Furnishing the Home of Good Taste Part 9

[Ill.u.s.tration: This bed-room is a good example of a simple Colonial bed-room, and the rag rugs are in keeping with it. The repeat design of the wallpaper ties the room into a unified whole.]

The question of whether to use Oriental rugs or plain rugs is one which many people find hard to solve. One of the deciding factors is often finding just what is right for the room, for really beautiful Oriental rugs in large or carpet size are rare and also expensive, but soft-toned Persian rugs with their interesting floral designs, and Chinese rugs with their wonderful tones of blue and yellow are works of art and well worth the trouble necessary to discover them and the price asked. They are best adapted to some libraries and halls and some dining-rooms, but they should not be startling in either design or color. To my mind Oriental rugs are not well suited to the majority of living-rooms and bedrooms because of the constant and varied use of these rooms. When Oriental rugs are used there should be plenty of plain effect in the room; the walls, for instance, should be plain. I have never seen a room which was successful if both walls and rug were figured. A fine tapestry may be used with Oriental rugs, but that is quite different from a figured wall. If several rugs are to be used in one room they must be of the same color value and the same general color tone or the floor will appear uneven. One does not wish to have a room give the uncomfortable effect of "the rocky road to Dublin." A rug with a general blue tone must not be put with other rugs of many colors or an overpowering amount of red, but should be matched in color by having blue the chief color of the other rugs also. The color value, too, must be even, for a light rug next to a dark has the same disagreeable effect. It is impossible to have a beautiful room if the rug seems to rise up and smite you as you enter. Persian rugs with their conventional floral designs should not be used with the marked color and geometrical designs of Caucasian rugs.

These points are important to remember and follow, for otherwise unity of scheme for the room will be impossible.

If one has several fine rugs well matched in color value and design they should be placed with a due regard to the shape of the room and the position of the furniture. A rug placed cat-a-cornered breaks up the structural plan of the room and makes it appear smaller than it really is. The new lines formed are at odds with the lines of the walls and interfere with the sense of s.p.a.ce by stopping the eye in its instinctive journey to the boundary of things. Oriental rugs should be tried if possible in the rooms in which they are to be used before the final choice is made, and one must always try the rug with the light falling across the nap and also with the nap, for one way makes the rug lighter and the other darker, and one of the two may be just what is wanted.

If one owns a rug which seems far too bright to use it can be toned down, but the owner must take the risk of its being spoiled in the process. To me it does not seem a great risk, because if the rug is so bright that it is absolutely nerve-destroying and useless, and there is a chance that for a small sum it can be made charming, why not take it?

I have never heard of one failing, but I suppose some of them must or the stipulation would not be made.

If an Oriental rug is used it should give the keynote for the color scheme, and the design of the rug will decide whether there can be any figured material used in the room. It is far easier to build up a scheme from a satisfactory rug than it is to try to fit one into a room which is otherwise finished. One's field of choice is much wider. Samples of wallpaper, curtain material and furniture coverings should always be tried with the rugs, whether Oriental or plain in color, for the scheme of a room must be worked out as a whole, not piece-meal. Each room must be considered in relation to the other rooms near it, because, although it may be beautiful in itself, if it does not harmonize with the connecting rooms the whole effect will be a failure. Vistas from one room to another should be alluring and charming; there should be no violent and clashing contrasts of color or styles of furniture or sudden change in the scale of furnishings. One room cannot shake off its relationship to the rest of the house and be a success, and floor coverings must bear their full share of responsibility in making the whole house beautiful.

_The Treatment of Walls_

The walls of a house hold a most important place in the order of things and their treatment requires much thought. The floor is the darkest color value in a room, as it is the foundation, and the walls come next in color value and consideration. What I have said in other chapters about the necessity of connecting rooms being harmonious applies of course to the selection of wall coverings.

The first question to be settled is: shall paint or paper be used?

If a house is new the walls are apt to settle a little making the plaster crack, and it is far better in such a case to allow the walls to remain white for a year. If the effect of plain white plaster strikes one as too cold one of the many water tints may be used as this will not interfere with any later scheme. In houses that have been built for a number of years the walls are often so badly cracked and marred that to put them into condition for painting would be more expensive than preparing them for paper. Estimates should be given for both paint and paper.

