HOUSE AND GARDEN 
214 
October, 1911 
nots tied with 
pink ribbons or 
festoons of pink 
roses tied with 
blue ribb 011s. 
None of these 
designs is gar- 
i s h nor over¬ 
powering. 
While many 
of the bedroom 
sets are copies of 
the English Hep- 
plewhite, Shera¬ 
ton, and Adam 
or French 
Louis Quinze 
and Louis Seize 
styles; there is 
also much bed¬ 
room furniture 
of excellent pro¬ 
portion and de¬ 
sign that cannot 
be said to be 
copied after any 
period style. 
The solid Co¬ 
lonial furniture 
of our forefa- 
Valances for over-curtains are being made plain, thers for dinin CT - 
rather than plaited, and shaped on a frame room use seems 
for the present 
to be less popular than the more fragile mahogany pieces of 
Sheraton and Chippendale types, the Sheraton’s simplicity of 
line seeming to have preeminence in favor just at the present time. 
The inner and outer curtains for a less formal sort of living-room — -a 
author’s idea of a pleasingly nondescript 
This preference for the more fragile type of furniture to the 
heavier Colonial pieces may have its practical inspiration, due to 
the conditions imposed by apartment house living. Lfowever, one 
cannot decry the substantial Colonial type for people whose rooms 
admit of the use of these handsome but more cumbersome pieces 
of furniture. Copies and modifications of old English models are 
also much in vogue for dining-room use. 
Craftsman furniture continues to be popular. It has many 
points in its favor. Its straight lines, substantial proportions and 
soft brown tones make it a desirable style for some types of rooms. 
Many fabrics and leathers are made in soft tones of brown, which 
harmonize with the fumed finish of the wood; for the person who 
is not entirely sure of the blending and harmonizing of colors and 
the right proportion of lines, craftsman furniture is a very safe 
style with which to furnish. The housekeeper likes it because it 
shows the dust very little. One woman told me she had to dust 
her mahogany set six times a day, so she got a Mission one for it. 
The window draperies in vogue call for three sets of curtains. 
A sash curtain, which reaches only to the sill, inner lace curtains, 
reaching to the floor, and silk, velvet or tapestry overhangings. 
The valance, instead of being gathered or plaited, is now plain 
and shaped on a buckram frame. These valances seem a trifle 
more formal than the draperies used for some years past, but 
admit of much handsome ornamentation, or they may be quite 
plain, having a simple finish of galloons or fringe. Plaited or 
gathered valances are of course still being used, but the straight 
valance is employed in the more formal homes and more preten¬ 
tious house. Fillet and Cluny laces continue to be much used in 
the more expensive curtains, while soft imported and domestic 
net, plain or with dainty applique designs, is to be used in the less 
elaborate homes. Of these nets there are many of charming dainty 
patterns. The general concensus of opinion is that fabrics, vel¬ 
vets. damasks and tapestries, which will be in general favor this 
season, are of small designs. Some very handsome velvets of 
Genoese and Florentine design are also being shown. 
Handsome fabrics, such as tapestries, damasks and velvets, 
are comparatively high-priced, 
though fortunately for the per¬ 
son of moderate means, there 
are always good things of mod¬ 
erate price to be found if one 
but has the patience to look for 
them and the discrimination to 
know the good things one sees 
regardless of what the price 
may be. 
Unfadable fabrics have 
gained much popularity during 
the past year or two; made of 
cotton and silk in an almost 
countless number of weaves and 
designs of light or heavy 
weight, there is hardly a room 
so pretentious that some of the 
heavier qualities of these Scotch 
fabrics may not be appropriate¬ 
ly used. For the home of mod¬ 
erate cost there are almost end¬ 
less possibilities. From semi¬ 
transparent weaves that may be 
used as curtains, to very heavy 
fabrics suitable for portieres 
and upholstery, all are exceed¬ 
ingly effective. Each weave 
and pattern comes in a number 
room, incidentally, that illustrates the of exceptionally good colors, so 
room (Continued on page 270) 
