3° 2 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



November, 1906 



sideboard, clock, tables and chairs well ar- 

 ranged. Now compare, if you will, the 

 atmosphere of rest and quiet which here 

 prevails with the insidious discord which 

 jars so in Fig. 8. 



Perhaps there are no rules — no exact 

 rules about the placing of furniture that 

 may be applied scientifically. The thing 

 has too much to do with the inner suscepti- 

 bilities to be treated scientifically. It is 

 something within, like love, that defies 

 analysis while it distinguishes between like 

 and aversion with unerring intuition. It is 

 the cultivation of this art-conscience that 

 enables us to distinguish between what we 

 ought to do and what we ought not, so as 

 to say to ourselves, "This is right" and 

 "This is wrong," without a geometrical 

 equation to refer to. 



The elements are again in accord in Figs. 

 10 and 11. Both are a source of satisfac- 

 tion to contemplate. The furniture is all 

 good and correctly placed, except for one 

 discordant note — the diagonal rug in Fig. 



[ Jm 



7 — An Architectural Setting Well-suited for its Decorations and Furnishings 



6 — A Studio Dining-room. Good Furniture in a Good Architectural Setting 



1 1 ; but clock, chair and sofa are admirable. 



A tall clock, either an antique or faithful 

 reproduction (modern hall-clocks are 

 usually monstrosities) is one of those con- 

 venient pieces of furniture which will go 

 most anywhere — upon a stair-landing, in 

 a corner of the drawing-room, the dining- 

 room, or flat against the wall of the hall- 

 way, as seen in Fig. 11. A sofa is a very 

 different proposition, and needs much 

 thought before its true mission in a given 

 case be discovered. Sometimes it will set 

 before the fireplace, and again it will not. 

 It will fill a corner becomingly, at times, and 

 then again it refuses to do so. It has but 

 one place in a hallway, however, and that 

 place has been correctly chosen in Fig. 11. 



Rocking-chairs also are hard to manage, 

 but there are certain orthodox shapes — in- 

 viting and comfortable rocking-chairs 

 which no collection of chairs in a room is 

 complete without, even in a dining-room, 

 for thorough homeyness; and these rocking- 



8 — Faulty in Several Respects 



9 — A Good Dining-room 