When the plaster has done its worst and settled down to a quiet life the work of covering the walls appropriately begun.

Plain walls, whether painted, tinted, or papered, are more restful in effect and form better backgrounds than figured walls. This is not a question of the beauty of the design or the expense of the material, but simply the fact that a plain surface is quiet, while a figured wall, even if only two-toned, will at once a.s.sert itself more, and so be less of a background. If many pictures and mirrors are to be used, or a figured rug and much furniture, by all means have plain walls. If one has some special object of great beauty and interest, it should be treated with the dignity and honor it deserves and given a plain background. A miscellaneous collection of lares and penates can be made to hold together better by having a plain wall of some soft neutral color rather than a figured paper, which would only make the confusion more p.r.o.nounced. Small rooms should have plain and light colored walls, as they then appear larger. Plain walls give a wider scope in the matter of decoration, for, beside the possibilities of plain stuffs, chintz and various striped silks and linen may be used which would be quite out of the question with figured walls, more flowers may be used, and lampshades, always a bit a.s.sertive, take their proper place in the scheme, instead of making another distracting note.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A built-in corner cupboard has an architecturally decorative value for it supplies a spot of color in the paneled walls.

The modern china closet is bad, and the chairs have the failing of many reproductions, the backs are a little too high for the width.]

The question of paint or paper has often to be decided by circ.u.mstances, such as the condition of the walls or the climate. With paint one can have the exact shade desired and either a "glossy" or eggsh.e.l.l finish.

With paper it is often a matter of taking the nearest thing to the color wanted and changing the other colors to harmonize. Paint is better to use in a damp or foggy climate, as paper may peel from the walls in the course of time.

[Ill.u.s.tration: This fine well-curtained four poster, once the property of Lafayette, the trundle-bed, cradle, chairs and table, are all interesting, but the wallpaper appears to be of the ugly time of about 1880. Something more appropriate should be chosen.]

Walls may be tinted or painted, and paneled with strips of molding which are painted the wall color or a tone lighter or darker as the scheme requires. Also, the wall inside the moulding may be a tone lighter than the wall outside, or vice versa, but the contrast must not be strong or the wall at once becomes uneven in effect and ceases to be a good background. Paintings may be paneled on the walls. If one has only one suitable picture for the room it should be placed over the mantel, or in some other position of importance, making a centre of interest in the room. Using pictures and pieces of tapestry in this way is quite different from having the walls painted in two sharply contrasting colors, because the paint gives the feeling of permanence while the picture is obviously an added decoration requiring a correct background.

I am speaking of the average house, not of houses and palaces where the walls have been painted by great artists.

Painted walls are appropriate for all manner of homes, from the elaborate country or city house all through the list to the farm house or small bungalow, but if, for any reason, one cannot have painted walls, or prefers paper, one need not forego the restful pleasure of plain backgrounds, for there are many beautiful plain papers to be had.

Personal taste usually decides whether paint or paper is to be used.

Paint is thought by some to be too cold or hard in appearance (it is only so when badly done or when disagreeable colors are chosen,) or it is considered too formal, or, with the memory of New England farm houses in mind, too informal. For those who wish paper, the possibilities are very great if the paper is properly chosen. The reason why so many people are disappointed with the effect of their newly papered rooms is that they judged the paper at the shop from one piece, and did not realize that a design which appealed to them there might be overpowering when repeated again and again and again on the wall. When choosing a figured paper several strips should be placed side by side to enable one to judge whether the horizontal repeat is as satisfactory and pleasant as the perpendicular. When an acceptable one is found a large sample should be taken home to pin on the wall to show the effect in its future environment. Samples of the curtains and furniture coverings should also be tried with the sample of paper before the final choice is made. If a paper with a decided figure is chosen pictures should be banished, for their beauty will be killed by the repeated design. The scale of the design in relation to the size of the room must also be taken into account. A small room will be overpowered by a large figure, but often the repeat of a small figure is quite correct in a large room as it gives an all-over, un.o.btrusive effect. If the wall s.p.a.ce is much cut by doors and windows one should select a plain, neutral toned paper. It would be a fatal error to use a figured paper, for the room would look restless and chaotic and probably out of balance. If the windows are in groups and the doors balance each other the danger is lessened, but not done away with. One of the beautiful features in fine old Colonial houses is this ordered position of doors, but in many a modern house the doors have a trying way of appearing in a corner, as if they were a bit ashamed of themselves; and they have good cause to be, for a badly placed door is a calamity. If one is fortunate enough to plan one's own house, this matter can be taken care of properly, but in the average ready made house one has to try to make the doors less conspicuous by having them painted in very much the tone of the wall. With a gray wall, for instance, there should have a slightly lighter tone of gray for the woodwork, with a white and gray striped paper white paint may be used, with a soft tan a deep old ivory, and so on.

