224 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



June, 19 1 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 



1^ OCXXXgXXJOO^X 



ARRANGING FURNITURE 



By Harry Martin Yeomans 



HE writer was recently looking over some 

 photographs, showing the interiors of a very 

 beautiful country home in New Jersey, and 

 although each room was charming in itself, 

 the general effect was that of a very finely 

 appointed hotel instead of a home. No 

 house can be a success which lacks this homelike quality. 

 Upon a closer study of the photographs it was easy to see 

 that this effect was produced by the poor placing of the 

 furniture. All the rooms needed was to have the furniture 

 moved about a bit; a push here and a shove there, would 

 have worked wonders in a short time. To be more explicit, 

 the library in this house was a very beautiful, rectangular 

 paneled room, done in a modified Italian renaissance style, 

 the walls lined with dwarfed bookcases and a wonderful 

 Oriental rug spread over the hardwood floor. This brief 

 description should conjure up a picture of a very beautiful 

 interior in the mind of anyone who is at all familiar with 

 the decoration required for rooms supplied with such fittings. 

 One of the most important pieces of furniture in a library, 

 after the bookcases and their contents, is a table of generous 

 proportions, on which books and magazines can be accom- 

 modated, and adjacent to it should be placed some chairs 

 so that several can gather about the table at one time with- 

 out interference. This room had the requisite long library 

 table and at each corner stood a chair, but with its back 

 toward the table. This brings us to the crux of the whole 

 matter. These chairs simply had 

 to be turned about, facing the table, 

 in order to give one a silent invita- 

 tion to sit down and place your book 

 there. The chairs then bear some 

 relation to the table and vice versa; 

 the one being the complement of the 

 other. 



This may seem a small matter, 

 whether a chair faces a table or has 

 its back to it, but it marks the dif- 

 ference between the right and wrong 



c • _ c - 'l • Diagram of a 



way of arranging furniture in a 6 



room. Our house interiors in their arrangement should re- 

 flect the hospitable spirit of their owners. This is a reason- 

 able theory as anyone will readily see who gives it a little 

 thought. 



A good illustration of this sensible arrangement of furni- 

 ture, so that one object bears some relation to its neighbor, 

 is seen in a group of furniture, which has been much used 

 of late, and which it would be difficult to improve upon for 

 some rooms. 



Before the open fireplace a long Davenport or sofa is 



placed and against its back is a library table, which should 

 be approximately the same length as the sofa. About this 

 table three chairs can be grouped conveniently, one at either 

 end, and one at the long side. At the back of the table 

 directly in the center, stands a brass, double font student's 

 lamp. On the table have a pair of bookends holding some 

 books, the magazines, and at one end a blotting-pad and 

 writing paraphernalia. This is an ideal group of furniture 

 and aptly illustrates the point. Three people can occupy 

 the Davenport, enjoying the blaze from the open fire, and 

 if they care to read, the lamp is at their backs, coming 

 over their shoulders directly on the printed page. Three 

 others can be grouped about the table engaged in reading 

 and writing, and all enjoying the benefits of the fire and the 

 lamp. Each piece of furniture depends on its neighbor and 

 thus has a reason for being just where it is. 



An arrangement such as this is eminently suited to a 

 library, if it is not too small, or in a living-room when it is 

 the principal room on the first floor. 



An open fireplace is often a deciding factor in a room as 

 to where some of the furniture should be placed. In cold 

 weather we like to enjoy the blaze of the open fire, so a 

 long sofa or Davenport, placed directly in front of the 

 mantelpiece, or at any acute angle to it, forms a sort of 

 an inglenook, and is well placed as it is there for a definite 

 purpose. Two of the cosy winged chairs, placed one on 

 either side of the fireplace and facing each other, have a 

 hospitable look. 



A lamp on a table almost demands that a chair should 

 be placed by the table, so that one can get a good light on 



whatever task is in hand. 



The writer recently saw one of 

 those very charming mahogany 

 sewing-tables, sometimes called a 

 "Martha Washington" sewing-table, 

 standing in the living-room in a 

 country house. It stood in an iso- 

 lated spot with no chair near it, 

 and one wondered where the lady 

 sat who used it. 



A writing desk that does not have 

 a chair placed before it at an invit- 

 ing angle, is as bad as the mantel 

 clock that does not go. 



You can decrease the apparent size of a small room and 

 make it appear still smaller, by placing a piece of furniture 

 in the center of the room. This brings us to the question of 

 the small table which one sees so frequently placed in the 

 middle of the floor, and oftimes decorated with a renais- 

 sance lace doily and a cut glass vase. Move the table to one 

 side of the room, place a chair by its side and a couple of 

 books and a lamp on it, and see how much better the effect 

 is. Instead of the lace doily, use a square of embroidery 



draw-curtain 



