April, 1 9 13 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



123 



room. A grand piano is so placed that by day the light 

 from two windows is thrown upon the music, and at night 

 a portable electric lamp may be so arranged that its light 

 is cast directly upon the music-rack, leaving the rest of the 

 room in soft shadows. The ebony of the piano supplies the 

 key-note for the coloring in the room, for all the woodwork 

 here has been painted black and rubbed down to a soft and 

 lustreless surface, which is the finish of most of the furniture. 

 The walls are paneled with deep blue burlap, almost black, 

 and this dark background affords a wonderful setting for old 

 brocades and embroideries in gold and dull yellows, which 

 are used as window-hangings, an unusually fine Chinese 

 rug of golden brown and old blue, and a beauti- 

 ful old Flemish candelabrum of brass, which is 

 hung from the ceiling at the center of the room. 

 More tones of yellow and old gold are supplied in 

 the shades of lamps and sconces; the little corner cupboard 

 is filled with Chinese porcelain, some fine bits of real old 

 medallion ware being guarded by the glass doors with their 

 black woodwork. One wall of this room is hung with 

 illuminations from old missals, and their rich coloring lends 

 a brilliant note to the dull wall surface. A Cingalese rattan 

 chair is seated with a cushion of gold and blue, and over the 

 back is thrown a leopard-skin, the black and yellow of which 

 fit into the coloring of this beautiful room. Various small 

 tables hold the smoking things usually to be found in a man's 

 apartment, and by the door a golden gate-leg table is used 

 for the serving of meals. The secret of the beauty of this 

 consistent and tastefully furnished little bachelor abode may 

 be found in the fact that the plan throughout calls for the 

 use of colors which harmonize. How often one sees rooms 



which are so connected that they form practically one large 

 room, but which are so decorated that the effect is that of 

 discord — each room detracts from the beauty of the others. 

 The result is that each room is a unit to itself and is ar- 

 ranged wholly without reference to its surroundings. 



In this instance, however, the study has been furnished 

 in the softest of golden browns with hangings chiefly of 

 old blue, and the music-room which adjoins and which is 

 connected with the study by a wide opening is fitted with 

 dull blue-black relieved by different shades of yellow and 

 old gold, and the result is that each room gains by the beau- 

 tiful and careful planning of the other. The obtaining of 

 successful results in decoration depends upon the observ- 

 ance of a few very important fundamental principles which 

 are so obvious and so easily understood that it is a thousand 

 pities they are not more generally obeyed. Aided by their 

 precepts, even the simplest rooms in a house or a city apart- 

 ment may afford an example of harmony of contrast instead 

 of what is in so many instances a discordant assemblage 

 of colors which are so at variance that they produce nothing 

 but complete lack of repose upon which so large a part of 

 consistent decoration absolutely depends. The little apart- 

 ment is complete in every detail, and beyond the two living- 

 rooms which we have described are pantry, kitchen and two 

 bedrooms. One of these rooms is for the use of a man- 

 servant, and the bedroom of the master of the house is 

 fitted up with studied simplicity. Woodwork, furniture, 

 wall and floor-coverings are in various tones of gray. All 

 of the rooms open into a little hall, where the walls are 

 closely hung with old prints and engravings, framed 

 autograph letters and many other objects rich in association. 



Although a small room, a sense of spaciousness has been attained here by the exercise of good taste 



