30 
House & Garden 
In the first year it is just a breakfast room. The general color scheme for walls and woodwork 
is soft gray. Paper or paint is used for the walls, gray paint for the furniture. The shields of 
the lighting fixtures also are painted and decorated in gray and green. The expenditure is $614 
THE THIRD YEAR DINING ROOM 
Developing a Full-grown Room from Simple Breakfast Room Beginnings —• 
Budgets and Other Details from Year to Year 
C REATING this dining room is like watch¬ 
ing a child grow from babyhood into a 
full-fledged man. It starts in life as a break¬ 
fast room, a room of painted furniture and 
simple hangings. Then in the second year, it 
creeps into more formal fitments. In the third 
year it is finally completed as a Duncan Phyfe 
dining room. 
When you have finished this pleasant labor 
of three years, you have a breakfast room out 
on the porch or in a sunny corner of the house, 
and a dining room fully furnished in a digni¬ 
fied fashion. Thereby two rooms are made at 
the same time. 
Remember that in designing this room which 
grows up we are not making the cheapest pos¬ 
sible room. Nobody wants to have the cheap¬ 
est possible room in her house. We are creat¬ 
ing the best sort of room that money can buy, 
a permanent room in a permanent home, one of 
which you will be justly proud. 
And now to get down to the details of this 
breakfast room that grew up. 
In the First Year 
The general color scheme for the first year 
woodwork and walls is a soft gray. This can 
be either paint or paper. The walls may be 
covered with canvas and then painted, or 
papered with a very small repeat design or a 
light Colonial stripe. But the tone must be 
MRS. GERRIT SMITH 
soft gray, for the room will be filled with sun¬ 
light the greater part of the day. Besides, 
gray is a pleasant color against which to sil¬ 
houette furniture and the pretty gowns of 
guests. In the soft light of candles it takes 
on a pleasing mystery. 
As this is a breakfast room the furniture 
can be painted. A pleasing choice would be 
a darker gray than the walls. We are not 
seeking any striking contrasts. When the 
furniture is removed to the breakfast nook or 
the porch it may be repainted. But here it is 
gray. The necessary pieces will be table, six 
chairs—or you may limit the number to four 
if the family is small—two console tables to 
be used for serving and a mirror over one of 
the consoles. 
Six lighting fixtures—side fixtures—are esti¬ 
mated for this room. In many cases only four 
will be needed. They are shield shaped, with 
a back plate which is painted gray green and 
decorated, and electric candles. The delicacy 
of their lines will silhouette gracefully against 
their soft gray backgrounds. 
For curtains we use an orange silk. It 
has a little design that gives it almost the ap¬ 
pearance of a heavy pongee. The color is a 
rich orange that will filter the morning light 
into a warm glow. These curtains are un¬ 
lined and made without valance. They hang, 
as you see in the illustration, on rods set into 
the window frame. There is a reason for this, 
which you will see in a moment. 
The foundation of the room is a gunmetal 
rug, 9' by 12', made of carpeting. This gives 
a firm and sound footing to the soft gray walls 
and the gray painted furniture. It is a good 
carpet and is planned to last for many years. 
You will find it in all three stages of the 
room. Therefore, once this carpet is pur¬ 
chased, the problem of floor covering is solved. 
Needed Accessories 
There are a number of accessories to go into 
the room the first year. Perhaps you may 
think that accessories are a needless luxury. 
Perhaps they are, but a room without them has 
a peculiarly unfinished and naked appearance. 
In the first year we figure on a bowl for the 
center table, two fruit baskets of black and 
gold for the consoles, two twisted brass candle¬ 
sticks and a pair of andirons for the fireplace. 
The expenditures this first year amount to 
$614.80 and are divided as follows: 
1 table. $75.00 
6 chairs @ $18.00. 106.00 
2 console tables @ $39.50. 79.00 
1 mirror over console. 50.00 
2 fruit baskets @ $22.00. 44.00 
1 rug 9' X 12', 12 yds. @ $4.50 a yd. 54.00 
6 lighting fixtures @ $27.00. 162.00 
Orange curtains, 8 yds., @ $2.10 a yd. 16.80 
1 bowl for center table. 4.00 
