain or in French design. Mantel, mirrors, and lighting - fixtures must be chosen in designs of festive or classic detail suitable for use with this furniture. It is seldom possible to combine its use with other types or to use it in rooms of plain walls and ceiling. French furniture requires a completel}^ harmonious background. It is not democratic. It requires surroundings of its own distinction and elegance, beyond the workaday suitability and the purse of the average home-maker. During the Reign of Terror, following the be- heading of the King in 1 793, the ruthlessness of the mob was directed toward anything that repre- sented aristocracy, and it is a wonder that any of the beautiful furniture was left to tell the tale. The Louvre in Paris and the Wallace Collection in London contain fine examples of French furniture. After so great an upheaval as the Revolution the arts, which always express the ideals of a people, swung over to represent the absorbing aspirations of a great modem republic, one that should rival Rome and Greece. Napoleon with the laurel wreath of Caesar must have the back- ground of an empire! So the empire brought great sweeps of curves with decorations of metal caryatids, victorious wreaths, ram's heads, and figures emblematic of freedom, cast in metal and mounted on new and massive mahogany and rosewood furniture. loS FURNISHING THE HOME The furniture of Egypt, Greece, and Pompeii was followed in the lines of the Empire furniture. In the famous portrait of Madame Recamier by David, which is in the Louvre, there is a sofa which represents the best of the Empire style in its sweep of line and severity of curve. The massiveness and the conspicuousness of decora- tion in the copies of this type of furniture have made it too clumsy in line and too ostentatious for use in the small rooms of an average house. Its influence in England and in America was widely felt, and the simpler adaptations of the Colonial Empire style are frequently good in line and proportion. Reproductions are made of Empire furniture which are suitable for living- room, drawing-room, library, or bedroom. IX AMERICAN COLONIAL FURNITURE Woods used: Oak, chestnut, maple, beech, elm, hickory, apple-wood, pear-wood, cherry, mahogany. THOSE who live in the East or South, or near a large city, and who have a sentiment and appreciation of old furniture know that it takes many hours of wandering through second-hand stores and antique shops to find just the right piece to go in a room in a particular house. Yet the wandering through shops is a wonderful teacher to the observing. It must supplement the book-reading of the amateur, and in no other way is it possible to acquire a good judgment of values. How often this is gained through mistakes in supposed bargains! And what pleasure and ad- venture the quest for old furniture brings! It is not difficult to understand how an interest in old furniture becomes almost an obsession, and there are many collectors whose attics, cellars, and bams are stored with good pieces to be done over or used in some future golden age. Colonial history explains the different types of no FURNISHING THE HOME old furniture generally to be found in New Eng- land, the vicinity of New York, and in the South. There are very few of the heavy Dutch pieces with bulbous or bandy legs to be found in the South, and Uttle of the pure Empire, so common in Lou- isiana, to be found in New England. ^ Very early New England furniture was of the simplest Jacobean type. The gate-leg table was commonly used, and was made in oak, maple, and later cherry and mahogany. There are very few early chairs of the wainscot type, but many beau- tiful examples and variations of the banister-back and slat-back chairs were made in oak and maple and walnut with rush-bottom seats. Very little of the elaborate or finer furniture came in the early days. Lacquers and marquetry were not suitable for the struggling colonists of a new country. The designs of the English cabinet-makers were simplified. The Queen Anne walnut chair, with the delicate curve of slat and uprights of the back to fit the line of the body, and the broad upholstered seat in the framework of the base and legs, be- comes the Colonial straight slat-back chair with rush-bottom seat, known as fiddle back. The Windsor chairs took on new and varying propor- tions, and the comb-back Windsor arm-chair is usually as comfortable as it is beautiful in line. The rectangular braced frame drop-leaf table with turned legs made of oak, walnut, or maple is an old table not uncommonly found in good old furniture shops. The Jacobean style of furniture SOME SAMPLES OF COLONIAL FURNITrRE AMERICAN COLONIAL FURNITURE in is found in the South as well as New England, and there have been many good examples of old Stuart chairs picked up in Virginia and Maryland. In some parts of the country special designs of furniture were made only in one community; for instance, the use of a triangular piece hinged in the braced frame of a small table to hold up the leg was made mostly in Connecticut, and is called a butterfly-table. The block front chest of drawers usually comes from Rhode Island. But the great bulk of old American furniture is of the Georgian style. It is found in all parts of the United States which were settled before 1830. The book of designs pubUshed by Chip- pendale, Sheraton, and Hepple white were used by the American cabinet-makers. There were very few original pieces from the great designers themselves which came to the Colonies, but much good furniture was imported and much good cabinet work done from the drawings, in the fur- niture books, and in the master's manner. Chip- pendale, Adam, Sheraton, and Hepple white were all copied with more or less fidelity, and there was much beautiful mahogany, cherry, apple, and pear wood, and rosewood furniture made. It is possible to find good examples of all the pieces for furnishing a house. Fine walnut high- boys and low-boys, and mahogany ones, too; every kind of chest of drawers, from a plain front to a double serpentine, is to be had at a fair price, plus patient waiting and searching. 112 FURNISHING THE HOME And there are tables of all kinds, sizes, and prices. The Pembroke type of table (both Hep- pie white and Sheraton made designs of this style), which stands against the w-all with the leaf up or folded, can be frequently found in good condition and quite inexpensive. In England it was used as a card-table or a breakfast-table ; in the Colonies it was a best table, and so in many cases has had excellent care. The pie- crust tables with pedestal and three Dutch curv- ing legs were very popular for tea-tables. The Empire mahogany table on a large square or round pedestal with curved legs at base is not difficult to find, and is suitable for a living-room or dining-room. Sofas and settees of Sheraton and Hepple- white design are very beautiful, but are rather rare. It is not difficult, however, to find good examples of Empire sofas, but unless in very good condition they are expensive to do over and rcupholstcr. In some parts of the country there are attractive porch settees, with open slat backs, which if scraped and oiled and waxed or painted and decorated make an interesting piece of furniture for living-room. There are innumerable chairs, from the simple slat back, or the spindle Windsor, to the very beautifully carved Chippendale or Adam chair. There are many sizes and shapes in the grand- father's chair; the earlier ones have cabriole legs and strong undcrbracing, but these are difficult AMERICAN COLONIAL FURNITURE 113 to find. A provincial European who had heard of our rocking-chairs fancied that the American woman, sitting in a rocking-chair, would be per- petually moving back and forth. Rocking-chairs are a purely American invention. Some people dislike them as much as others desire them. The older chairs had very short rockers. Comfortable slat-back rockers, very suitable for bedrooms, were made of hickory and maple, with nish-bottom seats. Many woods were used by the Colonial furni- ture-makers. Oak and chestnut were used in the early furniture; walnut was used in the furniture which shows the Dutch influence. Later maple, cherry, apple, and pear wood, and mahogany were used. Unfortunately, stains have been used on many old pieces, and one can only be sure of the wood by its grain and texture. Old maple has a deep mellow gold color, and is particularly lovely in light rooms. Cherry has a lovely rich color, and is neither so fine in texture nor beautiful in grain as mahogany. It is also heavier. Having old furniture done over means either of two things. A cheap shiny finish made of shel- lac and turpentine, followed by a little piunicing and oiling, is a poor quality of work done by many antique shops and furniture-repairers. The right kind of doing over, where the careful cabinet- maker goes over every part of the piece of furni- ture, replacing broken parts with old seasoned wood, planing down warped places, carefully re- 114 FURNISHING THE HOME laying veneers, sandpapering and pumicing down with oil and pumice-stone, and waxing and rub- bing down the surface until a smooth polish is acquired, is a slow process. It requires skill, and one can seldom have it done cheaply. It is well to find a good workman — preferably one of the older school — and always to make sure of the approximate price for doing over an old piece which is in poor condition before buying it, since the cost of doing over a piece of furniture in poor condition is usually much more than the piece costs, or frequently more than it is worth. There are cabinet-makers and repairers who can work incredible miracles with a fine piece of old furni- ture, but it is well to be sure of the quality and price before leaving the work to be done. Often it is more expensive to have a mediocre piece of old furniture done over than it is to buy a better- made reproduction. It is always expensive to have veneers recut and laid. It takes time and skill. The expensive workman is not always the best, but it is not difficult to recognize the good crafts- man in any line of work. It is quite easy for the amateur to do much of the doing over himself if he is willing to give a few hours a week puttering away at it. First, if it is necessary, the piece may be washed carefully in tepid soapy water and quickly rubbed dry. If the varnish or paint is several coats deep, begin with sandpaper and clear it down almost to the wood surface. Then with linseed-oil and pumicc-stonc rub the wood AMERICAN COLONIAL FURNITURE 115 clear of varnish or paint. Dust carefully, apply wax and oil and rub, continuing until there is a warm, deep glow of polish. This process of fin- ishing takes much rubbing, and a very good sur- face is made with one coat of good varnish evenly applied, and pumiced and oiled after drying to a dull finish. Oak, chestnut, or maple should never be var- nished — only waxed, oiled and rubbed. Oak wiU acquire a beautiful depth of polish and color with rubbing and time, that cannot be duplicated by any quick process. In every city and village there are competent men and boys who can put cane in chair-backs and seats, and, as it is not difficult and does not take much time, any member of the family can easily learn to cane furniture. It is more difficult to have new rush-bottom seats done in the old, firm, smooth way with rushes. Papier- mache or cord is often used, and is a poor sub- stitute. But a second-hand dealer or a furniture- maker usually knows where rushing can be done. It is a process which requires skill and strength to get good results. Neither rushing nor caning is expensive, considering the amoimt of work in- volved. The old stenciled chairs and mirrors can be restenciled with paint, and gold or bronze sten- cil, varnishing and pumicing down afterward. .There is so much fun and adventure in buying old furniture, and then one learns so much, that it is not fair to discourage the amateur from what 9 ii6 FURNISHING THE HOME will give so fine a pleasure, and so personal a back- ground and intimate feeling to a house, by saying what is, however, equally true, and what is sure to happen. First, that it takes "forever" to find just the right pieces to furnish a house throughout. Second, that the amateur is so often cheated that the process of learning seems to progress by sad and expensive mistakes. And, then, there is the danger of buying what is un- necessary in a moment of enthusiasm. It is always true, however, that old pieces, carefully selected, can be sold at a profit at any time. It is only fair to present this other side, for the amateur once started cannot be discouraged, and will continue with enthusiasm the fascinating quest for old furniture. X FURNITURE OF TO-DAY AFTER these flying trips into the history and . periods of furniture let us come down to earth, in whatever part of the country home may be, and talk about the furniture that can be bought there. Whether it be large city, small city, or rural community, the questions will be the same — what chairs and tables are available and suitable, where can one buy them, and what will they cost ? The average home-maker usually goes to one of three places to buy her furniture. She goes to a regular furniture store, the furniture department in a department store, or the second-hand shops. Or perhaps she buys directly from one of the manufacturing firms who sell through catalogue and mail order. In any case she will hope to buy furniture that is strong, good - looking, and comfort- able. If a man in the family can join in the shopping the furniture that he selects is pretty sure to be strong and comfortable. If the buyer would only sit in a chair and see that it was comfortable