If a room is badly proportioned it can often be improved by the simple expedient of using a correct paper. If the room is too high for its size the ceiling color may be brought down on the side wall for eighteen inches or so and finished with a moulding. This stops the eye before it reaches the ceiling and so makes the room seem lower. If the room is too low a striped paper may be used which will make the room seem higher by carrying the eye up to the ceiling where the paper is finished with a moulding. Vertical lines give the appearance of height, horizontal lines of width. Striped paper should not be used in narrow halls, for it makes them seem narrower and gives one the feeling of being in a cage.

Two-toned striped papers of nearly the same color value, such as gray and white, yellow and cream-white, and white and cream color, are better to use than those of more marked contrast, although some of the green and white and blue and white are charming and fresh looking for bedrooms. Black and white is too eccentric for the average house; one should beware of all eccentric papers. There are a few kinds of paper which should be left severely alone, for they will spoil any room. One of them has a plain general tone but a suggestion of other colors which give it a blurred and mottled appearance which is singularly disagreeable. Another is plain in color but has a lumpy effect like a toad's back, and is really quite awful. Others are metallic papers, and there is a heavy paper embossed in self color with a conventional design which is apt to have a shining surface. Papers with dashes and little flecks of gold should be avoided, for the gold gives the wall an unstable and cheap appearance. Papers with small single figures repeated all over the surface are apt to look as if a plague of flies or beetles had arrived and are quite impossible to live with. Borders and cut out borders have a commonplace appearance and are not in the best of taste.

And then there are papers with vulgarity of design. This quality is hard to define clearly, for it may be only a slightly redundant curve or other lack of true feeling for the beauty of line, or a bit too much, or too little, color, or a bad combination of color, or a lack of knowledge of the laws of balance and harmony and ornament, or a wrong surface of texture to the paper. But whatever the cause, a vulgar paper will vulgarize any room, no matter what is done in the way of furniture. It will a.s.sert itself like an ill-bred person. Luckily both are easily recognized.

But the picture is not all dark by any means, for some of the American made papers, as well as the imported papers, are very beautiful. The makers are taking great pains to have fine designs and beautiful colors which will appeal to people of knowledge and taste. The situation is much better than it was a few years ago. Some of the copies of old figured and scenic papers are exceptionally fine, and can be used with great distinction in dining-rooms or halls with ivory or cream-white woodwork and wainscoting, and Georgian or Colonial furniture. One should not use pictures with these papers, but mirrors are permissable and will have the best effect if placed on a wood-paneled over-mantel. These papers come in tones of gray and white and also sepia. Oriental rugs, if not of too conspicuous a design, may be used with them, but plain rugs are better with plain hangings and striped silk chair seats. These papers are very attractive in country houses. There are also colored scenic papers, an especially fascinating one having a Chinese design which could be used as a connected scene or in panels, and would be lovely in a country house drawing-room or dining-room or hall. It could also be used in a city house with beautiful effect if due thought be given to the question of hangings, woodwork, rug, and furniture.

Introduce a false note, and a room of this kind is ruined. These scenic papers come in sets, but the copies of the other old papers come in the regular rolls. Some of the lovely old "_Toile de Jouy_" designs have been used for wall paper, and these with other chintz designs, can be softened in effect by a special method of glazing which makes them very harmonious and charming with antique furniture or reproductions of fine old models. These old chintz papers are lovely for bedrooms or morning-rooms, with fresh crisp muslin curtains and plain silk or linen or chambray side-curtains. Either painted or mahogany furniture could be employed. A motif from the paper can be used for the furniture or it can simply be striped with the color chosen for the plain curtains. Some of the good and rather stunning bird design papers treated with this special glazing make beautiful halls with plain rugs and hangings and chair covers.

