3° 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



July, 1905 



with a paneled seat. The fireplace is built with brick fac- 

 ings and hearth and a mantel. The den has a similar fire- 

 place, and also a window seat. The woodwork is of yellow 

 pine treated in Flemish brown. The walls are treated with 

 battens forming panels, which are filled in with green burlap. 

 The dining-room, which is placed two steps below the level 

 of the living-room Hoor, is treated with white enamel paint, 

 and has a paneled wainscoting of the Colonial type. The 

 walls above this wainscoting are covered with a brilliant wall 

 covering, with a white back-ground showing a large green 

 figure, and the whole finished with a molded cornice. The 

 fireplace is built of red brick laid in white mortar, with the 

 facings and hearth of a similar brick and a mantel of Colonial 

 style. On one side of the fireplace is a buffet built in, with 

 cupboards below the counter shelf and shelves above, which 

 are enclosed with leaded glass doors and the whole trimmed 

 with bronze furnishings. The circular baywindow at the op- 

 posite end of the room is well placed, from which a view is 

 obtained up and down the coast. 



The butler's pantry is well fitted with sink, drawers, 

 shelves, etc. The kitchen is planned with ventilation at both 

 ends, and thereby provides a very cool and comfortable 

 kitchen. It is fitted with a sink, counter, range, store pantry, 

 well fitted laundry shed, for the storage of fuel, and a ser- 

 vants' dining-hall, which is a necessary adjunct to the well 

 appointed house. 



The second story is treated with white paint, and this Hoor 

 contains six bedrooms, two bathrooms, besides two servants' 

 bedrooms with a private stairway to the kitchen. A feature 

 of this plan is that the hall is kept to the front so that the 

 principal rooms face the ocean. Some of the bedrooms have 

 paneled seats, open fireplaces, and all are treated with artistic 

 wall decorations. The bathrooms are furnished with porce- 

 lain fixtures and exposed nickelplated plumbing. The third 

 floor contains the trunk room and several extra rooms. 



Messrs. Chapman and Frazer, architects, 8 Exchange 

 Place, Boston, Mass. 



Helps to Home Building 



Furnishing the House 



HE house built, it remains to furnish it. To 

 many persons, and rightly so, this is not a 

 task, but a pleasure. It is the portion of 

 home-making that seems to fall especially 

 to the women, and as an opportunity for the 

 practise of the art of shopping it is clearly 

 unrivaled. As in all the stages of home building and home 

 making, the utmost patience is required. It is a work that 

 falls naturally and by right to the owner. 



The furnishing of a house is a task that should be attacked 

 with enthusiasm and pursued with leisure. It is the hardest 

 kind of hard work. It requires patience and discrimination; 

 it needs good taste; it demands a knowledge of the uses of 

 furniture, and it necessitates a purchasing taste that many 

 people think they have, but which few really possess. The 

 responsibilities involved are so great that it is, in a very 

 true sense, a big undertaking. 



On the whole the home maker who starts entirely fresh, 

 with absolutely no furniture to begin with, has much the 

 better of it. One never knows what to do with old furni- 

 ture — furniture that is simply old and without the artistic 

 merit and interest of antique furniture. This is especially 

 true when the pieces are good enough to use and entirely too 

 good to be thrown away or converted into kindling. Yet if 

 one has the means to entirely furnish a house from top to 

 bottom it would often be better to throw away the old un- 

 interesting pieces and start afresh in every way. 



There is, moreover, a special interest in furnishing a 

 house as a whole. It provides an opportunity for individual 

 treatment such as no other method can give. It is a pleas- 

 ure, and a very real pleasure, to furnish a room completely; 

 and this pleasure can be repeated several times when a whole 

 house is to be done. But a surfeit of joys is sometimes weari- 

 some, and the work should not be begun lightly. One is 

 very likely to become tired before the job is half done. 



Various expedients are at hand for aiding in this task. 

 The architect stands open-handed and ready (for a commis- 

 sion) to furnish your house for you completely, and apply 

 the same care to its internal equipment as he has shown in 

 its design and construction. This is not only an expensive 

 way of furnishing, but it is the most expensive way. Many 



of the most splendid homes in America have been furnished 

 in this way and have been turned over to the owners in a 

 thoroughly complete manner. The magnificent house ar- 

 ranged for the late Mr. William C. Whitney in New York 

 is a conspicuous example of this style of furnishing. Many 

 other great American houses have been similarly equipped. 



This method is, however, quite exceptional, and is only 

 open to the very rich. Yet help from the architect can often 

 be had without going to the expensive extreme to which Mr. 

 Whitney went. His architects ransacked Europe for the 

 costliest treasures of household art, and his palace, when 

 completed, was a veritable museum of rare and sumptuous 

 furnishings. It would be unfair to guess at the cost of this 

 rich equipment, or to surmise the architects' commission; the 

 latter was, unquestionably, very large. 



Another aid to furnishing is supplied by professional dec- 

 orators and furnishers. These folk have flourished amaz- 

 ingly of late years. They will furnish your house as ex- 

 pensively as you please, and, in a thoroughly legitimate busi- 

 ness way, charge a stout commission for their services. They 

 earn their money. They employ capable workmen; they 

 have a thorough knowledge of styles; they are in instant 

 touch with the sources of supply, whether the furniture be 

 new or old; and they can, if so desired, produce most elab- 

 orate results, results quite as artistic as those produced by the 

 architect, who, indeed, will often transfer this portion of his 

 commission wholly to the professional decorators. An in- 

 teresting case in point is supplied by the great house of 

 Mr. H. M. Flagler, at Palm Beach, Fla. A well known firm 

 of New York architects designed and built his house, and 

 executed the main hallway; all the rest of it, including the 

 very elaborate public rooms and a most extended series of 

 bedrooms, were executed entirely by a decorating firm, which 

 assumed responsibility for every detail of the interior. 



Mr. Flagler's house, and many others which belong to the 

 same class, are, of course, most extensive mansions. They 

 are exceptional houses, decorated and furnished in an ex- 

 ceptional way. The professional furnisher prizes such op- 

 portunities, not only because of the satisfaction felt in suc- 

 cessfully carrying out large undertakings, but because of the 

 financial considerations involved. It is, however, entirely 