before buying it, there would be fewer unhappy moments for family and guests. ii8 FURNISHING THE HOME So many people buy ugly and uncomfortable furniture because they are bewildered by the mixture of good and bad furniture and the varieties of each that are in the average furniture store and department store. The buyer wanders through expanses of golden oak, bird's-eye maple, or Circassian walnut in parlor, bedroom, or dining- room sets. A few good wicker chairs, a few re- productions, and some simple painted furniture are usually all that is desirable in the whole stock. With all this bewildering mixture the buyer will find it very difficult to select just the right chair or table. But if she keeps in mind only a few important requirements — first, that the chair or table have good simple lines and proportions; second, that it is similar in type to what she already has; third, that it is comfortable; fourth, that it can be easily cleaned and kept in good condition — if she keeps these four things in mind and puts every piece to these tests, the sheep and the goats will soon separate, and the difficulties disappear. Furniture Store. Department Store Now let us see what the furniture shops carry. The department stores carry about the same stock as the furniture stores, only they usually have more sales of odds and ends and special assign- ment than the furniture stores. The home- maker need not be discouraged at the high prices EXAMPLES OF SIMPLE FURNITURE WHICH MAY BE BOUGHT IN STAIN, ENAMEL, OR UNFINISHED FURNITURE OF TO-DAY 119 of some of the furniture, for there are chairs that cost $2 that are more beautiful and suitable for any room than some other chairs which cost $100. Fortunately, the price of a chair is not always a measure of its worth. In most furniture stores there is some very inexpensive and attrac- tive furniture. In many shops, particularly in the smaller cities, there are rows and rows of pieces of so-called golden oak. This furniture is usually ugly, clumsy in design, and over - decorated. The many coats of varnish have given it an objectionable color and surface polish. The only way to make this furniture attractive is to remove all the varnish and then stain and wax and rub it until it has the legitimate finish of oak. Or it can be painted or enameled in color to go with the color scheme of the room. There are usually some pieces that are good in line and can be used in the average house. This furniture is usually inexpensive. Chairs cost from $1.50 to $15, tables from $5 to $40. The cost of refinish- ing must be calculated according to the money spent for materials and the time of the refinisher. Another very common and inexpensive type of furniture is the Mission or Craftsman furni- ture. Some of it is very good in line and con- struction; frequently, however, for all its appear- ance of strength, much of it is clumsy and poorly made. It goes very well in large rooms of rough plaster, or wood wall and brick or concrete fire- I20 FURNISHING THE HOME place. It cannot be used so well in small rooms; neither does it go well with other types of furni- ture. A living-room or a whole floor, a bungalow or country house furnished throughout with this furniture may be very restful and attractive, but its possibilities are more limited than some of the less-heavy types of chairs and tables. In the average apartment it is quite out of place. Chairs in the Mission style cost from $3 to $35 and tables from $10 to $50. Perhaps no furniture carried by the average furniture store and department store offers so many possibilities as the simple painted furniture. There are many pieces of good lines, in inex- pensive woods, which can be painted a color to suit the color scheme of the general furnishing of the room. In a city apartment where sunshine is at a premium, a room with painted woodwork and furniture can be very gay and cheerful. This furniture is generally inexpensive. The stores frequently carry sample stock in a dead- white enamel, but the same pieces can be ordered painted in any color of sample. Usually there is a small extra charge for matched color. Chairs may be had from $2 to $20 and tables from $4 to $25. For those who are ambitious to paint or stain furniture directions are given in the Handy Man's Chapter. Wicker or willow furniture is inexpensive, durable, and comes in many good designs of chairs and tables. Nearly all the large furniture FURNITURE OF TO-DAY 121 stores and department stores carry a large stock in the spring and summer, for there is a demand for it for summer-houses and porches. There are so many varieties that the buyer should not be discouraged if she does not find what she likes at first, but should go to every place that keeps any wicker or willow before making a decision. In the large cities there are shops which special- ize in this furniture and carry very attractive pieces. This furniture can be stained any color. The arm-chairs are suitable for almost any room in an informal house. They are particularly attrac- tive with cushions of gay chintz or in soft dull colors, according to the color scheme of the rest of the room. It is possible to btiy this furniture imstained at a httle less cost than when stained. Unstained, the chairs cost from $2 to $15 ; stained, they cost from $4 to $15. Tables cost from $3 to $20. Directions for staining wicker furniture and for removing stain will be found in the Handy Man's Chapter. A few shops carry the Chinese and Ceylon cane chairs, which are fre- quently very beautiful in workmanship and are suitable in a living-room or porch. They are usually more expensive than the wicker chairs and cost from $30 to $75. The Austrian furniture made of bent wood is very strong and sometimes quite attractive. It is expensive, and its durability recommends it for hotels, restaurants, and for clubs and rooms 122 FURNISHING THE HOME of public use, but it is expensive for the ordinary home. The better class of furniture store and depart- ment store now carries a wide stock of good reproductions, and any dealer can obtain very good examples for the customer who knows what she wants. A customer can always ask to see the catalogues of the manufacturers from which the store buys, and it is often profitable to study these. The salesmen do not always understand the fact, but it is frequently possible to get a chair or table in several different woods. From the mahogany sample in the store the customer can order a chair in oak or walnut, and any good firm is glad to accept such orders. If the salesman does not think it can be done it is well to ask for the department manager. For those who have money enough it is always possible to buy good reproductions. Indeed, there is very little in the way of furniture that money cannot buy. Good copies of the best furniture are expensive — so were ths originals. Chippendale received three to four hundred dollars for chairs; reproductions of these would cost at least the same amount. Good repro- ductions cost according to the skill involved in making them, excepting only the fashions, which always create false values. There are not many good reproductions of the early English furniture. It is heavy for the average house and does not have a \\ide sale. Of FURNITURE OF TO-DAY 123 the Jacobean furniture many good reproductions are on the market. The gate-leg table, so useful and attractive for Hving-room, library, or dining- room, is made in diill-finished oak, walnut, and mahogany at prices varying from $12 to $75. The Stuart chairs with turned legs and uprights and caned seat and back panel are strong, and are very attractive chairs for dining-room, or the straight chairs of living-room and hall. They are too formal for the average bedroom. They are made in arm and side chairs, and prices range from $13 to $50. Good reproductions of Queen Anne chairs and tables are also suitable in any part of the house. They cost from $12 to $50. Good copies of Chippendale arm-chairs cost from $18 to $100, of side-chairs from $12 to $50. A reproduc- tion of an Adam chair will cost from $20 to $50, an Adam sideboard from $50 to $250. Beautiful copies of Hepplewhite and Sheraton chairs will cost from $25 to $75, a side-table from $18 to $60. Reproductions of any of these Geor- gian chairs and tables are particularly suitable for our smaller houses and apartments of to-day. Good copies of French furniture are expensive, and they require a more elegant and luxurious background. A good copy of a simple Louis XIV. cane chair will cost from $65 to $150, and the more elaborate carved and gilded or painted furniture is very expensive. It must be very well done, otherwise it is Hkely to be tawdry. 9 124 FURNISHING THE HOME There is all the difference in the world between a good reproduction and a poor imitation. There are many ugly and poorly made pieces of furniture masquerading under period names. The buyer should beware of these, and insist on good con- struction and the characteristics and finish of the old furniture. Copies of old furniture are only desirable when they have good workmanship, beauty of design, and good wood. Psuedo reproductions are as undesirable and tawdry as cheap imitation jewelry. Mail-order Houses Then there are the furniture-manufacturers who sell direct to the customer. There is a firm in Boston, and there are probably others else- where, which makes a specialty of inexpensive furniture which is sound in construction and good in line. They sell chairs, tables, and many other pieces of furniture, either unfinished, stained, or enameled in color to suit the purchaser. The enameled furniture costs ten per cent, more, the unfinished furniture ten per cent, less than where a stain is ordered. The firm pays for crating and delivery to rail- road station, the purchaser pays freight and de- livery at his end of the Hne. The cost of the freight is very little, especially if several pieces are crated together. It is surprising how cheap and how good-looking much of this furniture is. PLEASING EXAMPLES OF MODERN MISSION FURNITURE AND REPRODUCTION OF ANTIQUE FURNITURE OF TO-DAY 125 A comfortable Windsor arm-chair unstained cost $2. This included freight and delivery charges from Boston to New York. They sell a good six-foot extension dining-table for $9 and a drop- leaf gate-leg table in oak for $15. They carry a large stock of furniture at comparatively low prices, and will send illustrated catalogue on ap- plication. For those who would like to try stain- ing or painting this furniture directions are given in Handy Man's Chapter. Second-hand Shops It always seems wise to buy a few good pieces, and to patch out with temporary ones rather than to compromise in buying all that is necessary at once and have to live forever with an apologetic background. If a general scheme of color and furnishing is kept in mind, and good pieces added gradually, one or two a year, it is surprising how much pleasure there is in anticipation and how short the interval seems before the scheme is realized and the house furnished. This is where the second-hand shop offers op- portunities. People get astounding bargains at auctions and in second-hand shops. One should be very careful, of course, to have any of this furniture well fumigated. There are chairs and tables much the worse for wear that with a little labor — removing varnish, and waxing, rubbing, 126 FURNISHING THE HOME or with enameling in black or white or color — will be very attractive. It is always possible to buy chairs from twenty- five cents up into dollars, and very frequently pieces that have been overlooked by the antique dealer find their way into these shops at prices no higher than the rest of the stock. One wom- an furnished a very attractive living-room with rugs and furniture for $15 from a second-hand shop. The paint and enamel and cushions cost $4 more. It is very interesting how much at- tractive furnishing can be done with very little expense, but it cannot be done without time for looking about in shops and thoughtful considera- tion of every possibility. XI WHAT TO DO FOR THE HALLS IT is important that the entrance to the house be a pleasant one, and this means that a hall should be well hghted, orderly, and simple in arrangement. It should be a cheerful but re- served introduction, a preface that suggests the rest of the house. A hall has very few but very definite functions to fulfil. It may be an attrac- tive waiting-room, and it must give access to the main rooms of the house. There are many houses where the hall opens into only one or two rooms, and many houses are so badly planned that some rooms are accessible only by entrance through other rooms. Of course, a down-stairs hall should always be somewhat formal. None of its uses are intimate or personal in character. It is an entrance to the house to be used by strangers and acquaintances as well as by friends, and how formal it should be depends on whether it is in a city or a country house and the interests and manner of living of the family. In a house in the city where there is a large 128 FURNISHING THE HOME family of varied interests and many friends and acquaintances there is need for privacy and pro- tection against casual intrusions and interruptions. The hall should be only an entrance to the rest of the house.. A father may have a business caller, a younger daughter her school friends, an older sister a social engagement, all in the same evening. Where there is a fonnal hall with doors which can be closed into adjoining rooms it is a simple and direct matter for each member of the family to meet an engagement without interfering or intruding on the rest of the family. What a mistake it is not to have doors from the hall into adjoining rooms! For the person who is