Papers cost from about forty cents to several dollars a roll, but the choice is large and attractive between one and three dollars a roll, and there are also excellent ones for eighty-five cents. It is almost impossible, however, to give a satisfactory list of prices as they vary in different parts of the country. The reproductions of old scenic papers of which I have spoken are expensive, costing about one hundred dollars a set, but they may go down again now that the war is over. The difference in expense between paint and paper is not very great, in fact, with the average paper at a dollar or a dollar and a half a roll, paint is about the same, or perhaps a bit cheaper if the walls are in fairly good condition. It is a mistake to use inferior paper, and there should never be more than a lining paper and the paper itself on the wall. In some cases where there is only one paper of soft color on the wall, with no lining paper, this paper may be used as a lining paper if it is absolutely tight and firm. The risk is that the new paste may loosen the old a bit and so let all come down. Old paper must be entirely removed if there are any marred places as they will show through the new and ruin the effect.

The amount of wall s.p.a.ce and the quality and the quant.i.ty of the light are important factors in deciding the color scheme because by using them correctly we can brighten a cheerless, dark room or soften the blaze in a too sunny one.

If the light is a cold dreary one from the north, the room will be vastly improved if warm, cheerful colors are used: warm ivory, deep cream color, soft or bright yellow without any greenish tinge in it, soft yellow pinks (there is a hard pink which is very ugly), yellow green (but not olive), and tones of golden tan. It is the dash of yellow in these colors which makes them cheerful and gives the impression of sunlight. Tans should never come too close to brown for a dark room, for nothing is more dreary or hopeless than a room done in that depressing color. The beautiful tones of old oak, or properly treated modern oak paneling, are quite a different matter. Small amounts of red or orange will do wonders, if used with discretion, in brightening a dull room, and are often just what are needed to bring out the beauty of the rest of the scheme; but it is a great mistake to think that red walls and a great deal of red in the hangings and furniture covering will make a cheerful or pleasant room. Red absorbs light and is also an irritant to the eyes and nerves, and, unless it is used with great skill, it is apt to look extremely commonplace and ugly or like an ostentatious hotel or public building. Few of us have large enough houses to make it possible to use red in great amounts, and it is well for the average person to shun it and remember that in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred a red wall will spoil a room.

[Ill.u.s.tration: There are few treatments for walls in a Colonial dining-room that can compare with paneled walls, or wainscoting with a decorative paper above. The subject, however, must be in keeping. This paper is extremely inappropriate, and the center light is also badly chosen and could be eliminated.]

Cool colors should be used in bright and sunny rooms--blues, greens, grays, grayish tans, and those delightful colors, old ivory, and soft deep cream color and linen color. Colors with a tone of yellow in them are easier to use than cold blues and greens and violets, for the yellow tinge, be it ever so little, brings them into relation with the majority of woods used in floors and furniture frames. Light colors make a room seem larger by apparently making the walls recede, and dark colors make it seem smaller, as they make us conscious of the walls and so seem to bring them nearer. Any very bright room may have dark walls to soften the glare, but if it has to be used by artificial light it will then be heavy and cheerless in effect; and so a better choice would be some soft neutral color of medium or lighter color values, such as gray green, and use awnings and dark shades. This matter of color in relation to light is important to remember when planning one's house.

There is also another question which has great influence on one's choice of paper, and that is the amount and kind of furniture to be used in the room. Georgian furniture calls for plain or paneled walls, or if a figured paper is used it should be one of the old-fashioned designs or one of the striped papers. Old-fashioned chintz designs are also appropriate for bedrooms with mahogany or painted furniture. Plain or paneled walls, striped paper, and some of the fine floral designs, which can also be used as panels, and the charming _Toile de Jouy_ designs, are all appropriate when used with French furniture. Heavily made furniture like Craftsman or Mission needs the support of strong walls which may be rough-finished natural-colored or painted plaster, or gra.s.s cloth, or one of the many good plain papers of heavy texture. There are also figured papers which are appropriate. Wicker furniture will go with almost any kind of attractive paper which is correct for the room, but when there is much figure the cushions should be covered with plain stuff. All-over stuffed furniture when covered with chintz looks best with plain walls. Painted furniture looks well with plain walls and chintz. A motif from the chintz can be used on the furniture for the decoration, but if the wall paper is figured the effect will be more restful if the furniture is only striped.

