140 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



April, 191 3 



WITHIN THE HOUSE 



SUGGESTIONS ON INTERIOR DECORATING 

 AND NOTES OF INTEREST TO ALL 

 WHO DESIRE TO MAKE THE HOUSE 

 MORE BEAUTIFUL AND MORE HOMELIKE 



The Editor of this Department will be glad to answer all queries 

 from subscribers pertaining to Home Decoration. Stamps 

 should be enclosed when a direct personal reply is desired 



*^oocxx^xxoo£sx (0) X^CXXO&OOOO^X ^ 



THE "NO-PERIOD STYLE" OF INTERIOR 

 DECORATION 



By Harry Martin Yeomans 



HEN the problem is the furnishing and 

 decorating of a room, for which all of the 

 furniture has yet to be purchased, then one 

 has a free hand, within the limits of good 

 taste, of course, to select any special style of 

 decoration that is appropriate, and then only 

 such objects are acquired as will reflect the style that is to 

 be adhered to. But, alas! this is impossible for most of us, 

 who are apt to possess a heterogeneous collection of house- 

 hold goods, of different styles, and perhaps most of them 

 not having any marked characteristics which would stamp 

 them as being the kindred of any particular style of furni- 

 ture making. Under these adverse circumstances, a great 

 amount of ingenuity will have to be exercised in bringing 

 the furnishings and every part of the room into harmonious 

 relationship, but the result will justify all the time and 

 attention that has been bestowed on it. 



The average homemaker frequently finds himself in just 

 this predicament, where he is compelled to utilize, for 

 economic or other reasons, to the best possible advantage, 

 the furniture which has been inherited, gradually accumu- 

 lated or thrust upon him. Most of the furniture thus 

 acquired is intended for sitting-rooms, living-rooms or 

 libraries, and those pieces should be chosen from your col- 

 lection that are of the same general contour, having frames 

 qf the same colored wood, or possess other characteristics 

 in common. If a piece of furniture is hopelessly bad, it 

 should be discarded, no matter if it is surrounded by a 

 sentimental halo. 



The object should be to transform the room into a com- 

 fortable, cheerful, homelike abode, where one would like 

 to linger. I always think that this is the test of whether a 

 room is right or not. This can best be accomplished by 

 adhering to a one-mode color scheme, as far as it is pos- 

 sible and practicable to do so. That is, have the sidewalls, 

 hangings, upholstery fabrics and floor coverings in various 

 tones of the same color, and trust to the variety of your 

 furniture, the bindings of your books, the lampshades, and 

 the flowers in the vases, to add a color note and keep the 

 decorative scheme from becoming monotonous. One might 

 call it, "No-Period Style" of decorating, for the want of a 

 better appellation; just making the best of what we have, 

 keeping our rooms as simple as possible, and not attempting 

 any elaborate decorative schemes. A problem of this na- 

 ture has been carried to a successful conclusion, as indicated 

 by the accompanying photograph of an interior view in 

 the apartment of Mr. Horace Mann of New York. 



Two large rooms were connected by a wide opening, so 

 the same scheme of decoration was carried out in both 



rooms, the idea being to throw them together as much as 

 possible into one large L-shaped living-room. One section 

 was designed to be used more as a sitting- and music-room, 

 as there was a piano here, while the other part was more 

 in the nature of a library or rest-room. This latter sec- 

 tion was also used for dining purposes, but it had none of 

 the furnishings usually associated with a dining-room. The 

 meals were served on an oak gate-legged table, which 

 served as a library table at other times of the day. This 

 is a commendable idea in an apartment or small house, to 

 use the dining-room as a library or sitting-room and fur- 

 nish it as such, as otherwise a valuable room is given over 

 to a purpose which occupies only a small portion of each 

 day. 



A miscellaneous collection of furniture had to be used, 

 but as there were some large pieces of Italian Renaissance 

 furniture, including a large table, two large chairs, some 

 smaller chairs, some old carved and gilded candlesticks and 

 sconces, and a beautiful, old verdure tapestry, it was deemed 

 advisable to build the room around, and make an agree- 

 able background for, these larger and more dominant pieces 

 of furniture. Although there is no Italian Renaissance de- 

 tail in the room, one receives that impression as he enters. 



The ceiling was covered with a dull gold paper, which 

 ran down on the sidewall about three feet. This was done 

 to reduce the apparent height of the room. The balance 

 of the wall-space was covered with a gray oatmeal paper, 

 which was marked off into rectangular spaces with cream 

 white paint. This gave the effect of a caen stone back- 

 ground, besides being so neutral in color that it would com- 

 bine harmoniously with almost anything placed against it. 

 The woodwork had the saving grace of being perfectly 

 simple and plain, and when it was painted a dark green, 

 almost black, it kept its place well in the background. The 

 floors were stained a dark, rich brown and waxed. 



The two large north windows were set with opaque, rec- 

 tangular panes of glass, separated by wooden mullions, but 

 these windows have been made decorative features of the 

 room, by the simple expedient of pasting strips of black 

 tape across each pane, and dividing them up into small 

 sections. 



Under the one large window, a box couch was placed, 

 on a raised dais or platform, and at each end was placed 

 a book-like arrangement, just the width of the couch, which 

 imparted to it a substantial built-in appearance. This is 

 much better than the detached effect of the ordinary couch 

 which one usually sees. The couch was covered by an 

 Oriental rug, and the three pillows of crimson velour, the 

 center one being the longest, exactly fit the space. 



Underneath the north window in the library, was a built- 

 in set of bookshelves, painted to match the woodtrim. An 

 oak gate-legged table, some Windsor chairs, and a few 

 pieces of mahogany furniture completed this part of the 