building a house doors do not cost so much as the draperies or curtains which are necessary where there are no doors. Large openings into a living-room may appear hospitable, but what with draughts, voices from up-stairs or adjoining rooms, to say nothing of the restraint that the feehng of being overheard gives, it is a case of the appearance belying the fact. This is one phase of the lack of consideration for privacy for which Americans are so criticized. One Englishman said of us, "Their cities have pubHc squares and open streets; so have their houses." The lighting of the hall is very important. There should be enough dayUght from door or window to make dark corners impossible. The artificial lights should be placed S3mimetrically on the side-walls unless it is possible to ha\'e an A SIMPLE HALL WHAT TO DO FOR THE HALLS 129 indirect lighting arrangement. If a center ceiling- light is used it should not be a hanging chandelier, inviting bumps and dust, but should be placed close to the ceiling. In a hall the walls should be kept very simple. They may be painted or papered or paneled wainscot. It is one of the few rooms where gay patterned or striped paper can be used, for there should be no pictures on the walls. Good repro- ductions of landscape paper of the eighteenth century are now on the market, and, although rather expensive, they are very attractive. A striped paper is also good and in a hall with a stain\^ay it emphasizes the stairs and the rise to the second floor. In a small hall a plain paper or one with a small unobtrusive pattern is best. Painted walls have the advantage of being easily cleaned. A mirror of good design may be hung over a table. If one possesses a piece of tapestry or a fine rug or an interesting piece of weaving, some- thing decorative and purely formal in character, this may be hung in a central balanced space. A banjo clock is often very suitable, and is both useful and decorative in a narrow oblong space or panel. A tall grandfather's clock is a dignified addition to the furnishing of a hall. The floor should be uncarpeted, for it is neces- sary that the hall be easily and thoroughly cleaned. Large square tiles in soft colors make an attractive hall floor which can be washed daily. I30 FURNISHING THE HOME These are, however, quite expensive. One large rug covering the main part of the floor or a small strong rug near the door is a good -arrangement if rugs are used; or there may be a broad strip of plain carpet extending through the center of the hall and carpeting the stairs, if desirable. Stairs are more easily cleaned and quite as attractive without the strip of carpet, yet many people prefer the carpeting because there is less noise and the stairs are protected from small boys' toes. Also there is less danger of falling down a carpeted stairway. Furnishing a hall is not an expensive matter, as very little furniture is necessary. A small side- table with a drawer or two in which to keep time- tables, pad and pencil, and post-cards, one or two straight-backed chairs placed against the wall in symmetrical balance are quite enough furniture. A mirror which has a decorative frame — red or black lacquer is interesting — may be hung di- rectly over the table or in the center of one wall division. There should be some provision in a hall for the coats and hats and umbrellas of guests. Members of the family should keep hats and coats in their rooms or in a special closet, and not leave them untidily accumulated in a hall-stand. But it is difficult to find a hat-rack which is not clumsy and ugly. There are many happy adap- tations and inconspicuous arrangements made to meet this need. An ingenious woman used a WHAT TO DO FOR THE HALLS 131 row of brass hooks, copies of old English hooks, on a narrow wood paneling. It was both decora- tive and useful. These old hooks are reproduced in many designs and may be had from 15 to 50 cents apiece. A small hall in an English house had an old brass fender which had been cut and straightened into an oblong piece into which large hooks were soldered. The cut pattern of the brass plate and the quaint hooks made it an interesting formal decoration, very useful in a small hall. There are attractive brass and porcelain umbrella-holders, decorative as well as useful, but when filled with umbrellas which have accumulated dust for weeks they have a very untidy appearance. There are very few of the combination hall and living-rooms which are satisfactory. They allow no assurance of privacy, and the draughts from opening the outside door and from the stairs-space make it a difficult room to keep comfortable in winter weather. An up-stairs hall need not be so formal, but it should be light and cheerful. Architects and builders in planning the up-stairs hall often forget the fact that there should be direct day- light from outside window, door, or skylight. It is always unsatisfactory to depend on light coming through glass in doors or through the open doors of adjoining bedroom or bath. Fre- quently the up-stairs hall may be arranged to give some of the service of an up-stairs sitting-room. 10 132 FURNISHING THE HOME Book-shelves may be built in between doors, and they are especially convenient for a family that likes to read at night. Window-seats may be built in and a small writing-table is convenient in an up-stairs hall. If there is no linen-closet built in the house or if more shelf-space is necessary there is often a space here where a good old bureau or a built-in chest of drawers can be placed. One hall has an attractive window-seat under the large front window, with rather high sets of drawers on each side of the seat. Under the seat is a large com- partment for comforters and blankets. There should be a closet here as well as on the lower floor for brooms, brushes, cleaning-utensils, preferably near the maid's room. What is most important in the furnishing of the hall is a careful and balanced spacing of each piece of furmtiu"e. A hall should always present a formal, open, attractive entrance to the rest of the house. XII THE FAMILY LIVING-ROOM THAT very modern part of the house, the living-room, has supplanted the old-fash- ioned parlor, sanctum of weddings, funerals, and Sunday callers. A drawing-room in a city house is a fonnal room. Wall-spaces, tables, chairs, and hghts are given a formal, symmetrical arrange- ment. A Hbrary in any house should be a quiet, well-lighted room with books and only the nec- essary furniture, where one may read or study without disturbance. But a living-room must combine these func- tions and offer more. It is the place where the family will spend their leisure, in companionship or study, where guests arc hospitably received. It must be attractive to youth and comfortable for grown-ups. It is a place for study as well as for talk. It should be all that its name implies — a cheerful and beautiful room, worthy to be the center of the family hfe, worthy to be lived in, in the finest sense of the word. There is always one difficulty about furnishing a living-room. It has so many needs to fill it is 134 FURNISHING THE HOME difficult to keep the room simple and at the same time have the necessary furniture in it to fill these needs. There should be large comfortable chairs, perhaps a sofa, and a footstool or two grouped about the open fire — for there should be a fireplace in every living-room ! Then a table is needed for lamp, books, and magazines, standing neither in the center of the room nor yet against the wall, with near by a chair or two, for reading. For afternoon tea or evening coffee or cards, a place for a plant or bowl of flowers, a smaller table standing against the wall or between windows, will be useful. A tall secretary, desk, or a simple table well supplied with writing-ma- terials should be placed to have good Hght both day and evening, for writing, and should not stand too near the conversation at the fire- place. Before it should stand a straight chair, of comfortable height, for writing. With all this more or less necessary furniture, and with desk, table, and fireplace, each a center of interest, it is essential to keep a unity in the room. Woodwork, walls, curtains, and rugs should carry out a color scheme, including not more than two colors, and all the large pieces of furniture should be somewhat similar in type. If the walls, woodwork, mantel, and fireplace are of lovely gray or tan, the rugs of plain velvet, warm green in color, the curtains may be of chintz patterned with green foliage, or of soft- green silk hung straight at the side of the windows, THE FAMILY LIVING-ROOM 135 and the upholstery materials should have green the predominating color. These are the be- ginnings of a restful, harmonious room. There ^ may be a blue vase or an orange one on the man- tel, a few cushions of the same orange or blue, another plain vase with flowers in it, a growing plant, a bowl of goldfish ; any one or two of these will give all the variety and accent that is neces- sary. Walls and floors should be subordinate and serve as background. Curtains may be of any color according to the color scheme chosen, but they, too, should take their place as a part of the background. Why do we so frequently forget that a room is to be only a background, a setting! The human beings in a room are much more important and interesting than the furniture, or at least they should be given an opportunity to prove themselves so. It cannot be denied that over-crowding of furni- ture and bric-a-brac is our most flagrant and fre- quent mistake in furnishing. A woman's club, very successfully furnished, was recently com- pleted ; the privileged few who got a first glimpse of the large main room exclaimed, "How empty!" But never since has the room seemed empty, for the decorator had wisely arranged the furniture, leaving space and background for the members and visitors who would be constantly in and out, adding color, as well as needing space to move about. ' If the decorator had not considered and 136 FURNISHING THE HOME taken this into consideration, the rooms would usually have presented a jumble of furniture and people. What to eliminate is a question often much more to the point than what to add. First, the walls must be papered and the wood- work painted. With the many needs of the living- room, the many different pieces of furniture, it is necessary that the walls be neutral in color, that the background be unobtrusive and restful. Then the rugs are chosen. The home-maker is for- tunate who can afford a center rug large enough for the room. If several smaller rugs are chosen they should be tried in various arrangements. One should be placed in front of the fire, one at the lx)okca5e, another near the center of the room, another toward the door. They should be parallel to the sides of the room, for rugs are very obvious and disturbing when placed diagonally across the floor. Book-shelves should be planned in the first consideration of the room. There is always the right place for their building. It may be between windows, to fill the space on either side of the wall extension of the fireplace, or perhaps on the long space of the opposite wall. It is wise to build them with adjustable shelves for the accommo- dation of various-sized books. In any case, provision should be made for long volumes and for the smaller books which collect dust and appear lost on a high book-shelf. Open shelves, without glass protecting the books, are THE FAMILY LIVING-ROOM 137 far more attractive, and librarians tell us that on the whole it is better for books to be left unin- closed, so that air circulates about them fully. Books on open shelves invite the reader when those behind glass seem remote. The varied colors of book-backs, too, always make a delightful color pattern and add interest to the background of a room. Two long sets of shelves of books, either side of a fireplace or built around a desk, have a decorative value quite be- yond the possibilities of the average picture. The curtains may be one-color silk, or of chintz, or of any of the fascinating patterned fabrics now on the market — but the color must repeat the color of the rugs ! Then furniture must be selected. A desk, chairs, sofa, and tables should be chosen with careful comparison one to the other and to their placing in the room. There must be various kinds of chairs. Perhaps an old mahogany arm-chair has been found in some antique shop. Without that a fine reproduction of an old arm-chair will be a good investment for the room. It will prob- ably take more than its share of the sum at hand for furnishing, but it is much better to buy a few good things one at a time than to furnish through- out with things that, though cheaper, are less durable and beautiful, grow tiresome, and really prove more expensive in a few years than a larger first investment. There are many inexpensive chairs which will serve admirably for temporary 138 FURNISHING THE HOME or even permanent use. Wicker chairs are alwaj'^s attractive if they carry out the color scheme of the room. They may be stained the color of rugs or curtains and have cushions of patterned chintz adding their gay colors to the detail of the fur- nishing. Leather chairs are usually clumsy and offensive in color. Too much upholstery gives a stuffy feeling, and it is also difficult to keep clean. Plain upholstery is much less objectionable than the puffed-and-button variety. Some of the fine caning in chairs of good design is durable and attractive. It is always possible to have chairs recaned, for it is not a difficult process for the amateur. To provide new rush bottoms for chairs is more difficult. As for arm-chairs, there are multitudes of good designs from which to select one of good