HOUSE AND GARDEN 
August, 1912 
custom of having the doors of the 
living-room closed upon the hall 
gives more privacy than in our 
houses where the person at the 
front door can usually get a good 
view of the rooms. Then, too, the 
Dutch plan of having the dining¬ 
room and kitchen unconnected and 
making the hall the passageway be¬ 
tween the two is foreign to our 
ideas. It is necessary to know the 
household customs in Holland to 
realize the merits it has in their 
eyes. Not that the hall looks like a 
passageway. It is usually much 
more artistically arranged than with 
us. In fact, there is a great appre¬ 
ciation and instinct for the value of 
the first impression in entering a 
house. It means so much in the 
very feeling of hospitality if a do¬ 
mestic picture or a delightful com¬ 
position of furnishings is framed by 
the front door. The composition 
may be never so simple and yet 
quicken the impression of hospital¬ 
ity in a marked degree. For in¬ 
stance, in one white-walled hall with 
a floor of large black and white 
diamond-shaped marble, there was 
a large blue vase of pottery to 
vivify the welcome. It was one of 
those vases that hold within their 
apparent solid color all sorts of in¬ 
definable and subtle color values. 
It was placed upon a semi-circular 
mahogany cabinet and had a shawl 
of intricate soft colorings in rose 
and yellows generously to empha¬ 
size it. In one hall there was a 
trickling wall fountain; in another, 
an old mahogany chest trimmed 
with brass with an old copper pot 
filled with single sunflowers in just the 
right spot to form a composition with it. 
In one hall there was a much prized 
rococco walnut cabinet, white-lined with 
a collection of old ware directly oppo¬ 
site the front door. In fact, it does not 
so much matter whether the effect is 
secured by an interesting newel post or 
a picturesque window, or a fireplace, 
as it does to have it picturesquely serve 
its function of vivifying the welcome 
of the house with a touch of innate 
hominess or a bit of domestic charm. 
To return, however, to the various 
conceptions of a living-room. In one 
home where both the husband and wife 
were artists and where they each had 
great high-ceilinged studios in a sepa¬ 
rate wing of the house, the living-room 
had all the dignity of a drawing-room, 
with a fine wainscoting of English oak 
beautifully enriched by carvings from 
de Basel. In another house, where 
there was a host of little ones, the liv¬ 
ing-room had a low, many-mul- 
lioned casement bay with a broad 
window-seat and a broad cozy in- 
glenook. In another sitting-room 
there was a deep library nook, an 
idea that could frequently be 
worked out in our houses to give 
a greater feeling of restfulness and 
seclusion to part of the room. In 
one of the most charming homes in 
Laren, a picturesque house on the 
village square, there were two 
living-rooms on opposite sides of 
the hall, one for winter and one for 
summer, and decorated and fur¬ 
nished with this difference in view. 
The summer room was small and 
one side opened wholly upon the 
piazza that overlooked the beauti¬ 
ful old square with its great trees. 
The winter living-room had a large 
corner fireplace with fine old Dutch 
tiles and a large and small window 
nook. It had, too, a fine old press 
cupboard, the kind that is called 
kas in the Dutch inventories of 
furniture in New York. 
For the most part, the wood¬ 
work of the houses, unlike the 
wainscoting of de Basel's that we 
have mentioned, is very plain, 
with few or no moldings and 
with the emphasis upon the grain 
or stain of the wood. Holland is 
not rich in native woods, so much 
care and feeling is expended upon 
woods that up to this time we have 
not thought worth esthetic devel¬ 
opment, but which our growing 
scarcity may lead us to regard 
more highly. It is wonderful what 
can be done even with pine in a 
natural finish. In one house, for 
instance, there were two great high- 
ceilinged rooms, a living-room and 
dining-room, connected by a large 
opening' and with wainscoting about 
the height of the doors of pine wood 
transfigured by giving a soft dull sat¬ 
iny polish to its natural coloring. In 
using a wood like pine, it is essential 
to use just the right colors with it. In 
the living-room, a blue was used above 
the wainscoting with great charm. 
Blue is always a good dependable color 
with the cheaper woods finished in 
their natural colors, and the deeper 
and richer it is the more it will pale 
them and that, of course, refines their 
coloring. Another good color i« 
brown, but it must be dark enough to 
contrast with the wood and of a shade 
that does not jar. The golden browns, 
for instance, looked very well in the 
dining-room with the pine wainscoting. 
Our southern cypress, stained brown 
(Continued on page 112) 
A staircase in which an interesting touch is added 
by the carved figures on the newel posts 
An air of neatness is given by the simple paneled cupboards 
of this dining-room 
A library nook in which the bookcases are compactly 
arranged is another living-room attraction 
