November, 19 13 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



405 



rested in the days of Louis XV — and they knew better how 

 to do it than we do. Perhaps the backs of the armchairs 

 were lower in those days, to save contact with powdered 

 wigs; but, the concession required by the present day lies 

 merely in having the back higher, to rest the nowadays 

 powderless head. The curves of the armchair, the carving, 

 the brocade, may still be Louis XV. Such a concession is 

 simple. The discipline of keeping the mere motion of 

 rocking, for some other room, where it would not create 

 discord, is, after all, not so severe, and the more lasting 

 satisfaction of a Louis XV. "air" may be retained. 



STRICTLY "PERIOD" HOMES 



It may be urged that many beautiful homes are furnished 

 strictly according to period or according to place. That is 

 true ; but they are mostly spacious enough to permit these 

 features to be displayed in part, say in the reception-rooms 

 and hall. Personality, in such cases, is generally relegated 

 to the study, "den," or sanctum, and there runs riot in 

 proportion to its having been suppressed elsewhere. For 

 personality "will out"; not only our own, but that of our 

 friends. The latter manifests itself from the outset of the 

 installation of our home; in our accumulated gifts, dating, 

 perhaps, from our birth; in wedding, Christmas, birthday 

 and anniversary presents. They all clamor for display and 

 tinge the "air" of a home. There, again, discipline must 

 step in; they must not be allowed to disturb a scheme that 

 may be in view; they are not always well chosen. Per- 

 sonality should here assert itself in their selection or rejec- 

 tion. Some should be retained and the others not. What is 

 to become of the others? Their fate comes under the head- 

 ing of rejection. Let us resume the topic of selection, for 

 the moment; it is the outward indication of personality, 

 which is a very big thing. Sometimes its strongest note is 

 struck by heirlooms, family portraits, silver, old furniture, 

 etc. Let them shine out to the full. Complete, by purchase, 

 what may be lacking and build up the whole room to these 

 treasures of the past; they have the merit of being authentic 

 and stimulate interest by their association with the family, 

 a most valuable feature of personality. But things that are 

 kept solely for their association, are sometimes the cause of 

 our greatest difficulties in furnishing a home, as the note of 

 personality is, usually, very insistent in them. Let us sup- 

 pose the owner is a hunter or an athlete, and possesses the 

 trophies won in those pursuits. The general tendency is 

 to display them in a group. In that case, the only place 

 for them is in a room where personality has full sway; a 

 place where the indication of any period or place is entirely 

 absent. Still, they might be introduced so judiciously in dif- 

 ferent rooms throughout the house that their interference 

 with a given scheme, be it period or place, would not be 

 noticeable. 



ACCUMULATIONS 



In the accumulation of things, kept for their association, 

 one is often saddled with what has gone out of date, with 

 what has ceased to interest. Sometimes they can be treated 

 in such a way that their interest becomes revived. Take, 

 for instance, the old crayon portrait, usually kept because 

 the sitter has passed away. As a rule, it has an enormous, 

 glaring, white margin and is framed in a heavy, square, gilt 

 frame, out of all proportion to its merit and takes up wall- 

 space that would be infinitely more attractive left bare. The 

 interesting part of it can be preserved and the portrait 

 brought up to date by cutting it down to reasonable propor- 

 tions; showing only the head and shoulders and framing it 

 in an oval. The original heavy gold frame can be con- 

 verted into a mirror. 



THE REJECTED THINGS 



We now come to the question of how to deal with the 

 rejected; such things as souvenirs, presents, Christmas 



gifts, etc.; usually given more according to the taste of the 

 donor than the recipient. Many people cannot find it in 

 their heart to throw away or give away a present; so, in 

 course of time, one finds an accumulation of them, offending 

 both by their numbers and their kind. The simplest way, 

 of course, is to give them away, where they might be appre- 

 ciated. Let us assume, they must remain in the house. 

 What is to be done with them? Here is one suggestion. 

 Collect them and put them away in some place, where they 

 will be easily accessible. Then select some spot in a living- 

 room that shall be kept expressly for the sole purpose of 

 displaying them; let us say, a free space of about a yard, 

 on the top of a bookshelf; or, even, the mantlepiece. Put 

 a fresh one, from the stock of rejected, every day in this 

 space and put away again the one that was there. In this 

 way, the glimpses of the offending articles will be mercifully 

 few and far between; they will not be hurting one's sense 

 of fitness, all over the house, as there will be but one spot 

 where they may do so. If the donor of any one of them 

 should ask what has become of his gift; it may be truly 

 replied, that it is put away and only brought out occasion- 

 ally. That sounds, at any rate, careful. If one is really 

 lucky, it might happen, that the gift was on exhibition on 

 the very day of the donor's inquiry. 



DISPLAYING OBJETS D'ART 



The display space will be found useful for another pur- 

 pose. Nowadays, so many people collect things and have 

 insufficient room in which to keep them on view, to display 

 them. If one collects, for instance, Japanese prints, en- 

 gravings, etchings; they require more wall-space than most 

 houses afford. If, however, one leavens the rejected arti- 

 cles displayed in this space, with a periodical treasure from 

 one's collection; the spot does not become one of ill-repute 

 in the house; one can always turn to it with interest, sure 

 of seeing something fresh there every day and it might 

 easily happen, that, taking the good with the bad, any 

 given article might not make more than one appearance 

 there a year. It should be the special duty of one member 

 of the household to attend to this, a matter of a few min- 

 utes, and, once the habit acquired, it is no trouble what- 

 ever. Given a person of taste and judgment, even several 

 of the rejected could be arranged daily, in a group, in such 

 a way that, while individually they might be unattractive, 

 collectively, they might neutralize one another and, should 

 some really attractive item be added, the whole group 

 would pass muster. By such means the note of personality 

 which would be obtrusive if displayed universally and per- 

 manently throughout the house, is focused on one point 

 and so disciplined, that it does not clash with any scheme of 

 period or place. 



RECOGNIZING PERSONALITY 



In the same way as one likes to recognize the composer 

 in listening to his music, so should one be able to recognize, 

 either a chosen period or a personality, in seeing the ar- 

 rangement of an interior. 



For houses of greater proportions let the hall and recep- 

 tion-rooms, by all means, reflect period or place, in all their 

 strict form; one does not stay long enough in them at a time 

 to really live in them. Personality may then be displayed 

 liberally in the actual living-rooms. There is one drawback 

 to this latter arrangement; the transitions of style from one 

 room to another are liable to appear too abrupt. As things 

 in a room should harmonize, so should the different rooms 

 in a house show some general affinity in their relation to 

 one another. 



Briefly, let the discipline of restraint be used, whichever 

 keynote has been decided upon. The effects may not become 

 so striking; but they will be of enduring harmony and more 

 easy for the members of a household, with their different 

 tastes, to live with. 