lines, proportions, and comfort. A reproduction of the Martha Washington chair is one of the attractive possibilities, and no chair offers more comfort for an evening chat or paper than a roomy grand- father's chair. An old grandfather's chair is rather expensive, but modern reproductions of good proportions may be had from $15 up. The American rocker has had hard words said about it, and, although inelegant for a formal room, there is no denying the distinctive character of an old Shaker or Windsor arm-chair rocker. Straight chairs of many styles are available. Old ones arc less expensive and less difficult to THE FAMILY LIVING-ROOM 139 find than arm-chairs. If strict economy is neces- sary there are simple kitchen chairs that when stained and painted are quite worthy of their place in a living-room. Reproductions of Windsor chairs of good lines may be had for as little as $1.50, and Windsor arm-chairs for $2.75. A sofa is one of the more expensive pieces of furniture, but its length adds a new and interesting proportion, and its capacity and comfort are un- questioned. An old mahogany one of Sheraton design is an invaluable asset. An Empire sofa, while more available and less expensive, is a staid and comfortable acquisition. One ingenious woman had the paint scraped off an old porch bench of good lines, and, behold, a beautiful maple settee evolved, which, when becushioned and be- pillowed, was the most attractive feature of her living-room, and it cost $5. A wicker sofa is com- paratively inexpensive and is very comfortable. It may be stained to match the color scheme. In modern sofas one must beware of the fantasies of the upholsterer. Fringes and buttons add little comfort and nothing to beauty and cleanliness. If there be any difficulty about selecting a table it lies in deciding a preference for one out of so many of the attractive tables that are on the market. The gate-leg table is beautiful in de- sign as well as very practical, for it may be used as round table in the center of the room or against the wall with one or both leaves dropped. These vary in price from $ 1 2 to $ 7 5 . The Dutch bandy- I40 FURNISHING THE HOME leg table has very good lines and comes in many sizes and proportions of round, square, rectangu- lar, with and without drop-leaves. And there is something to be said for the simple modern table with four straight legs and a drawer or two, for its very unpretentiousness includes its pos- sible use with any type of furniture. Little straight-leg tables are inexpensive, and they are attractive painted or enameled in color to match the color scheme of the rest of the room. Even a kitchen table of good proportions and lines may be glorified by a coat of paint or enamel and is preferable to many of the pretentious and ex- pensive golden-oak monstrosities. Every family should have at least one small folding-table for games and other impromptu service. They may be carried about from room to room and folded into an obscure corner or cupboard when not in use. When covered they may even be used for tea or supper and so save a precious table from accidental defacements from hot dishes and spillings. Two of these will make a good cutting-table for the home dressmaker. Their use for games will spare children many mother's "dont's!" With a desk, chairs, and sofa chosen there ap- proaches the difficult problem of choosing the accessories — the pictures and little things that, unless one is wary, will accumulate to a distressing clutter of useless bric-^-brac. Here it is that sentiment must be sternly dealt with. Have the THE FAMILY LIVING-ROOM 141 framed and unframed photographs of brother, friend, and baby in the intimacy of one's per- sonal room or bedroom; they will be dealt with more leniently in another chapter. But do not stand them about on mantel and tables to the undoing of the beauty of a Hving-room. In one house a silver bowl with artificial American- beauty roses and five photographs and portraits of baby brother and sister wrecked all the dis- tinction of an otherwise beautiful Hving-room. It is difficult to find good original paintings, and costly to buy them. For the person of cultivated tastes, etchings, mezzotints, engravings, litho- graphs, and Japanese prints are a fascinating hobby. They make good wall decoration, and may be a profitable investment as well. But original pictures are only for the person of knowledge and discriminating tastes and ample income. There are beautiful and inexpensive colored reproductions of pictures that time and artistic judgment have set a seal upon, and these are of unquestioned and permanent beauty. The Eng- glish Medici prints in colors, reproductions of old masters, are beautiful and inexpensive. Their prices range from $2 to $15, and they may be ordered direct from the American agent in Boston. Very good German color reproductions of old masters are available also. The Italian, Dutch, English, and French masters have all been well reproduced in color. The Metropolitan 142 FURNISHING THE HOME Museum has published fine color prints of a few of their pictures, and it is the plan to publish many more. These reproductions cost but one dollar. The brown or gray photographs or paintings are less desirable than the color ones, losing, as they do, the beauty of color of the original. But how much more distinction and charm there is in a reprint of a Holbein drawing or a photograph of the cartoon of the "Mother and Child" of Leonardo da Vinci than in the average sentimental mediocrities that flood the market ! These charming prints and reproductions do not stare out at one from the walls of the average department store, but they may be ordered at comparatively low price from good dealers in large cities, who usually have adequate catalogues or will give information on application. Picture- dealers of good standing welcome the amateur, and constant visits to print shops, plus intelligent reading and observation, may result in conn-ois- seurship. Houses usually have too many pictures. Only one or two very good pictures at the most should be hung on one wall-space. They should be hung at a reasonable eye-level. Picture-wires should be as unobtrusive as possible. It is well to hang wires in vertical lines from two hooks on the molding to each side of the picture. Small light pictures may be fastened by a short invisible wire to a nail driven into the wall. A very THE FAMILY LIVING-ROOM 143 slender wire nail will hold a picture of considerable size, and can be removed without leaving a notice- able marking on the paper. It is difficult, how- ever, to drive any kind of nail into an unpapered wall without marking it. There are many interesting wall decorations other than pictures. A sampler or old piece of needlework, if carefully framed, has much more beauty and interest than the average picture. A piece of interesting textile makes a decorative panel on wall-spaces. A tile of good design and color will make an interesting wall decoration. And why are the inexpensive and beautiful plaster casts in bas-relief so neglected for wall decoration ? It is true that their whiteness is cold and glaring, but a simple process will change that. Oil paint with turpentine brushed lightly over the plaster-cast and rubbed off with a cloth will give a depth of color and a lovely quality to the plaster. The plaster reproductions are very inexpensive. A beautiful copy of a Madonna and Child of Verocchio's, large enough to go over a mantel, may be had for $1. A plaster with head of Dante in circular reHef had the background painted in a dull Italian blue, the head in browns, and the whole covered with one coat of shellac. It made a charming wall decoration over a desk, and cost just 35 cents. A mirror may be hung as a formal wall deco- ration. The long Colonial mirror with painted panels is attractive over a living-room mantel. 144 FURNISHING THE HOME There are good reproductions of Colonial and Georgian mirrors on the market at prices ranging from $io to $ioo. Where a mirror is built in over a mantel and cannot be removed it is frequently- possible to take off some of the gewgaw details of the woodwork accessories and, leaving the mantel clear of bric-a-brac, make the most of a bad bargain by ignoring it as far as possible. A plain mantel-shelf is always to be preferred to a so-called cabinet-mantel. Lighting is an important feature of the living- room. There should be plenty of daylight. A western and southern exposure, with the winter afternoon sun, is more desirable here than in a dining-room, where the morning sun should be a breakfast accompaniment. Artificial lighting of the living-room should be planned in the building of the house, so that the side-lights are placed where most necessary, near book-shelves or desk. A center ceiHng-light is not appropriate for the needs of the living-room, and is less restful and attractive than the varying lights from open fire, from a shaded reading-lamp and drop-lights, also shaded, on desk and book-shelves. A kerosene or alcohol lamp for the table, with a green-glass shade or a simple soft-color silk shade, gives a clear, steady light for reading, and adds to the attractiveness of the room. An electric-lighted lamp, requiring as it docs connection \vith a wall or ceiling attachment, is less trouble than a kcro- THE FAMILY LIVING-ROOM 145 sene-lamp, although the necessary tubing is often disturbingly obvious. Candle-lights on the mantel or at desk are very attractive, and no room and no hour of the day is more restful than the living-room when the candles are Hghted and the open fire glows through the twilight. If the materials first selected for au-tains and upholstery are just right in color and texture it is often wise to buy enough to replace the wear and fading of a few years* use. It is usually impossible to match materials of this kind even a few months after they arc bought. One cannot overestimate the value that flowers or growing plants may add to a room. To be sure, flowers must be considered as luxuries, but what other luxuries are as necessary? One bowl of flowers will give joy to a whole family and add a touch of color and beauty that will revive the dullest of rooms. Flowers in season are not an extravagance, but for the economical there are plants and vines that with reasonable care will survive many seasons. One of the pleasant things about furnishing a living-room is that it may grow more attractive with use. A new bit of color may be added, com- fort emphasized, and its usefulness extended to meet all the needs of the family. No other room in the house offers such possibiHties and variety of attractive furnishing. XIII THE DINING-ROOM DECORATION and usefulness should play into each other's hands. Whereas the Hving-room has so many and such varied uses, the needs of the dining-room are few and definite. A dining- table in the center of the room, chairs placed at regular intervals against the wall when not in use at table, a sideboard in the center of a clear wall-space, a serving-table not too far from the pantry door — this is all the furniture that the dining-room requires. In many houses the dining-room is looked upon primarily as a place for formal dinners. The dark heavy furniture and the stuffy upholstery are only relieved by the lights, the table Hnen, and service. But we are growing more sensible about our dining-rooms. The universal French custom of breakfasting in one's room, the English custom of buffet breakfast, will never supplant that Amer- ican institution of the family breakfast. So why should not the dining-room be as attractive in the morning light and at high noon as under the artificial light at the evening meal? THE DINING-ROOM 147 Freshness is an important element in the ap- pearance of a dining-room. For the average house a simple dining-room, furnished in the spirit of the lightness of modem glass and china, is more suitable than a room with heavy furniture and dark upholstery. The walls of a dining-room should be of neutral tone, similar in color to adjoining rooms. It is well to keep them clear of pictures and decorations, for there are few dining-rooms and pictures which belong together. The stenciled frieze and the elaborately patterned wall-paper add nothing to the beauty of the walls. One frequently sees a dining-room which has a chair-rail dividing the wall horizontally, with plain wall-paper or bur- lap below the chair-rail and a fruit, flower, or grape patterned wall-paper above the chair-rail. Unless these papers are very similar in color and the pattern dull and unobvious this breaking up of wall-space is very disturbing. A plate-rail with a procession of plates, mugs, and tiowls catching the dust is another mistaken idea of decoration. A small plate-rail over a side- table or in the center of a wall-space at a height within easy reach may be very useful and also may make an interesting panel of decoration. A rug of plain color or unobvious pattern, dark enough so that it will not readily show markings, and not too heavy to be frequently taken up and aired, one that is easily cleaned and large enough to cover the center of the room, meets the prac- 11 148 FURNISHING THE HOME tical needs of the dining-room floor. It should be of color harmonious with the rest of the room. Curtains should be comparatively Hght in texture and in harmony mth the general color scheme of the room. Heavy curtains will absorb and hold odors of food. It is interesting to have the one or two pre- dominant colors of the room repeated in the rug, curtains, and china. And a ^most fascinating field is offered in china and pottery and glass. Now that the epidemic of cut glass and hand-painted beflowered china has partly passed, those who have come safely through it look back on it as a