260 Missouri Agrimiltural Beport. 



HOUSE DECORATION. 



(Miss Ella, Victoria Dobbs, Instructor in Manual Training, University of Missouri.) 



The title, House Decoration, suggests to the 

 average person the pictures, hangings and pretty 

 things which are added to a house for the sake 

 of their beauty after the really necessary furnish- 

 ings liave been provided, but the subject as we 

 are to consider it here means very much more. 

 A really beautiful house is not secured merely 

 liy an accumulation of beautiful things, however 

 fine each may be in itself, but comes rather 

 through the harmony which pervades the whole 



il//ss Dohhs. 



whether the parts be very grand or extremely 

 simple. It is quite easy to imagine a room in which each piece of 

 furniture is good, perhaps fine, when considered alone and yet produc- 

 ing anything but a pleasing effect when taken together because of the 

 lack of harmony in color, style and general proportions. 



This harmony which is so essential can be gained only by consider- 

 ing the house as a whole and each room as a subordinate unit treated 

 in its relation to the general idea which controls the whole house. This 

 does not mean that there shall be a monotonous sameness from room to 

 room, but that the passing from the hall to the living room shall not 

 suddenly bring one into an entirely different atmosphere of color and 

 proportions, and that the glimpse one gets of the dining room through 

 an open door shall not clash with the nearer view. 



The first essential in the treatment of the house as a whole is the 

 underlying purpose of the homemaker, which is to express itself not 

 only in the style, color and proportions of the various furnishings, but 

 in the very atmosphere which pervades the whole house. A word or 

 two regarding that purpose may not be out of place. The thought of 

 home at once suggests rest and comfort, freedom from the cares and 

 restraints of outside life, and the furnishings of the house should invite 

 this freedom. Moreover, the house is also a workshop for some of the 

 most important industries touching our daily life and should be planned 

 with a view of carrying on those industries in the most efficient manner. 

 One sometimes sees in a prominent place in the house a portrait of the 

 mistress designed to show her at her best, but the portrait can only 

 represent a single mood in a superficial way while the choice of furnish- 

 ings very often reveals the secret ambitions of her inmost soul as clear- 



