The Use of Nondescript Furniture 
THE VALUABLE FIELD FOR FURNISHING THE HOME IN GOOD TASTE WITHOUT RESORTING 
TO THE PERIOD STYLES—STRAIGHTFORWARD DESIGNS THAT ARE UNIVERSALLY SERVICEABLE 
by Abbot McClure 
Photographs by Mary H. Northend, P. B. Wallace and Others 
H IBERNIANISMS may be il¬ 
logical, but they are usually 
apt. They often hit the nail fairly 
and squarely on the head and, in a 
brief, paradoxical way, say exactly 
what we mean when otherwise much 
roundabout, prosy verbiage would 
be needed. It may, perhaps, seem a 
contradiction in terms to speak of 
describing the nondescript, but when 
it is seen how the term “nondescript” 
is employed in the present instance 
the seeming difficulty of description 
vanishes. As applied to furniture 
the classification “nondescript” may 
be said to include all types, at least 
all comparatively modern types, not 
embraced in the various kinds of 
“period” furniture, that is 
to say, Chippendale, Hep- 
plewhite, Sheraton. Adam 
or the styles named after 
the monarch during whose 
reign they flourished. 
The several sorts set in 
this miscellaneous cate¬ 
gory are, in themselves, 
readily susceptible of de¬ 
scription, but the sum to¬ 
tal of the many kinds that 
belong to no particular 
“period,” and of some 
kinds that do, is indeed 
nondescript. The term 
“nondescript” may also be 
applied to a medley of 
pieces, each of which be¬ 
longs to a different style 
or period. 
Let it be distinctly un¬ 
derstood that the word 
“nondescript,” as used 
here, is in no sense a 
term of reproach; it is 
merely a comprehensive 
term of convenience. 
Nondescript furniture, 
like anything else, may be good, bad or indifferent. Some kinds 
of it are to be shunned as we should the plague — tables afflicted 
with fluted elephantiasis, chairs with spavined legs, settees with 
curvature of the spine, all of them conspiring with their contor¬ 
tions and distortions to hurt the body and offend the eye. There 
is no repose nor dignity in them and, of course, no beauty. They 
are incarnations of criminal ugliness. So much, then, for the 
“dreadfuls” of nondescript furniture. On the other hand, there 
is a great deal of nondescript furniture that is most excellent and 
well worth using and it is our business here to note the places in 
which it is likely or proper to be used 
and to see how it may be turned to 
the best account. Its use and ar¬ 
rangement afford great scope for the 
play of good taste and originality. 
After all, there is something pecu¬ 
liarly cosmopolitan and catholic 
about the really good nondescript 
furniture that seems to accord with 
the character of the Nineteenth and 
Twentieth Centuries. 
There is hardly a house where a 
collection of furniture more or less 
nondescript does not have to be 
reckoned with and disposed to such 
advantage as circumstances permit. 
Most houses are full of it and its 
proper arrangement constitutes one 
of the chief problems for 
the interior decorator. 
Oftentimes, by inheri¬ 
tance or other means, peo¬ 
ple have come by a large 
quantity of such furniture 
that is of material too 
good and intrinsic excel¬ 
lence too great to sacri¬ 
fice and which it would be 
positively wrong and 
prodigal to waste. The 
two problems then pro¬ 
posed are, first, its re¬ 
arrangement in the man¬ 
ner most suitable to its, 
setting and, second, the 
judicious purchase of any 
more that may be needed 
to go with it. 
This article is written 
largely, however, for the 
behoof of those that are 
furnishing a house anew 
and find it not convenient, 
because of expense, or in¬ 
expedient, for some other 
reason, to equip their es¬ 
tablishment with period 
furniture. Perhaps the house itself may be of a type that would 
not stand such furnishing, for there is such a thing, be it remem¬ 
bered, as making an indifferent house look vastly worse by un¬ 
suitable furniture that, in itself, may be in the best of taste. It 
need scarcely be added that it is infinitely better to have good 
furniture of no particular inherited design than a period style 
ill made, wrongly shaped and altogether devoid of the subtle grace 
of line for which the old pieces are distinguished. If one has an 
unquenchable yearning for period furniture it is always a comfort 
to remember that good pieces, old or reproduced, can be acquired 
That furniture which has the appearance of hand work 
combines well with articles of different styles 
In this room are good types of Windsor chairs that may be found to-day in ex¬ 
cellent reproduction. They are exceedingly comfortable and well in accord 
with the built-in settles shown here 
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