deplorable show of bad taste and showy display. For the discriminating person the shops hold a variety of interesting china. There is modern Sevres and Dresden and the beautiful blue-and- white Copenhagen, to say nothing of the many patterns of Enghsh china, but these are all rather expensive. There are many modem inexpensive designs in EngHsh, French, and American ware that are neither commonplace nor overdecorated. The Chelsea ware, with its little violet-blue flowers in low reUef , is very attractive and quite inexpensive. The American Belleek has a lovely cream-color paste and glaze and comes in dis- tinctive shapes, with or without a gold-band decoration. It is comparatively inexpensive. Then the jolly Brittany pottery from France and the highly decorative Cantigalli pottery from THE DINING-ROOM 149 Italy may be purchased and imported for so very little that one wonders that its decorative qual- ities have not been more widely recognized. Either is enchanting for a breakfast or luncheon service, very suitable for a country house or bungalow. The green Spanish pottery plates and bowls make an attractive salad service. Chinese and Japanese porcelain has unlimited decorative possibilities, and the modern Chinese and Japa- nese plates, bowls, cups and saucers are quite inexpensive. Americans seem to be afraid to use color. Europe offers us inspiration in both color and design. An American traveler in Italy recognized the possibilities of Venetian glass for table service, and the wine-colored glass handles of the knives and forks are an ingenious part of a beautiful salad-and-fruit service of wine-color Venetian glass. It is as difficult to find fine old glass as it is to find beautiful old china, although it is not as diffi- cult of identification. But reproductions are be- ing made in simple shapes, and they are so much more dignified than the modem designs of cut glass that it seems almost unnecessary to speak of the garishness of much of the overdecorated cut glass now on the market. There are also good designs in silver and silver- plated ware now which are simple and far more attractive and practical than the elaborate flower and figure designs so popular a few years ago. ISO FURNISHING THE HOME It goes without saying that the dining-room chairs should be alike, and that chairs, table, and sideboard should not be too unlike in type. Upholstery is unpractical for the dining-room, and cane or rush bottom or wood seats are preferable for dining-room chairs. Any of the reproductions of old furniture in tables, sideboards, straight and arm chairs are suitable for use in the dining-room. A very attractive and inexpensive dining-room set may be made from simple furniture of good straight lines by painting or enameling in color. Direc- tions for painting furniture are given in Handy Man's Chapter. The table in the dining-room should be kept entirely clear between service of meals except for a vase of flowers, a plant, or a large bowl of fruit in the center of the table as decoration. It is very little trouble to clear the table, and leaving it with the cloth on gives an unpleasant impression of lack of care. Fresh flowers or a growing plant add immeasurably to the beauty of the dining-table. A clear, light dining-room with a bowl of yellow daffodils and morning sunlight is a joyous background for the beginning of a new day. A sideboard should not try to rival a jeweler's window. A few pieces of china or silver, carefully balanced on either side, the candlesticks arranged in a symmetrical, prim row, will add necessary decoration and relieve the plainness without glitter and vulgar display. A CONVENIENT BUTLEr's PANTRY THE DINING-ROOM 151 A facetious hostess characterized the large lighting-fixture that hung suspended by a heavy iron chain in the center of the dining-room in her rented apartment, as her "social error." It is more than that. Its only value hes in the concen- tration of Hght over the table at evening meal. In the daytime it is a crude, ugly obstacle, immov- able, and heavy enough to give an unpleasant impression of its suspended strain on the chain which supports it. The Hght it gives at night is glaring, and — a worse fault at this social hour — unbecoming. Such a chandeHer should be re- moved at once. It can be stored and guarded for the next tenant if ever that tenant has the bad taste to want it. Candle-lights are in all regards the most smt- able and beautiful Hghting for the table. Candles give a soft Hght, make an interesting balanced decoration on the table, and when not in use can be placed out of the way in an orderly and decora- tive arrangement on table or sideboard. There may also be additional Hght from candles placed on sideboard or mantels. Candles are no more expensive — generally less so — than other artificial Hght. Old Sheffield or silver candlesticks are very beautiful, but they are beyond the possibiHties of a Hmited income. But brass, china, or glass candlesticks in good simple designs are very inex- pensive and are for sale in any department store or china shop. There should be one or two electric 152 FURNISHING THE HOME or gas side-lights, which may be used before or after dinner, when light is neceSvSary elsewhere than at table. Table linen has long been the pride and ambi- tion of the housewife. But the original expense and the labor and care of laundry has made the use of doilies and center-piece a welcome innova- tion. So much expense and labor of laundry and mending is eliminated by the use of doilies that their popularity has extended almost to the exclusion of the table-cloth. Doilies may be used for dinner service as well as for breakfast and luncheon. They are a boon to the woman who does her own work. One charming luncheon- table was set with blue-and-white willow-ware, purchased at a five-and-ten-cent store. The doilies were of white linen with an edge embroidered in blue. Japanese blue-and-white towehng laid across the table, a place at the end of each strip, makes an attractive informal arrangement. Doilies are usually of white linen, with lace-embroidered or hemstitched edges, but they are attractive in color to match the china or color scheme of the room. Another boon to the woman who does her own work is the servette, a circular revolving heavy glass plate on a center pivot standard. This is large enough to hold bread and butter, salt, pep- per, sugar, cream, jam, and many of the things needed by every one in the course of the meal. THE DINING-ROOM 153 Each person at table can reach, turn the servette, and serve himself without the confusion of passing dishes about. A second help to the family who wait on themselves at table is a wheeled serving- table with an "up-stairs" and "down-stairs," as the children say. This, placed at the right of the mother of the family and with carefully planned arrangement, does away with most of the other- wise necessary getting up and moving about. In a small house or apartment this serving-table can be kept in the dining-room. Another useful labor-saving device is the large sheet of plate-glass cut to fit precisely the top of the dining-table and sideboard. It should cover the wood directly, to protect it from scratches and accidents of table service. It also has the advantage of being easily kept perfectly clean by simply washing it with soap and water and pol- ishing with a soft cloth. There are a number of electric contrivances, such as for toasting and for making coffee, that are now much used, especially on the breakfast- table. They are on demonstration at the offices of electric companies, and each housewife must decide which she can use and buy with profit. There is no one phase of family life more im- portant than an orderliness at table. This does not require the service of a waitress nor elaborate table arrangement. It does require careful selec- tion of glass and china and precision in placing them on the table. Perhaps some day doctors will 154 FURNISHING THE HOME get around to telling us how much appetite and digestion depend on the attractive appeal of an orderly, beautiful dining-room. The beauty of the dining-room and service at table is not dependent on a display of china and cut glass nor elaborate service. A very simple home may have, with careful planning of color and arrangement, a delightful, gay dining-room and attractive table and service. XIV THE BEDROOMS AS with a dining-room, the furnishings of a bed- i room must meet a few definite needs. The criticism is often heard, "Would you Hke to be ill in that bedroom?" And there are many other equally pertinent questions which may be asked. "Would you like to be well in that bedroom?" "Is it a comfortable place to dress?" "Is it a light and a well- ventilated room?" The bedroom should be planned so that there is clear wall-space for beds, with cross-draught ventilation if possible ; space between or near win- dows for dressing-table, and ample drawer and cupboard space. There must be room for clothes that hang, and for folded clothes, for linen, for hats, to say nothing of places for ties, ribbons, gloves, and frills. A large combination bedroom and sitting- room, with open fire and book-shelves, sewing- table and comfortable chairs, is a pleasant room for an invalid, or for older members of the family who spend much of the time indoors, and for whom it is difficult to go about easily. is6 FURNISHING THE HOME But the bedroom of the average house is Hke the middle-size bear, being neither very small nor very large, just sizable for its uses, offering a place to sleep and a place to dress. There is no question but that a bedroom with a small dressing-room adjoining is more desirable and practical than the very large bedroom. If the dressing-room is kept warm, the windows in the bedroom may be open wide all the night without the discomfort of dressing in a bit- terly cold room in a winter morning. But a dressing-room and a private bath are both lux- uries which bespeak their own comfort so clearly that it is unnecessary to dwell on their advan- tages. They are out of the question for a house in which the expense of building of every foot of floor-space must be considered. But there are fundamental necessities which should be included in every bedroom. A com- fortable bed and a small table beside the bed for reading-light, clock, and perhaps telephone, a well-lighted and mirrored dressing-table, a long mirror, chairs and a footstool, plenty of cup- board and drawer space — these are necessary for the bedroom. A writing-desk or table is an ad- ditional convenience and is especially fitting for a guest-room. A stand for pitcher and wash-bowl is also necessary in a house with no bath-room, or where a large family must all use the one bath- room. Plain wall-paper, or simple figured wall-paper A CORNER OF AN ATTIC BEDROOM THE BEDROOMS 157 with light background and small gay pattern of flowers in soft coloring, may be Used in a bedroom. Chintz is particularly attractive for curtains, but should be used with plain walls. Dimities, scrim, muslins are more suitable than silk and velvet curtains. They also have the advantage of being easily washed and add a fresh Hght effect to the room. A comfortable bed with a good mattress and springs is the most important item. Two single beds are better than one double bed. A good mattress is a better investment than lace pin- cushions; aside from its greater comfort it will outwear many of the cheaper cotton or excelsior filled mattresses. As for the bed itself, it is not so difficult now to find simple attractive designs as it was a few years ago. In the reaction from the ugly and heavy black walnut and golden oak bedroom suites the brass bed came into fashion. It had the advantage of being light and clean, but the insistent shine of the metal and its dissimilarity to anything else in the room offered no improvement in beauty over its predecessors. A simple white enameled bed of good Hnes is preferable to the most expen- sive of brass beds. There are inexpensive beds in simple straight - line designs in wood which may be painted or enameled in color to suit the color scheme of the room. Very good re- productions of four - poster beds are on the market, some of which are small enough for IS8 FURNISHING THE HOME the average size bedroom and are comparatively inexpensive. The good housewife is wary of elaborate lace and silk bed covering. A simple cover of chintz or linen, in color and pattern to suit the furnish- ings of the room, folded in trimly at the sides and ends of bed, involves much less care and helps to give an impression of groomed tidiness to the room. The pillows, of course, are not in evidence during the day except in formal arrangement under covers made of the same material as the bed itself. The old - fashioned knitted or crocheted bed- spread with knotted fringe is quaint and attrac- tive in a room which is colonial in character. One very attractive bedroom has simple, straight- line furniture enameled in a soft gray. One wicker chair is stained a deep silver-gray. The cushions are of a gay chintz of many colored roses and green foliage. The rug is a large plain green woven rag rug. The two beds are covered with old-fashioned quilts of tiny triangular flock-of- birds pattern pieced in white and rose color, with a deep border of the rose color matching the rose of the curtains. The order for these quilts had been given at a church bazaar in the neighbor- hood. The rose-color material was originally white musHn and it had been dyed to match the color scheme of the room. They were dignified in design, harmonious in color, and beautiful in workmanship, and the two of them cost but ten THE BEDROOMS 159 dollars. They will wear themselves into heir- looms ! A small table beside the bed with