276 



HOME AND FLOW EES 



Residence of Prof. E. A. Kroegers, St. Louis. (The woodwork is of natural finisiied oak, the bookcase, seats, etc., being 



built to match.) 



Decoration in the Home 



AS TO ITS SILENT, BUT 



BY A. BLAIR 



11. FIEST IMPRESSIONS. 



THE world outside of our "home 

 folks" is usually taken most largely 

 into consideration in planning the 

 ^^company rooms'^ — the hal] and the par- 

 lor or reception room — as it is in these 

 rooms that our formal family contact with 

 the outside world takes place. That there 

 is a change for the better in the old-time 

 feeling that these were exclusively for 

 company is very apparent. Perhaps there 

 has come a realization that the influence 

 of the old formal decoration gave a stiff- 

 ness and formality to our friendships^ and 

 that the rooms took on an air of barren 

 coldness that made them utterly unsuit- 

 able for their use. , 



The hall of a few years ago is giving 

 way to something more nearly approach- 



POWERFUL INFLUENCE 

 RIDING TON 



ing a room in its furnishings and decora- 

 tions, the old-time parlor is often omitted 

 in favor of the dainty reception room, and 

 the newest idea is to find all three uses 

 combined in one good, large, sensible "liv- 

 ing room," from which the stairs run up, 

 not as an unpleasant reminder that our 

 home is on more than one level, but as an 

 intelligently treated portion of the dec- 

 orations. 



In planning the hall, it is well to keep 

 in mind that, because of the broken lines 

 of the staircase, it will bear crooks and 

 nooks that are too abrupt for a room with 

 only the ordinary lines of decoration, and 

 for that reason, if any portion is of neces- 

 sity to have such breaks, put them in the 

 hall, for here their treatment is a less 

 grievous problem, and, in fact, they often 



