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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



September, 1910 



Decorations and Furnishings for the Home 



VII — Built-in Furniture 



By Alice M. Kellogg 



iHERE is a marked increase in the last few 

 years of houses that are individually 

 adapted to their owner's needs. This is 

 especially true of homes of moderate cost, 

 where original expression is often worked 

 out by the personal efforts of some mem- 

 ber of the family. 

 Leaving out the question of the exterior effects in house 

 building, one realizes that in the inside of the house there 

 are opportunities for building in fittings that conform to 

 the architectural plan, often at a less cost than buying 

 their counterparts in movable furnishings. 



In all such undertakings the starting point must be a real 

 need, which is met by a careful adjustment of design and 

 material to the conditions. 



With the disregard of these principles there is an obvious 

 element of incongruity that robs the permanent interior fit- 

 tings of any artistic 

 value. Fortunate- 

 ly, the mistakes in 

 this branch of house 

 furnishing are not 

 as frequent as in 

 the ordinary selec- 

 tion of the movable 

 articles, doubtless 

 caused by a more 

 careful attention 

 bestowed upon the 

 former. 



The saving of 

 space is an im- 

 portant factor in 

 the consideration of 

 built-in furniture, 

 as it oftentimes pre- 

 serves the lines of 

 the room without 

 unnecessary jogs 

 and abutments, as 

 in the case of book- 

 shelves and cab- 

 inets that are sunk 

 into the wall. Of 

 course, these must 



be a part of the original building or their introduction will 

 require considerable tearing out and reconstruction. In 

 sunken bookcases the contents may become a real wall deco- 

 ration, if their bindings are arranged with regard to har- 

 monious color effects. With the low wall broken up in this 

 way into a variety of different tones, the upper part may be 

 considered the real background for the room and treated 

 accordingly with a plain, self-toned or two-toned covering. 



In many of the Colonial and early Nineteenth Century 

 houses the spaces at either side of the fireplace were fitted 

 with cupboards with paneled doors painted white like the 

 woodwork, useful compartments without any recommenda- 

 tion of exterior beauty. 



An improvement for this situation is the modern plan of 

 built-in shelves for holding books, with the upper part for 

 holding pottery and bric-a-brac. Such shelving usually 

 looks best when made of the same height as the mantel, and 



Combining a desk with bookshelves 



finished like the woodwork, or trim, in the room, as illus- 

 trated in the large picture of a library. 



To the careful housekeeper, the open bookshelves pre- 

 sent only a lurking place for dust, but a less practical eye 

 finds almost as much entertainment from the exposed bind- 

 ings and titles as in reading the contents of the books them- 

 selves. In some households this open-shelf enjoyment is 

 paid for at the price of a personal care of the books. The 

 designs for open bookshelves are limit-ed, but these may be 

 perfected in every detail of materials and construction and 

 finish. The shelves should be adjustable, the boards strong, 

 to endure carrying the books without sagging. The space 

 nearest the floor may be boxed in, as shown in the illustra- 

 tion, or it may have a board on hinges to close up the inside 

 space which may be utilized for storing magazines and 

 pamphlets. 



Plain glass doors (see illustration) are not as ornamental 



as those divided 

 by leads or wooden 

 lattice work, 

 but their larger 

 spaces of glass re- 

 duce the time spent 

 in the search for 

 books to a mini- 

 mum. In the best 

 class of houses in 

 which architectural 

 skill is employed, 

 the designs for the 

 leaded glass doors 

 of closed bookcases 

 would be an orig- 

 inal expression fol- 

 lowing the general 

 idea of the Interior 

 decorations. In a 

 library, where 

 Dutch traditions 

 were carried out in 

 the general scheme, 

 the outlines of the 

 quaint little ship 

 which Henry Hud- 

 son brought over 

 from Holland, were effectively introduced in the glass of the 

 door panels. 



The leaded glass has the advantage over the wooden 

 strips, as the latter may shrink and expand under unex- 

 pected conditions of the atmosphere, especially when they 

 are laid like a skeleton over one large sheet of glass. In 

 the better class of cabinet work, the wooden lattice is en- 

 closed on each side with glass to prevent its cracking. Al- 

 most the same effect as lattice work can be obtained by 

 using small panes of glass, diamond shaped or oblong, with 

 wooden separations of thick moldings. 



Two different ways of furnishing the tops of built-in 

 bookcases are pictured in the illustrations, with and with- 

 out a back shelf, whichever is preferred! 



In a den, or library of small size, there is not always 

 space enough for a writing-desk or table, and some com- 

 bination of wall shelves with a place for writing is a ne- 