a shaded reading-lamp, a place for tray with pitcher or caraffe of water and a glass tumbler, and a drawer for pad and pencil, is a comfort and lux- ury for those who like to retire early and, propped up with pillows, read before going to sleep. It is also a convenient place for a watch or a small clock. A book-shelf is often a convenient ad- dition to a bedroom. A dressing-table is another necessity. First of all, it should be placed to have good Hght both in day and evening. If it stands between windows or in front of a window or group of windows, there will be ample light by day. Side-hghts of gas or electricity should be placed on either side of the dressing-table, and a drop-hght is often very convenient. The flickering candle-light is rather uncertain to dress by. The dressing-table may be a bureau or a low chest of drawers, with mirror arrangement, or it may be the more con- venient dressing-table of one or two necessary drawers, with an open clear space underneath, so that one may sit up close to the table com- fortably with knees imder the table. A mirror with adjustable wings on either side is very con- venient for the fastidious person. Any table may be transformed into a dressing- table by the addition of mirror-stand. The small mahogany ones with little drawers, of Georgian i6o FURNISHING THE HOME style, sometimes called shaving-stands, also known as a Chesterfield mirror, are very attractive and useful, but the mirrors are usually rather small. A cover of clear French glass for top of the dressing-table protects the top ; of the table, and is easily cleared of dust and powder dustings. A clutter of bottles and silver brushes, of cos- metics and bo.xes rivaling the dressing-table of a musical-comedy star, is in the same question- able taste with all personal display. As for the powder-boxes and their like, it is the result that matters, not the means, and an artistic result conceals the means. A few necessary and simple toilet articles in orderly arrangement makes an incomparably more wholesome and attractive dressing-table than a display of lace pin-cushions and elaborate toilet articles. There should be at least one comfortable arm- chair and one or two straight chairs in a bed- room of average size. Cushions and a footstool! What a comfort they are to the weary! Even a slender-slippered guest will be grateful for a footstool ! A fine bureau or chest of drawers is always a dignified and useful piece of furniture for the bed- room. Often the architecture of the room offers space for built-in drawers and shelves. It is an advantage to have the front of the drawers or shelves on hinges opening out. Then whatever is on the shelf is available without digging THE BEDROOMS i6i through and disarranging the articles in the top of the drawer. Pictures, prints, or even photographs of one's family and friends are suitable when hung in groups or in the center of a clear wall -space. Figured wall-paper is decorative in itself, and pictures detract from it. They only belong on plain walls. A chaniiing bedroom had gray wall-paper, gray painted furniture, curtains of white muslin with yellow polka-dots, a bed-cover of plain yellow linen, a reading-lamp and side-lights with yellow shades, a dark, plain gray rug. Wash-bowl and pitcher, a vase for flowers, and pin-trays were of plain yellow Japanese pottery. It was sunny and cheerful. The same furniture and rug would be attractive in a bedroom with green the pre- dominant color. The main thing to remember in furnishing a bedroom is to have light and fresh air and to keep the room clear and restful. Upholstery and too many hangings give a stuffy feeling. It should have that impression of freshness which only comes with washable covers and curtains. The Bath-room There is but one standard for a bath-room — large enough, but not too large, and perfect clean- liness. The care required for cleanliness should not be unnecessarily increased by useless space. i62 FURNISHING THE HOME Open sanitary plumbing, a porcelain tub and wash-bowl are the necessary eqmpment of a model bath-room. If there are funds enough a shower-bath and foot-tub should be added. Un- fortunately, the bath-tubs that are set solid to the floor are as yet much more expensive than those on legs. They simpHfy cleaning. The floor should be of tile or concrete, or if of wood the floor should be covered with lino- leum. The walls should be wainscot of the tile or enamel, which can be washed with soap and water. There should be a small cupboard in which to keep necessary toilet articles, and this may well have a mirror in the door. Side-lights placed near a mirror will provide necessary light for washing and shaving. A soiled-clothes chute to the basement or laun- dry is conveniently located near the bath-room. It is inadvisable to keep a hamper for all soiled clothes here, but it is well, however, to have a small covered basket or other receptacle for soiled towels. This should be emptied every morning when the bath-room is given its daily cleaning. The bath-room should be kept clear of obvious toilet articles. A towel-rack, with fresh towels, and soap-holders may be in evidence with sup- plies for guest, or family. If each member of the family has a section of the cupboard, and in his or her own bedroom a towel-rack, it will be quite easy to keep the bath- room comparatively clear. THE BEDROOMS 163 The first and last impression of a bath-room should always be of its immaculate cleanliness. Light tile and enamel will add much to the ap- pearance of freshness as well as minimize labor. But ordinary enamel paint and constant care will make any bath-room an inviting ally of cleanli- ness. 12 XV THE KITCHEN AND LAUNDRY IF orderliness is a large part of beauty, no house- keeper need be told that a kitchen can be beautiful. The old Dutch kitchens, with their rows of copper pans, their plate-rails of gay pot- tery and china, are evidence of the decorative possibilities in the selection and arrangement of cookery utensils. But convenience and care of cleaning arc es- sential requirements for the kitchen of the mod- ern housekeeper. The room should be only as large as is necessary for comfortably working there. The size depends on the size of the family and the amount of service required. A kitchen eight by twelve is large enough for a family where only one person at a time works in the kitchen. The proper position for the kitchen is one which isolates it as much as possible from all other rooms excc]3t the dining-room. If space allows, a butler's pantry between kitchen and dining- room gives a convenient storage place for table china, a place for cold foods ready to be served, and a sink for the washing of china, glass, and THE KITCHEN AND LAUNDRY 165 silver. Swinging - doors into both rooms allow easy passage, and the odors of cooking do not penetrate the dining-room. A butler's pantry should have the window over the sink. The name of this room or semi-room is perhaps un- fortunate, since it suggests that it is needed or desirable only in houses where there will be elaborate service. Quite the contrary, it is a great help to the housekeeper doing her own work, and should be provided wherever possible. Frequently the space assigned to the kitchen could be profitably divided so as to provide a butler's pantry. The kitchen should have a direct or vestibule entrance for the delivery of supplies. Where there is a cellar there should be direct or very easy access from the kitchen. It seems hardly necessary to say that the kitchen should be light, airy, cheerful, and easily cleaned. For both light and ventilation there should wherever possible be windows on two sides of the room. The walls of the model kitchen should perhaps be tiled, but this finish is too expensive for any but the ample purse. Good paint is a satis- factory finish, and is easily cleaned. The color should always be light. White is in many rooms glaring, but the deep-cream or old ivory is satis- factory almost everywhere. The woodwork is best painted to match the walls, and if enameled is much easier to clean. Everywhere it is important to avoid fancy mold- i66 FURNISHING THE HOME ings and turnings in the woodwork ; but nowhere more so than in the kitchen. The space where the hand touches a swinging-door should be pro- tected (on both sides of each door) by a piece of plate glass about five by eight, fastened on by screws through holes drilled in each corner. The bottom of such doors is sometimes protected by a strip of brass, but this is not necessary in a house or apartment, as the foot should never be used to open the door. The floor may be finished in one of the cements now used for such purposes. This has the dis- advantage that it is unpleasant to and hard on the feet, and that it is expensive. The chief advantage is that the edges can be rounded up to the mopboard in one continuous ciirve, thus facilitating cleaning. An outlet for water in one comer, draining into a sewer (with the proper guard against odors) or directly with the ground, simplifies cleaning such a floor. The practical covering for the ordinary kitchen is linoleum. This comes in attractive designs — those with a good deal of white or cream-white being preferable — and is easily washed. Only inlaid linoleimi, and that in a good grade, is worth buying. The initial cost is considerable, but it wears indefinitely. It is always best to have the linoleum laid by the firm from whom it is bought, as they understand how to lay it right, and the amateur does not. When it is finally tacked into place, a half-round of molding should be put THE KITCHEN AND LAUNDRY 167 down next the baseboard all around over the edges of the linoleum. Where there is a vesti- bule it should be treated in the same way. The cost of the linoleum is small compared to the hard work it saves the person who washes the kitchen floor. Those who find standing very tiring are often helped by having a rubber mat (pierced) in front of sink and stove; but such people are much wiser if they learn to do more of their work sitting, and leave the whole floor clear. The artificial lighting must be good. Electric- ity is the best light, and if ordinary city gas is used there should be a mantle burner. Far bet- ter than a center chandelier with two lights is one wall-light over the table and one between the stove and the sink. The windows should have strong, washable shades. If there are curtains they should be short ones, perhaps sash-curtains, of white wash- able material. Scrim is probably the best- wearing material for the money. There should be two sets of curtains, and they should be washed each week as regularly as table or bed linen. Many housekeepers prefer to do without cur- tains. Window-boxes to fit the sills, in which parsley and chives are grown, are an attractive as well as a useful addition to the equipment of the kitchen. The arrangement of the kitchen should be made i68 FURNISHING THE HOME with the efficiency ideal in mind — the minimum of expenditure in time and strength for the re- quired result. The main pieces of equipment are : stove, sink, work-table, cupboards, and shelves for supplies and utensils, refrigerator. The gen- eral relationship of these should be such that the supplies and utensils can be brought to work- table, from there to stove, from there to dining- room, back to sink (butler's pantry better), and so to supply and utensil storage, with the fewest possible steps. Any housekeeper can test this for herself by drawing several plans of the kitchen, and tracing thereon her course in the preparation and clearing away of a meal. The placing of the stove and sink is often conditioned by the other arrangements of the house — chimney and plumb- ing — but all other equipment may be shifted. The stove must be good of its kind and easily cleaned. Where gas is obtainable, and there is some other supply of heat for the kitchen, the gas-range is an economy. The electric range is cleaner, but as yet is too expensive in most places. A gas-range of the table form should be chosen — the oven and broiler above at one side of the burners. Where the space is not wide enough, a stove with oven and broiler above the burners should be chosen. Only in a large family is a second oven needed, and where needed it can be below; but it is highly inefficient to have the housekeeper bending to a low oven for baking. In the table fonn some of the large cooking- THE KITCHEN AND LAUNDRY 169 utensils can be kept on the lower shelf. A hood to carry off odors is excellent where this does not darken the stove too much. A fireless cooker is part of the equipment of every good modern kitchen. The insulated gas- stove, providing ordinary cooking by gas and fire- less cooking in one piece of equipment, is admira- ble when well made, and will pay for its increased initial cost in the saving of fuel if it is to be used for a number of years. The sink should be of good size — 20 by 36 is good in most places — and at a height convenient for the woman who is to use it. The average woman is 5 feet 2 inches, and the sink for her should be 2 7 inches from the floor. If women of different heights must be provided for, 30 inches is better. A light platform of the right height can then be provided for the shorter woman. Plumbers are almost invariably unwilling to set a sink high enough. Those on legs have to be set on blocks, as they are always too low. A sink fastened to the wall by concealed hangers can be placed at any height, and is in any case better, as cleaning under it is easier. Porcelain sinks are serviceable and very ex- pensive. White enameled sinks are best for the average family. A wooden rack or rubber mat in the bottom of the sink will protect it from scratching. A second smaller sink beside the