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House Furnishing and Decorating
HOUSE FURNISHING - FURNITURE - WALL COVERINGS - FLOOR COVERINGS - CURTAINS, SHADES AND DRAPERIES - MISCEL- LANEOUS OBJECTS - LIVING ROOMS - SLEEPING ROOMS - DINING ROOM - KITCHEN, STOREROOM, AND PANTRY-SMALL ECONOMIES HOUSE FURNISHING The subject of house furnishing is more important than is often realized.
It has a moral and social as well as an economic side. The relation is very close between the character, or at least the reputation, of men and their surroundings. Everyone is free to change his surroundings. Hence the furniture and the decorations of a house, and the condition of the house and grounds, are properly considered an index to the character of its occupants.
Furniture, decorations, and other surroundings that are disorderly or in bad taste tend to keep refined and thoughtful people away from such homes. They have an even worse effect on the character of the inmates. Those who live in such circumstances become used to them, and no longer notice their badness. But the worst effect is upon the impressionable minds of growing children. Young children naturally take their own homes as models. What they see in childhood tends to fix their standards for life. Hence, neat, tasteful, and orderly homes, but not necessarily expensive in their appointments, have a very important educational influence. The problem of furnishing and decorating comes up in two ways: originally, as in the formation of a new home, in the furnishing of additional rooms, or in moving into a new and larger dwelling; or, secondarily, in refurnishing from time to time, and purchasing additions to the family stock, usually in connection with the semiannual housecleaning.
All of these occasions give rise to many problems that require good judgment. But these can usually be referred to a few simple rules that are not difficult to understand or to apply. Styles and fashions in these matters change more slowly than some other fashions, as in dress; but they do change, and while it is proper and desirable that the fur- "Simplicity, Harmony, and Durability." nishings in the home should be to some extent original and express the individuality of its owners, it is natural and convenient for everyone to conform in a general way to the tendencies of the times in which he lives. Hence it is important to know in what direction the current of thought is moving, so as to keep in advance or abreast of it, rather than to lag behind.
Simplicity, harmony, and durability are the keynotes of the modern tendency. The general intention seems to be to avoid everything that is superfluous, everything that has a tendency to catch and hold dust or dirt, or to add to the discomforts and dangers of dust and dirt by quickly wearing out. Hence carpets are being largely replaced by hard-wood floors and rugs; wooden bedsteads, by beds of iron or brass; stuffed and upholstered furniture, by articles of plain wood or wood and leather. Wall papers are often discarded for walls tinted or calcimined with washable materials. "Bric-a-brac," flounces, valances, and all other superfluous articles are much less fashionable than formerly.
Good and Bad Taste. - The same trend can be seen in decoration. Wall papers in solid colors, and hard-wood floors or solid-colored floor coverings, with rugs of Oriental patterns, are preferred to the large figured carpets, rugs, and wall papers with their socalled "cheerful" or bright and contrasted colors. Stuffed plush, and other upholstered articles of furniture "Much Less Purchased than Formerly." in bright colors, or large figured designs, are being much less purchased than formerly.
All this is a result of the Artsand-Crafts movement originating in England with William Morris, inventor of the Morris chair. A number of popular magazines are devoted to these and kindred subjects, which oc cupy a good deal of space in general periodicals of all classes.
Formerly there was little opportunity for persons in small towns and remote rural districts either to become familiar with the right standards or to obtain the more approved styles of furniture. But the general prosperity of recent years has resulted in many country homes being tastefully and elegantly furnished.
The possibility of buying desirable styles on the mail-order plan has forced local dealers to keep better and more up-to-date stocks of all household articles. Moreover, the great demand for simplicity of design has reduced the cost. There is now a good selection of household furniture in the less expensive grades upon the same models as the most costly and tasteful articles.
FURNITURE Furniture should be chosen for simplicity and durability. The most simple designs are usually the most artistic, and the most durable articles are likely to be the most sanitary. Quiet and subdued colors and dull finishes are the most restful and generally satisfactory, although the high polish of such furniture as mahogany is preferred by many people. To produce a soothing and restful effect all the colors in a given room should be in harmony. The artistic quality that makes an article of furniture an object of beauty as well as of use should be sought in the lines of the design itself, rather than in additions by way of decoration. Cheap furniture stamped with scrolls and other designs in imitation of carving or the torturing of the natural lines of a piece of furniture into various fanciful knobs, curves, and scrolls, sometimes facetiously called "gingerbread," have little to recommend them. The modern Craftsman and Mission styles of furniture indicate a change in the right direction. Not all of these designs are of equal value; HOUSE FURNISHING AND DECORATING but for the most part they are simple, durable, and derive their beauty from their appropriateness and the natural lines on which they are constructed.
Dainty white and gold spider-legged "Modern Craftsman and Mission Styles." furniture has no place except in drawing-rooms of wealth and extreme conventionality. Antique Furniture. The craze for second-hand or antique furniture is, on the whole, rather absurd. Very few persons indeed are able to distinguish a real antique from an imitation. Dealers in these goods may not only willfully deceive, but are often deceived themselves by persons who have so-called antiques, manufactured in America, shipped abroad and reshipped to this country. The wood is not infrequently given the appearance of age by being buried in the ground, eaten with acids, or riddled with fine shot in imitation of worm holes.
Even the cloth or leather in which the goods are upholstered may be given the effect of wear by mechanical means, and the whole may be placed on the market by fraud in such a way as to suggest that the articles are heirlooms.
Modern furniture, made on the same models, can be obtained at much lower prices, and is much more satisfactory than these supposed antiques. But, as a rule, antique pieces are not desirable unless a room can be furnished with them and can have all its appointments in harmony with the antique style.
Furnishing.- William Morris says: "Have nothing in your home that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful." It is a good rule in furnishing a new home to buy first only what is absolutely necessary, and not to buy an article that is not immediately required because it is beautiful or cheap, or for any other rea-- son. After living for a while with only the few articles that are absolutely necessary, it will be easier to see just what is required that will harmonize with the articles already purchased and their surroundings and help to make a satisfactory whole.
Moreover, the longer one lives without unnecessary furnishings the more he is likely to appreciate the wisdom of simplicity. Every new article purchased is a new care, and a few objects of good quality in a room give a much more elegant effect than a large number of less desirable pieces.