File:American homes and gardens (1912) (17966762689).jpg

Title: American homes and gardens
Identifier: americanhomesgar91912newy (find matches)
Year: 1905 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Architecture, Domestic; Landscape gardening
Publisher: New York : Munn and Co
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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HEN planning the furnishings for the house of moderate size, one is apt to select color schemes and furniture from the point of view of each room as a separate problem in itself, without reference to the relationship of all the rooms in the same house, one to the other. A small house loses a great deal of its charm when this feeling of unity is lacking, giving one the impres- sion that the right hand did not let the left hand know what it was doing in the matter of furnishing, and that the whole scheme has not been controlled by one mind. Unity does not necessarily spell monotony, and although each room of a house should fulfill the purpose for which it is designed, it should also "feel at home" with its neighbor across the hall. One authority on interior decoration has gone so far as to say that all of the rooms on the same floor of a house should be so decorated that if the partitions should sud- denly disappear, one large room would be left, the furnish- ings of which would blend into a harmonious whole. This may seem a bit far-fetched, but it illustrates the point. One may have an interest in different styles of decoration, but it is a dangerous procedure to attempt to incorporate them all in one house. Each may be good individually, but "Will they look well together?" is the question to be considered. ONE style which is especially pleasing to the homemaker should be selected to form the keynote for the whole decorative scheme. If one is fond of white paint and bright, cheerful colors on the walls, the ever-pleasing Colonial sug- gests itself. Wall-paper and Colonial reproductions of all kinds can easily be obtained now, so that the Colonial spirit can be carried out from the knocker on the front door to the fragrant Bayberry dips in the brass candlesticks. AGAIN, if one admires the grain of woods after they have iibeen stained, waxed, or fumed, and strong but sober colors in wall coverings and in hangings, it is best to adopt a scheme which will enable one to have their attributes around and about. All of the so-called Mission styles of furniture—pieces built on severe lines—require strong back- grounds and woodwork trims finished in a dark wood stain. The beautiful grain of dull, dark wood will be found in all of the oak and walnut furniture patterned after Flemish and early English models, and one has endless beautiful re- productions of Jacobean and other periods to choose from. In a house to meet this phase one can build up a beautiful dining-room, for instance, around an oak gate-leg table and some Windsor chairs, all finished in dark brown stain. BY furnishing a house with the idea of unity in mind, one is enabled to preserve relative values in colors and tex- tures of wood and fabrics, so that one scheme blends into the other as progress is made from room to room. The house of limited extent will also appear more spacious when marked contrasts are avoided, and surely more homelike. IN THE CHINESE TASTE THERE was a great vogue for things Chinese during the last half of the eighteenth century, the Chinese influence making itself felt in the period of Louis XV, and Chippen- dale used Chinese frets and motifs in some of the furniture which he designed "in the Chinese taste." The lacquers were very popular, and pieces of furniture (especially chairs in the Queen Anne style) were covered with black lacquer having Chinese designs scattered over them. The black chintzes and other Chinese figured chintzes which accompanied this lacquered furniture have been revived in modern fabrics
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Some examples of wall-paper and two-patterned fabrics in the Chinese style of covering most of the background, again becoming very popular

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