main sink is an excellent substitute for a dish- pan. There must then be a stopper — of the I70 FURNISHING THE HOME special kind made for sinks — for the drain- pipe. A drain-board at each end of the sink is a con- venience, but if there is only one, it should be at the right. Dish-pan, sink-brush, and other uten- sils for sinlc use should be hung from hooks under the drain-board. A long shelf at a good height above the sink will hold other much-used utensils on top and hanging from hooks underneath. There should be at least two soap-dishes (besides a soap-shaker), and all should be hung or fastened on wall or woodwork at a convenient height. Vegetable- brushes and similar utensils should be provided with screw-eyes or loops in order that they may by hung up, and nothing of any kind should stand regtdarly on the drain-board except a cov- ered white enameled can in which refuse can be dropped. The work-table should have an easily cleaned top. Zinc is probably the most practical and cheapest in the end. The so-called pastry-table, with bin-shaped drawers, sliding pastry-boards, and drawers, is excellent. In the kitchen where cupboard space is lacking it may be well to have a kitchen cabinet which adds to the pastry-table cupboards and more drawers. Good kitchen cab- inets are, however, expensive. There is also a disadvantage in having doors to the cupboards over the work-table. Open shelves over the table, deep enough to hold only THE KITCHEN AND LAUNDRY 171 one row of jars, enable the housekeeper to have at hand all common dry-food materials and all flavorings and condiments. The lower shelf should be at least a foot from the table, and from the underside the commonest utensils used in preparation should be hung. If the measuring- cup, egg-beater, grater, potato -masher, biscuit- cutter, can - opener, corkscrew, lemon - squeezer, shears, and apple-corer hang here, the housekeep- er is saved hundreds of steps or arm movements in the opening of drawers. A shelf for cook-books and a place for a small card cabinet must be provided. A cook-book holder is an excellent addition to the equipment. Each housekeeper should plan a place for each utensil, the most convenient possible to the most frequent point of use. Coffee-mill and scales should be fixtures. All shelves are better if enameled white and washed frequently. By the stove should hang a covered salt-box, a rack for pot-covers, a double match-safe, one half to hold a box of safety matches, the other burnt matches; stove-cloths, and flour-dredge. The vestibule is frequently the best place for the refrigerator, and in a house wherever possible the ice-compartment of the refrigerator should be accessible (through a door the size of the side of the compartment) directly from the outside. In an apartment where ice comes up on the dumb- waiter the refrigerator should be as near this as possible. The disadvantage of having the re- 172 FURNISHING THE HOiME frigerator in the kitchen is in the space it takes and its awkwardness in the average room. The advantage is that the perishable food materials are constantly at hand. For the small apartment kitchen there is an excellent rack for drying towels that can be hoisted to the ceiling by a pulley and be kept out of the way. If a roller hand-towel is used it should be convenient to the sink. A roll of paper toweling should be kept in every kitchen, as there are frequent uses for fresh porous paper. There should be one firm, well-built chair in the kitchen. If space allows, a second low chair is a good addition. Many housekeepers like a stool for some work, but to others it is tiring to sit for long without support for the back. The housekeeper who has room for a separate laundry is fortunate. In a house this is best placed on the first floor near the kitchen. If there is not room on the first floor, the laundry may be in the basement, if proper light and air are available. A good hot-water supply, a con- venient place for heating a clothes-boiler, and provision for ironing should be added. In the apartment the laundry tubs must usually be in the kitchen. Frequently it is well to have a table top to lay across these which, with its contents, may be moved away when the tubs are used. Where there is running water, set tubs are a necessity. These, like sinks, are usually too low, THE KITCHEN AND LAUNDRY 173 and should be set on blocks. A good height for the average woman is thirty-five inches. Where there is no running water the tubs should be set up on a bench, and provided with spigots at the bottom so that they may be emptied into pails. The kitchen is the center of the household activities, having the greatest effect on the family health and welfare. Whether the work there is done by the home-maker herself or by a paid household employee, it is equally important to have the room clean, bright, and conveniently arranged. The housekeeper who rents a house or apartment frequently grudges too much ex- penditure on kitchen fixtures. Shelves cost very little, and if some member of the family wields the paint-brush, painting and enameling can be done at a low cost. Making the working condi- tions of the kitchen right is one of the first duties of the planner of the house, and in no place will she find greater reward for the thought and care expended. XVI HANDY MAN'.S CHAPTER Directions Jor Finishing Wood THE old cabinet - makers used no varnish or shellac. A beautiful wood should be covered with boiled linseed-oil, to which a httle beeswax may be added, and rubbed with a soft cloth until a dull polish has been acquired. If a piece of furni- ture has been very heavily varnished, a varnish- remover may be used to take off the top surface. Wood-alcohol is a large ingredient of varnish- removers. With patient application, however, sandpaper and rubbing will remove all the var- nish or shellac from wood. The last of the varnish should be sandpapered off, then the wood should be carefully rubbed with pumice-stone until the last bit of the varnish has been removed. After this the piece of furniture should be washed care- fully with warm water and a little soap, thor- oughly dried, then boiled linseed-oil and a little beeswax should be rubbed into it, and this con- tinued until a fine, dull finish has developed. A quicker method of finishing a piece of furni- ture after all varnish and shellac has been re- HANDY MAN'S CHAPTER 175 moved is by covering the wood with a coat of shellac. When this dries it should be rubbed with powdered pumice-stone and boiled linseed-oil to dull the gloss of the shellac. When this has been done the wood should be oiled and rubbed to a dull surface poHsh. A heavy coat of paint on a piece of old furniture can best be removed by a varnish-remover. When all the paint has been removed the wood should be carefully pumiced, and then oiled and finished according to directions above. Varnish should never be used on furniture ex- cept in a lacquering process. To lacquer a piece of wood a coat of paint brighter than what is de- sired in the finished result should be applied first. Black and vermilion are the colors most com- monly used. When the paint is dry, the pattern may be painted in another color. A pattern may be raised in relief by first applying a thin coat of powdered whiting and shellac over the pattern. When this is thoroughly dry, the raised surface of the pattern can be painted in gold or color. Then a thin coat of good varnish should be applied over the entire surface of the background and pattern. When this is thoroughly dry it should be rubbed with powdered pumice and oil. Another coat of varnish, another pumicing, and still another varnishing, until a surface of the desired depth is reached. A last light pumicing will leave a lovely transparent color. Care must be taken that the work is done where 176 FURNISHING THE HOME no dust or dirt can fall on it while the varnish or paint is wet. It is said that the Chinese and Japan- ese do their lacquering on board a ship so that the danger from dust is minimized. Directions for Painting Furniture or Interior Wood Trim The wood should be clear of all previous paint- ings and varnishings. A first coat of tliin paint should be allowed to dry thoroughly before a second coat of paint is put on. Both coats should be of the color desired in the finished wood. Then the coat of enamel should be applied. Enamel can be bought in any color, or ordinary oil-paint can be mixed with white enamel to get the desired shade. A fight pumicing with oil will dull a too- insistent shine of the enamel. A stencil design may be painted on after the enamel is dry. Directions for Staining Wood Wood-stains in all colors dissolved in alcohol are on the market. A good stain is made of turpentine and oil-paint of the desired color. This should be applied to the wood. When dry it should be rubbed with beeswax and linseed-oil to get a dull polished surface. Directions for Treatment of Floors A good hard-wood or parquet floor needs only oihng, waxing, and rubbing. To be kept in good HANDY MAN'S. CHAPTER 177 condition a floor should be well waxed and rubbed about once a week. The rubbing may be done with a weighted brush, which can be purchased in any department store, or with more labor it can be done by rubbing and ix)lishing with a soft cloth. A floor which is too light in color can be dark- ened with a wood-stain. A wood-stain can be re- moved with strong chloride -of -lime -and -water scrubbing. Care should be taken that all of the chloride of lime be removed by thorough rinsing. A floor which has been badly treated and has a broken or splintered surface can be made over by planing off the top of it. A carpenter can do this with little labor and at a small cost. If the wood is not good enough to Avarrant this, the next best treatment is given by a coat or two of good spar varnish. This must be given ample time to dry, and is then very durable. Shellac should never be used on floors, for its brittle surface is easily scratched and it turns white with water - stains. A good spar varnish does not scratch nor show water- marks. Linoleum makes a serviceable, clean floor- covering, and it is perhaps less obvious when covered with a coat of good varnish. A linoleum floor should be revarnishcd frequently, to in- crease the wear. Painted floors are also im- proved by a coat of varnish. 178 FURNISHING THE HOME Directions for Dyeing Dyeing ofifers invaluable possibilities of econ- omy and beauty to the housekeeper. Materials of beautiful color arc always difficult to find and are expensive. White China silk costs from 50 cents a yard up. The same quality in beautiful colors costs from 80 cents a yard up. All modem commercial dye-stuffs are coal-tar products. The so-called vegetable dyes are ro- mantic fallacies of the amateur arts and crafts worker, and a commercial shibboleth in shops. The early developments of coal-tar dyes deserved condemnation, for the colors were very crude and neither fast to light nor washing. The aniline dyes were of the early developed group, but they are very inferior both in color and quality to the dyes more recently produced and now on the market. For the amateur direct salt dyes for cotton and linen materials and direct silk or acid dyes for silk and wool are of practical value. There are even better dyes available in the indirect and sulphur colors, but these are limited in color and more difficult of application. The direct dyes by proper application are reasonably fast to light and washing. For cotton and linen materials the direct salt dyes should be dissolved in water, a small handful of salt added and the liquid brought to a boiling-point. The goods thoroughly wetted should be immersed HANDY MAN'S CHAPTER 179 in the dye bath and, with constant stirring and lifting, allowed to boil for fifteen to twenty minutes. The materials should then be rinsed and allowed to dry. For silk or wool material the direct dyes should be dissolved in water, a few drops of concentrated sulphuric acid added, and the Hquid brought to a boiling-point. Vinegar in larger quantities may be used as a mordant instead of sulphuric acid. The goods thoroughly wetted should be immersed in the dye bath and, with quick constant stirring and lifting, be allowed to stay at the boiHng-point for ten minutes. The materials should be thor- oughly rinsed in several waters to remove all the acid, and allowed to dry. Red, blue, and yellow are all the colors neces- sary to produce any shade. Red and blue will make a violet; blue and yellow a green; and yellow and red an orange. All three colors will make a neutral gray. All three colors with a pre- dominance of yellow will make tan, with a pre- dominance of blue a cold greenish gray, with a predominance of red a brown color. If the blue and red make too bright a violet a small amount of the third color will neutralize and dull it. A small amount of blue added to red and 37-ellow will give a dull orange. A small amount of red added to blue and yellow will give a dull green. It would be rather reckless to attempt to dye large pieces of material without previously experi- 13 i8o FURNISHING THE HOME meriting with the color. It is always wiser for the amateur to dye material a lighter color at first than is desired, for then a little more of the same color or another color can be added to get the desired shade. Silk and wool materials take up the dye quickly. Frequently after dyeing silk or wool the dye liquid will be quite colorless, the material having absorbed all the dye-stuff. Direct dyeing is a very simple process, and any one can, with a little experimenting, learn how to produce any color. It is especially valuable to the housekeeper to be able to dye and redye materials. Many materials are good in design, but atro- cious in