Garden 
70 
House & 
Span- Umbrian Furniture 
\ charming feature of Span-Umbrian Furniture is 
±\. the soft, rich tone of the wood, as if mellowed by- 
time. It blends readily with any decorative scheme. 
Furniture of dignity and refinement, liveable and 
homelike, with an air of solid comfort, for living 
,bedro 
The history of this 
BERKEY & GAY FURNITURE CO. 
444 Monroe Ave., Grand Rapids, Mich. 
The Bedroom for Middle Age 
{Continued /) 
derived from dulled, grayed tones, ac¬ 
cents of color in the hangings, the up¬ 
holsteries, the books, the lamps and the 
flowers. A fire crackling on the’hearth, 
1 tea kettle capable of singing! 
There is always an irony in endeavor¬ 
ing to grow older gracefully in an in¬ 
consequentially youthful setting. Look¬ 
ing at herself in the mirror day after day 
against an inharmonious background is 
enough to take away any woman’s self- 
conceit. The wrong setting can make 
her hair look wispy and drab, her eyes 
faded, her skin gray. It can make her 
look fat or too thin. . . . But in a 
room that has grown by degrees, an¬ 
swering the claim of individuality, 
grown so gradually that not one thing 
in it has overshadowed the rest, so that 
the scheme seems to melt together in 
the most wonderful sort of way, this 
same wispy woman will be transformed, 
because she is the factor around which 
the whole room is built,—all the tones, 
the shadows, the lights in the right 
places,—all these things are there to give 
the right value to her. 
Seeing her standing in her room, you 
will admire her. Looking at herself in 
the mirror above her dresser, against 
the background of her 
always see the possibilities of i 
beauty in herself, and can make the 
most of them: it will become easy be¬ 
cause she is in her right environment— 
1 becoming room. And when she finds 
herself in other settings, other rooms, 
she will know that she has done well 
by the admiring glances of her friends. 
Against her own background she has 
made herself what she ought to be, and 
she will find that she remains that no 
matter where she goes. 
A Mulberry Room 
One of the most successful middle- 
aged bedrooms I have seen had mul¬ 
berry for the leading color note. Tucked 
y back in a becoming corner of its 
ner’s mind was an indistinct aura of 
ender which proved a guiding star 
in the selection of just the right hang- 
s. Against the cream yellow back- 
und of this printed linen loom vague 
eading mulberry trees, with an oc- 
ional squat Jap boy absorbed in 
gorging some greenish blue peacocks 
with the roses necessary to complete a 
isfactory color scheme. No posies, 
N knots and lacy effects about this 
tonne, but a calm strength and vigor 
t well carries out the spirit of the 
ry furniture which, in finish and de- 
a, leaves nothing for the heart to 
The very old ivory tone of this suite 
enhanced by the dullness of the fin¬ 
ish, a truly wonderful one that will re¬ 
spond to honest soap and water, and is 
ictically scar-proof. And there is a 
certain weighty precision in the propor¬ 
tion and details of each piece that is not 
even reminiscent of the indigestible 
aspect of some of the more familiar 
The turned bedposts have dignity, 
and yet the bed is anything but formal 
in spirit. And there is an almost medi¬ 
eval beauty in the side panels of the 
dresser, with their vertical wainscoting 
effect. The mirrors, too, are beautifully 
proportioned and have a distinctively 
decorative quality. 
The Furniture and Lights 
Given such furniture and hangings 
the rest of the room grew apace. The 
walls were kept perfectly plain, and 
were toned a pale gray-putty color, the 
woodwork was done in ivory to match 
the furniture. A most delightful green¬ 
ish gray, or grayish green Wilton rug 
was found, picked out with a dark slate 
color. An overstuffed chair was up¬ 
holstered in a striped linen repeating the 
colors of the figured hangings, mul¬ 
berry, peacock, and a soft buff. The 
scalloped unbleached muslin counter¬ 
pane was enhanced by a bolster throw 
of this same striped linen; and the glass 
curtains were made of a sheer cream 
handkerchief linen, ornamented at the 
bottom by two rows of wide ladder 
hemstitching, run in above a four-inch 
hem. Tucked back of the overdrapes 
were soft orange crinkled silk crepe pull 
curtains for use at night, instead of the 
hackneyed roller shade. 
So much depends upon the lights in 
a room, and these were particularly 
satisfactory. Hanging on a peacock 
cord in front of the dresser, the buff 
silk shade was rendered more effective 
by a scalloped flounce banding of the 
striped linen, and pipings of mulberry. 
The lining of thin white, stretched 
across the bottom to break the glare of 
the electric bulbs, created a becoming 
light by which to dress. The wall 
sconces were supplied with shield shades 
of mulberry. And the gold Japanese 
boy proudly held aloft a shade of lav¬ 
ender and black. Peacock bowls, old 
yellow jars, and many cushions of vary¬ 
ing tones of mulberry complete such a 
room of joyful individuality that I do 
believe the lady who lives therein is 
forgetting to grow old. I am waiting 
on tiptoe to see. And I am thinking of 
mulberry myself! 
Blue and Brown Rooms 
Or else blue. For this charming and 
quite inexpensive furniture can be ob¬ 
tained in any color, I am told. And I , 
have been dreaming of another room 
scheme which depends very definitely 
on furniture of that delightful King’s 
blue. The same cretonne with darker 
{Continued on page 12) 
An interesting bed¬ 
room desk has a top 
that lifts up and 
folds back, disclos¬ 
ing four drawers 
and pigeon holes. 
The front panel lets 
down to make a 
writing space 
