February, 1910 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



77 















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Furnishing the Flat 





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By Lillian Hamilton French 

 II— THE DRAWING ROOM 



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gHE difficulty of preserving the dignities of a 

 flat in its furnishing has been touched 

 upon in a preceding chapter. It is an art 

 in itself. The success with which it has 

 sometimes been accomplished is best 

 proved by a study of what has been done 

 in certain directions. 

 Take, for example, the drawing-room, Figs. 2 and 3, in 

 which the chintz hangings are shown. The whole aim of 

 the householder has been to maintain the air of a salon, or 

 room set apart for 

 the reception and en- 

 tertainment of guests. 

 No signs of household 

 occupations, as distin- 

 guished from those of 

 relaxation, are per- 

 mitted to appear. 

 There being no chil- 

 dren in the family, this 

 has been an easier 

 matter than it would 

 have been had the re- 

 quirements of a troup 

 of romping boys and 

 girls been considered. 

 Yet even where chil- 

 dren are found, the 

 duty of the woman 

 with any social connec- 

 tions should be to 

 keep intact the pur- 

 pose of the drawing- 

 room, an obligation 

 too often ignored! 



To enter this par- 

 ticular room gives one 

 a distinct pleasure. It 

 conveys the same sense 

 of coolness and re- 

 freshment as that in- 

 spired by a country 

 house in summer, a 

 sense especially de- 

 lightful when one has 

 to come in from either 

 the dust or the snow 

 of city streets. The 



Fig. 1 — The Colonial mantel shows a simple treatment 



here it may be well to insist upon a point around which 

 the whole question of decoration revolves. One must 

 learn to eliminate, ruthlessly discarding a color, perhaps 

 beautiful in itself, but out of key, and to do the same thing 

 with objects ancestral or otherwise, which have no place 

 in given environments. If these special objects are of 

 primary importance, prepare a place for them. But make 

 up your mind before you begin to furnish, just what your 

 house is to stand for, and keep that purpose always in 

 view. If you mean to go on growing, knowing that as an 



embryo collector, for 

 instance, you must ar- 

 range a setting for fu- 

 ture acquisitions, de- 

 sign your rooms for 

 these, but don't con- 

 found purposes. Here 

 is the secret of all suc- 

 cessful interiors. 



The woodwork of 

 this drawing-room is 

 gray-white, the walls 

 are covered with a 

 gray - white French 

 paper with a conven- 

 tional but unobtrusive 

 design. The white 

 ground of the chintz 

 is covered with flow- 

 ers. The same ma- 

 terial is hung at the 

 windows, with a 

 striped white lace 

 against the panes. 

 Outside, even in win- 

 ter, boxes are filled 

 with green. The deep 

 red velvet of the fill- 

 ing cost $2.00 a yard. 

 Now this arrangement 

 brings, as it should, all 

 the strong color of the 

 room to one level, as 

 it were, for like nature 

 itself, a room in its 

 color scheme should 



be built up from be- 

 scheme is simple. Anyone can low. As the earth and tree trunks are darker than the 

 follow it who is willing to sacrifice personal idiosyn- foliage which carries the eye on to the light above, so the 

 crasies in order to fulfil given requirements. And just lower part of a room should be darker than its upper part. 



