170 



The Country House 



brasses or coppers can be placed. This gives a fairly flat colour in the panelling, 

 which contrasts well with the broken colour and spotting of the china and metal 

 ware. This arrangement requires work to keep it clean, which fact should be 

 understood at the start. It is best that the ceiling should be fairly light, in order 

 that the room may not be too dingy. A simple beaming is often very effective in 



this case, helping to 

 carry out the lines 

 and colour of the 

 wainscotting. 



The floor can be 

 either tile or hard- 

 wood, in which case 

 a large and not too 

 rough rug should be 

 used under the table. 

 Tile is preferable to 

 marble, inasmuch as 

 it is more lasting and 

 offers better possi- 

 bilities in the way 

 of colour and design. 

 Never use the fixed 

 carpet in the dining 

 room; the reasons 

 for this caution are 

 quite obvious. 



The buffet is built into the w r all, and is really a small closet with glass doors. 

 The dictionary calls it a sideboard. Among architects, however, the former type 

 is generally understood. It offers considerable opportunity for a touch of pleasing 

 and often rich design, some of the old Colonial examples being interesting in the 

 extreme. In modern treatment they frequently have connection with the service 

 through the back of the lower shelf, which in such cases is not enclosed. Another 

 form utilises the recesses formed on both sides of the chimney breast, thus making 

 a balanced pair and an interesting treatment for one side of the room. If the 

 chimney contains a good fireplace the effect is all the more pleasing. 



Besides the usual access to the kitchen, the dining room naturally has a con- 

 nection with the main part of the house. This connection, however, should be 

 a closable one, as the odour of cooked food traverses the house fast enough through 

 closed doors without any special invitation on the part of unclosable openings. 

 It is possible in the planning to separate the dining room, kitchen and service 

 from the rest of the house by a passage which, besides being ventilated at both 

 sides, shall contain a radiator for winter use. This last, besides keeping up the 

 temperature, will aid the ventilation materially (see Fig. 26). This same passage 

 should be duplicated between the dining room and service and the kitchen. In 

 this way the very objectionable and important question of odour will be settled 

 as effectively as possible without making a separate building. 



A simple dining room at Magnolia, Mass. 