[Ill.u.s.tration: This room is unattractive because of the poor arrangement of the furniture and the inappropriate bed-hangings. The bed, Sheraton chair, and card-table, are all very good examples.]

In summing up: the important points which govern the choice and color of wall covering are the connecting rooms, the amount and quality of light, the size and shape of the room, its use, the furnishings which are to be used, the condition of the walls, and personal preference as to paint or paper. Do not be afraid of the idea that plain walls, whether paint or paper, may become tiresome, for one can stand well planned monotony year in and year out with a cheerful heart. If some rooms are to be papered with figured paper be sure the selection is made with care and with the idea in mind that a figured wall is in itself a decoration and should not have pictures crowded upon it.

_Artificial Lighting_

To light a room successfully appropriate lights must be placed where they are needed to keep the feeling of balance and proportion and bring out the charm of the room by their relation to its furnishing. They should also be so placed that the life of the household can go on as cheerfully and smoothly in the evening as in the day time.

The position and style of lighting fixtures is decided by the type of house, the size and height of the rooms, the amount of wall s.p.a.ce, the use for which the rooms are intended, their style of furnishing, the chief centers of interest, such as mantels, doors, furniture, and pictures of importance, and also the manner in which the walls are treated, whether paneled or papered. If one is building a house one should give all possible data to the architect in regard to any special pieces of furniture or pictures which one may wish to use in certain places. By doing this the tragedy of a slightly too small wall s.p.a.ce will be escaped, and the lights will be properly placed in the beginning.

One must always remember in planning the position of the lights for a room that the eye naturally seeks the brightest spot, and badly placed lamps and sidelights will upset the balance of a room. The room must not be glaringly bright, but there should be a feeling of a certain evenness in the distribution of light. A top light makes the light come from the wrong direction. Artificial light in a room should take its general idea from the lighting of the room in the day time. The daylight comes from the windows, the sides of the room, and the decoration of the room is built up with that in mind; so when we are planning the lighting scheme we should remember this and realize that the light should come from lamps placed advantageously on tables, and wall lights placed slightly above eye level.

Living-rooms should have a sufficient number of well placed sidelights to enhance the beauty of the room, and they should be placed near centers of importance such as each side of the fireplace, or wide door, or on each side of some important picture or mirror. If there is a group of two or three windows which need to be more convincingly drawn together to form a unit, lights may be placed on each side of the group.

Sidelights can be placed in the center of panels, thus forming a decoration for the panel, and, flanking paintings or mirrors or tapestries, make beautiful and formal rooms, especially for the different periods of French, English, or Italian decoration. This treatment with simpler forms of fixtures may also be used in our charming, but more or less nondescript, chintz living-rooms and country house drawing-rooms or dining-rooms. With a sufficient number of lamps in the room the side-or wall-lights need not be lighted during the average stay-at-home evenings but are ready if there is some special occasion for brilliancy. There are some rooms which are much improved by having no side-lights at all, all the light coming from lamps. There should be plenty of floor sockets so placed that lamps may be used on tables near sofas and armchairs and on the writing table or large living-room table. It is this proper placing of lamps which has so much to do with the charm and comfort of a room when evening comes.

In the average home there is no greater mistake in the matter of lighting than having a room lighted by chandelier or ceiling lights.

Lights at the top of the room, or a foot or two from the ceiling, break up completely the artistic balance of the room by drawing attention to them as the brightest spot. They make the room seem smaller both by day and night, they cast ugly shadows, they do not give sufficient or correct light for reading or writing, and the glare above one's head is nerve destroying. When the sun is directly overhead we hasten to put up sunshades, so why should we deliberately reproduce in our homes the most trying position of light? The fixtures also are usually extremely ugly.