color. These may be dyed and made a beautiful color without losing either the pattern or the texture. Unbleached muslin is sometimes \'ery interesting in texture, and when dyed in beautiful colors it may be used for curtains, cush- ions, and other interior furnishing. Velvet and velveteen for upholstery, portieres, and cushions may be easily dyed to match any color scheme. The crushed nap of the velvet gives the velvet a lovely texture for curtains and upholstery. Most of the commercial dye-stuffs are made in Germany and sold by importing-houscs in this country, from whom they can be purchased in both large and small quantities, and a httle good dye goes a long way. A half-pound each of blue, yellow, and red will dye a large amount of ma- terial. But very satisfactory results can be ob- HANDY MAN'S CHAPTER i8i tained from the small packages of dye for sale ever3rwhere. Directions for Making a Rose-jar Whole allspice, crushed, 2 oz. ; stick of cinnamon, broken roughly, 2 oz.; bruised and shredded orris-root, I oz.; lavender flower, 2 oz.; oil of rose, 5 drops; good cologne, >4 pint; rose-petals, salt. Gather rose-leaves in the morning, let stand in cool place to dry. Toss them lightly, then put them in large covered dish in layers, sprinkling each layer freely with salt. Add to this for several mornings until enough leaves have been gathered to fill a quart jar. Shake up or stir every morning, and let the whole stand ten days after the last petals arc added. Transfer to glass fruit-jar in the bottom of which has been placed the allspice and cinnamon. Let it stand six weeks, partly covered. It is then ready for a permanent jar. Add to it now the orris, lavender, and a small quantity of any sweet- scented dried leaves. Add a few drops of rose- oil and then pour over one-fourth pint of cologne- water. From time to time a little lavender or other scents may be added. XVII SOME USEFUL BOOKS Building Building Construction and Superintendence. Wm. Com- stock Co. 3 Vols. Vols. I and II, each $6.00 net. Vol. Ill, $3.00. How to Build a House and The House Practical. Francis C. Moore. Doubleday, Page & Co. 1907. $4.00. Domestic Architecture One Hundred Bungalows and The Building Brick Associa- tion of A merica. Rogers & Manson. 50 cents. A Book of House Plans. William H. Butterfield. McBride, Nast & Co. 1912. $2.00. The Concrete House: Its Construction. M. M. Sloan. American Portland Cement Manufacturers. 1912. $1.00. Craftsman Houses. Gustav Stickley. Craftsman Pub- lishing Company. 1913. 25 cents. One Hundred Country Houses. Aymar Embury. Century Company. 1909. $3.00. Architectural Styles for Cnmitry Houses. H. H. Saylor. McBride, Nast & Co. 1912. $2.00. Concrete and Stucco Houses. O. C. Herring. McBride, Nast & Co. 1912. $2.00. SOME USEFUL BOOKS 183 The Half-Timber House. Allan W. Jackson. McBride, Nast & Co. 1912. $2.00. Bungalows. H. H. Saylor. Winston. 191 1. ;' $1.50. McBride, Nast & Co. 1912. $2.00. The Bungalow Book. H. L. Wilson. 1910. $1.00. The Dutch Colonial House. Aymar Embury. McBride, Nast & Co. 1912. $2.00. Inexpensive Homes of Individuality. Edited by Saylor. McBride, Nast & Co. 1912. $2.00. Reclaiming the Old House. C. F. Hooper. McBride, Nast & Co. 19 1 2. $2.00. Low Cost Suburban Homes. By representative architects. J. C. Winston Company. 1908. 25 cents. Homes of Character. John H. Newson. Newson & Co. 1913. $1.00. American Country Houses of To-day. Preface by Frank M. Day. Architectural Book Publishing Co. 1912. $2,00. The House Dignified. L. H. French. G. P.^Putnam's Sons. 1908. $5.00. The Manor House of England. P. H.^Ditchfield. Illus- trated by S. B. Jones. Charles Scribner's Sons. 1910. $3.00. Distinctive Homes of Moderate Cost. H. H. Saylor. McBride, Nast & Co. 191 1. ^2.00. The English House. How to judge its periods and styles. W. S. Sparrow. John Lane Co. 1909. $2.50. Successful Houses and How to Build Them. C. E. White. The Macmillan Company. 1912. $2.00. English House Design. Ernest Willmott. Charles Scribner's Sons. 191 1. $4.50. Home and Garden. Baillie Scott. George Newnes, Ltd., London. $12.00. Italian Villas and Their Gardens. Edith Wharton. The Century Company. 1904. $6.00. iS4 FURNISHING THE HOiME Furniture and Furnishing Decorative Periods. C. R. Clifford. Clifford & Lawton. 1906. $3.00. Historic Styles. Virginia Robie. House Beautiful Pub- lishing Company, New York. Decorative Styles and Periods in the Home. H. C. Candee. Frederick A. Stokes Company. 1906. $2.00. Period Furnishings, and an Encyclopedia of Ornament. C.R.Clifford. Cliflford & Lawton. 191 1. $5.00. Making and Furnishing Outdoor Rooms and Porches. Harold D. Eberlein. McBride, Nast Sc Co. 1913. 50 cents. Furnishing the Home of Good Taste. LucH Abbot Throop. McBride, Nast & Co. 1912. $2.00. The House in Good Taste. Elsie DeWoi.fe. The Cen- tury Company. 1913. $2.50. Lure of the Antique. W. A. Dyer. The Century Com- pany. 1910. $2.40. Common Sense Collector. F. F, Moore. George H. Doran Company. 191 1. $3.00. Historic Styles in Furniture. Virginia Robie. The House Beautiful Publishing Company, New York. English Furniture — 17th, i8th, and 19th Centuries. T. A. Strange. Charles Scribner's Sons. 1907. $5.00. English Furniture of the 17th and i8th Centuries. Luke Vincent Lockwood. [Privately printed. Tififany studios. 1907. Colonial Furniture in America. Luke Vincent Lock- wood. Charles Scribner's Sons. New edition. $25.00. English Furniture and Furniture Makers of the i8th Cen- tury. P. S. Clouston. Hurst & Blackett, London. $2.00. Old Oak Furniture. Fred Roe. A. C. McClurg & Co, 1907. $3.00. SOME USEFUL BOOKS 185 Measured Drawings of Old English Furniture. J. W. HuRRELL. Charles Scribner's Sons. 1902. $15.00. Diitrh and Flemish Furniture. Esther Singleton. Doubleday, Page & Co. 1907. $7.50. Furniture of Our Forefathers. Esther Singleton. Double- day, Page & Co. New edition. $10.00. Furniture of the Olden Time. F. C. Morse. The Mac- millan Co. 1902. $3.00. Chippendale Period in English Furniture. K. W. Clow- STON. Edward Arnold, London. 1897. 25. Furniture Designs of Chippendale, Ilepplewhite, and Sheraton. Arthur Hayden. McBride, Nast & Co. 1912. Chats on Old Furniture. Hayden. Frederick A. Stokes Co. 1905. $5.00. Colonial Furniture and Interiors. N. W. Elwell. Quest of the Colonial. Robert Shackelton. Century Company. 1907. $2.40. French and English Furniture. Esther Singleton. French Interiors, Furniture, Decoration, etc. T. A. Strange, Charles Scribner's Sons. New York. 1903. $5.00. Rugs Rugs of the Orient. C. R. Clifford. Cliflford & Lawton, 191 1. $2.00. Rugs in Their Native Land. Eliza Dunn. Dodd, Mead & Co. 1910. $2.50. Oriental Rugs. J. K. Mumford, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1902, $7.50. Rugs — Oriental, Occidental, Antique, and Modern. R. B. Holt, A. C. McClurg & Co. 1908. I5.00. Ho2u to Kno7o Oriental Rtigs. M. B. Langton. D. Apple- ton & Co. 1904. $2.00. i86 FURNISHING THE HOME Practical Book of Oriental Rugs. G. G. Lewis. J. B. Lippincott Company. 191 1. $4.50. A Book of Hand Woven Coverlets. Eliza Calvert Hall. Little, Brown & Co. 1912. $4.00. History of Tapestry. W. G. Thomson. G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1906. $12.00. Tapestries. George Leland Hunter. John Lane Com- pany. 1912. $12.50. Art in England During the Elizabethan and Stuart Periods. Aymer Vallance. Edited by Charles Holme. Studio Magazine. John Lane Company. 1908. $3.00. China The Keramic Gallery. Wm. Chaffers. Charles Scrib- ner's Sons. $12.50. Pottery and Porcelain of the United States. E. A. Barber. G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1913. $5.00. China Collecting in America. Alice Moore Earle. Charles Scribner's Sons. New edition. $3.00. How to Identify Old China. Mrs. Willoughby Hodgson. George Bell & Sons, London. Macmillan Company. 1903. $2.00. Dyes and Dyeing. C. E. Pellow. McBride, Nast & Co. 1913. $2.00. Guide to Old English Potteries and Porcelains. Arthur S. Vernay, New York. 50 cents. INDEX Apartments, renting, 23-34. Architect, 3, 4, 41, 43. Architecture, 8 - 22 ; Colo- nial, 9, 10, II, 12, 13, 21; English, 13, 14, 21; Renaissance, 14, 15; bun- galow, 15. Balance, 37, 38. Bath-room, 1 61-163. Beauty of furnishing, 35 et seq. Bedroom, 22, 34, 50, 155- 163. Beds, 79, 98, 106, 156, 157. Bed-spreads, 158. Benches, 79. Book-shelves, 34, 43, 132, 136, 155, 159- Boule, 102. Bric-^-brac, 54, 140. Brick house, 17. Builder, 5. Building, i ; cost, 6. Building-materials, 16-19; cost of, 18. Bungalow, 15. Bureau. See Chest of draw- ers. Butler's pantry, 11, 12, 164, 165. Cabinets, 87, 98, 134; kitchen, 170. Candles, 145, 151, I59- Candlesticks, 54, 151. Carpets, 56. Chairs, 39, 68-126, 134, 137, 146, 150, 160, 172; Chip- pendale, 69, 89, 90~94. 123; Sheraton, 69, 97-98, 123; Renaissance, Eliza- bethan, Tudor, 78; Stuart, 73, 84, III, 123; oak, 78, Jacobean, 80; Cromwell, 81; Windsor, 81, 82, 84, no, 125, 138, 139; Queen Anne, 82, 89, 123; banis- ter-back, 84; grand- father's, 86, 138; fiddle- back, 88; Adam, 95, 96, 123; Hepplewhite, 96, 97; Louis XIV., 99-103, 123; Louis XV., 103-105; Louis XVI., 105-107; Em- pire, 107, 108; American Colonial, 109-116; rock- ing, 113, 138; painted fur- i88 PLANNING AND FURNISHING THE HOME niture, 95, 97, 119, 120; wicker, 120, 121, 138; leather, 138; Martha Washington, 138; Shaker, 138. Chandeliers, 33, 50, 151. Chests, 79, 86; of drawers, III, 160. China, 148, 149; closet, 21. Chinoiserie, 104. Clocks, 156; grandfather's, 86, 129; banjo, 129. Colonial house, 9, 10, 11, 12, 21. Color, 40-54, 135. 148, 149- Color prints, 53, 141. Concrete house, 17. Cost of building, 6. Craftsman furniture, 32, 70, 71, 119. Cupboards, 79, 84, 162. Curtains, 41, 43, 44, 45, 46, 61-67, 134, 135, 137, 145, 148, 157, 167. Desk, 134, 156. Dining-room, 11, 21, 40, 66, 146-154. Doors, 20, 41. Drawing-room, 38, 133. Dressers, 84, 86. Dressing-room, 156. Dressing-table, 156, 159, 160. Dyeing, 1 78-181. English house, 13, 14, 21. Engravings, 53, 141. Etchings, 53, 141. FiRELESS COOKER, 1 69. Fireplace, 21, 30, 134, 155. Floors, 27, 30, 31, 55, 56, 129, 135, 162, 166, 176, 177. Flowers, 134, 145. Footstool, 134, 160. Frame house, 16. French furniture. See Fur- niture. Furnace, 26. Furnishing, plan of, 39, 41; cost of, 40. Furniture, 32, 38, 43; his- tory of, 69, 72-77; old English, 78-98; shops, 74, 109, 117-119, 125, 126; Jacobean, 80-84; Eng- land, Dutch influence, 85- 89; Georgian, 89-98; Chippendale, 89-94; Adam, 89, 94-96; Ilepple- white, 89, 96-97; Shera- ton, 89, 97-98; French, 99-108; Louis XIV^., 99- 103; Louis XV., 103-105; Louis XVI., 105-107; Em- pire, 107, 108; American Colonial, 1 09-1 16; re- fmishing old, I13-I15, 174-176; painted, 95, 97, 119, 120; painting meth- od, 176; staining, 176. Glass, 148, 149. Halls, ii, 12, 21, 46, 50, 127-132. j Hardware, 22. INDEX 189 Harmony, 37, 40. Hat-rack, 130. Heating, 26. High-boy, 86, 88, in. Inlay, 86, 87, 102. Jacobean furniture. See Furniture. Japanese prints, 53, 141. Kitchen, 12, 50, 164-173. Lacquer, 86, 87, 104, 175, 176. Lamps, 33, 50, 144. Lamp-shades, 50, 51. Lattice, 19. Laundry, 172-173. Library, 22, 133. Lights and lighting, 22, 33, 48, 49- 50, 107, 128, 144, 151, 167. Linoleums, 56, 166, 167, 177. Lithographs, 141. Living-room, 11, 12, 22, 29, 40, 50, 120, 131, 133-145- Low-boy, 86, 89, in. Mantels, 21, 30, 33, 95, 107, 134- Marquetry, 86, 88, 102. Medici prints, 141. Mezzotints, 53, 141. Mirrors, 83, 87, 95, 107, 130, 143, 144, 159, 160. Mission furniture, 32, 70, 71, 119. Old English furniture. See Furniture. Open fire. See Fireplace. Oriental rugs. See Rugs. Paintings. See Pictures. Papering. See Wall-paper. Park, 28. Photographs, 141, 142, 161. Picture-rail, 43. Pictures, 38, 41, 48, 52, 53, 141-143, 147, 161. Plants, 145. Plaster casts, 143. Plate-glass tops, 153, 160. Plate-rail, 147. Playgrounds, 28. Plumbing, 25, 26, 162. Porches, 19. Porcelain, 148, 149. Pottery, 148, 149. Refinishing old furni- ture. See Furniture. Refrigerator, 26, 1 71-172. Renaissance house, 14, 15. Renting, 23-34. Repairs, 26, 27. Rhythm, 38. Rose- jar, 181. Rugs, 45, 46, 56-61, 129, 130. 134, 136, 147. 148; Oriental, 56-58, 59, 61; Aubusson, 58; Donegal, 59; jute, 60; rag, 60, Rush bottoms, 115. Secretaries, 87, 97, 98. Servette, 152. iQo PLANNING AND FURNISHING THE HOME Settee. See Sofa. Sewage, 25, 26. Sideboards, 96, 98, 146, 150. Silver, 149. Sink, 169, 170. Site, I, 2, 6, 7, 28. Size of house, 24, 40. Sofa, 108, 112, 134, 139. Soil test, 2. Stairs, 21, 129, 130. Stairway, 11, 12. Stove, 168. Stucco house, 18. Sunlight, 23, 47. Tables, 68-126, 134, 146, 150, 170; gate-leg, 83, 84, no, 123, 139; Dutch, 88; Chippendale, 90-94; Adam, 94-96; Hepple- white, 96, 97; Sheraton, 97, 98; Louis XIV., 99- 103; Louis XV., 103-105; Louis XVI., 105-107; Em- pire, 107-108, 112; Amer- ican Colonial, 109-116; butterfly, in; Pembroke, 112; painted furniture, 95.97, II9» 120, 140, 150; serving, 146, 153. Table linen, 152. Taste in furnishing, 36. Tiles, 22. Trellis, 19. Umbrella-holder, 131. Unity, 37, 40. Upholstery materials, 45, 46. Vases, 54. Veneer, 86, 87, 88, 103. Vernis Martin, 104. Wall-paper, 29, 33, 43, 46, 48, 129, 136, 147, 156, 157, 161. Walls, inside, 21, 32, 33, 42, 43, 45, 46, 47. 55. 66, 129, 134. 135. 136, 147, 165. Wall-spaces, 38, 41, 155. Wicker, 120, 121, 138. Willow, 120, 121. Window-boxes, 167. Window-seat, 132. Window-shades, 62, 167. Windows, 41, 42. Woodwork, 20, 21, 29, 33, 41, 42, 43. 55, 134. 136, 165, 166; painting, 176. Writing-room, 12. THE END University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 305 De Neve Drive - Parking Lot 17 • Box 951388 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90095-1388 iturn this material to the library from which it was borrowed. UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY AA 000 287 832 o «. ■ »:, Mrrnr^u ^Hu