HOUSE AND GARDEN 
212 
October. 1911 
Many dining-room suites show the influence of Chippendale’s Chinese 
manner, as evidenced in this well-made buffet 
used is most beautiful and most satisfactory. Some of the dec¬ 
orators give the wall a very beautiful effect by laying aluminum 
paint upon the canvas. Over this the paint is put, mottling the 
color until the various tones used are harmoniously blended. The 
aluminum undercoat gives a luminous appearance to the wall. 
When the canvas is merely painted, the effect is dull. Light col¬ 
ored or rich wall effects may be had, rough or smooth canvas may 
be used, or the treatment of the wall may be a mottled plain tone, 
or a design giving the effect of old velvet may be stencilled upon 
the prepared canvas. Another very handsome wall covering for 
living-room, hall, dining-room or library, is a very heavy grass 
cloth called Orimona grass cloth. For years we have had the 
light-weight grass cloth imported from Japan; the Orimona grass 
cloth is something new and much handsomer, and is also much 
more expensive than the lighter quality of grass cloth known to 
everybody. It is made of many grasses, bunched together and in¬ 
terwoven with a double thread. Orimona grass cloth is made in 
peries, if they do not permit of laundering, should be 
thoroughly brushed, and disposed of in the same man¬ 
ner. The black wrappings will, beside keeping the cur¬ 
tains-clean', prevent them from becoming yellow, and 
^protect'them f-rom any further change of color than they 
have suffered- from exposure to the-sun during the 
summer. - ' " - - : 
'-• Everyone has not the imaginative power to go into a 
dismantled room, or entirely bare house, and picture it 
in his'or her'mind completed-. With this gift of seeing 
the end from'the beginning, at least in things material, if a 
careful survey of the whole house is made, planning the 
fcolor scheme, furniture' and arrangement one room at a 
time,-a mental picture of the whole house completed will 
fesult. When one has this mental picture to follow; 
it is like having a set of working drawings to the me¬ 
chanic. ' Each -step is clearly before one in the essen¬ 
tials of the case. The detail will take care of itself, when 
the setting has been prepared. 
■ Ceilings,' walls,- woodwork and- floors must first be 
considered. There - is an- almost endless variety of 
charming wall treatments. 'The canvas now being 
The so-called Mission or craftsman furniture, of simple sturdy lines and soft 
brown tones, continues to be the only suitable furniture for some rooms 
a number of excellent colorings—soft browns, 
tans and greens. 
There are innumerable new and original ways 
of treating the walls of your rooms, beside the 
well-known silk hangings and papers. If one 
wishes something unusual for the treatment of 
the walls, there are endless suggestions which 
will be furnished by the up-to-date decorator. 
[Other hints are given on page 218 of this 
issue.] 
Much of the woodwork in the new house is 
finished in antique ivory, gold, white or gray. 
This antique finish is much softer and more 
harmonious than a hard.plain color. 
The architect of today is giving especial at¬ 
tention to the large living-room. Hardly a 
house of small or large.cost is planned without 
one room of. very ample proportions. This 
large livable room is the room above all others 
where solid comfort is going to he enjoyed. It 
seems best in planning the living-room to fol¬ 
low no particular, period. Walls and floor cov¬ 
ering, woodwork and ceiling having been chosen 
of .some soft.j-ich tope,_ chairs and divans of 
American or English make of generous propor- 
on the work of Robert Adam and Thomas Sheraton 