One sees sometimes in private houses what is called the indirect method of lighting, which is usually an alabaster bowl suspended by chains from the ceiling in which the lights are concealed. The reflected light on the ceiling is supposed to give a suffused and bright light. To my mind there is something extremely obnoxious about this method used in homes, for it smacks of department stores and banks and public buildings generally. And then, too, the light is unpleasant. If I were the unfortunate possessor of such a light I should have it taken down and use the bowl on a high wrought iron tripod for growing ivy and ferns, and thus try to get a little good from the ill wind that blew it there.

There are a few cases, however, where top lights may be used, such as large drawing-or music-rooms, rooms in which formal entertaining is to be done. Crystal ceiling lights are then best to use, or chandeliers with crystal drops or pendants. If these rooms are Italian Renaissance in style, the center lights must naturally harmonize in period. Large halls with marble stairs and wrought-iron bal.u.s.trade can have this elaborate kind of light, but the average hall demands a simpler chandelier. If one is to be used there are some very good copies of old Colonial lights and lanterns, but personally I prefer wall brackets and a dignified lamp, or a floor lamp. Torcheres or lacquered floor lamps may be used in pairs if the hall is large enough to have them placed properly. In a long, narrow hall they would look a bit like lamp posts.

Rather close fitting round shades, nearly the same size at top and bottom, made of painted parchment give a decorative touch and sufficient light. As one does not need an especially bright light in a hall, a beautiful lamp can be made of one of the fine old alabaster vases which many people have by dropping an electric bulb in it. Placed on a consol table before a mirror it makes a delightful spot in the hall. These lamps may also be used in other rooms where a light is needed for effect and not for use. In placing lamps the charm and utility of a reflection in a mirror must not be overlooked.

A vestibule may have a lantern of some attractive design in harmony with the house, or side lights, if they can be so placed as not to be struck by the door.

Dining-rooms are far more beautiful and also better lighted if sidelights are used, with candles on the table, rather than a drop light. Dining-room drop-lights or "domes" have all the disadvantages of other center lights and are extremely trying to the eyes of the diners, as well as being unbecoming. Even when screened with thin silk drawn across the bottom there is something deadening to one's brain in having a light just over one's head. Side lights with the added charm of candles will give plenty of light. It is a cause for thanksgiving that drop-lights over dining-tables are rarely seen now-a-days.

Bedrooms should have a good light over the dressing table, and to my mind, two movable lights upon it, which may be in the form of wired candlesticks or small lamps. These are much more convenient than fixed lights. There should be a light over any long mirror, and one for the desk and sofa or _chaise longue_, and one for the bedside table. The dressing-room should be supplied with a light over the chiffonier and long mirror, and there should also be a table light. Clothes closets should have simple lights.

And do not forget the kitchen if one wishes properly cooked meals. A light so placed that it shines into the oven has saved many a burned dish, and a light over the sink has saved many a broken one. The servants' sitting-room should have a good reading lamp.

The question of the style of the fixtures is important, for if they are badly chosen they will quite spoil an otherwise perfect room. They must harmonize in period with the room, and also with its scale of furnishing. There is a wide choice in the shops, and some of the designs are very good indeed, having been carefully studied and adapted from beautiful museum specimens of old Italian, French, English, and Spanish, carvings and ornament. Some of our iron workers make very fine metal fixtures which are beautiful copies of old French and Italian work.

There are graceful and st.u.r.dy designs, elaborate and simple, special period designs, and many which are appropriate for rooms of no particular period. There are charming lacquer sconces to go with lacquer furniture, and old-fashioned prism candelabra and sconces, and fixtures copied from choice old whale oil lamps in both bra.s.s and bronze. There are suitable designs for each and every room. The difficulty lies not in finding too few to choose from, but too many, and, growing weary, making a selection not quite so good as it should be. One should take blue prints to the shop if possible, but necessary measurements without fail. One must know not only the width of the wall s.p.a.ces, but the width of the pictures and furniture to be put in the room, or the calamity may happen of having the fixtures a bit too wide. When fixtures are meant to be a special part of the decorative scheme, and support and enhance pictures and tapestries, they should have an appropriate decorative value also, but in the average home it is better and safer to choose the simpler, but still beautiful, designs. It is better to err on the side of simplicity than to have them too elaborate.