October, 1912 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
215 
assortment seem especially suited to each other, and both possess 
the virtue of adaptability. A well designed and properly cushion¬ 
ed willow chair will look well in almost any company and is par¬ 
ticularly suitable for living-room or library. Although the natural 
color of the osiers is pleasing, willow ware may be painted to 
make it harmonize with any color scheme desired. So many arti¬ 
cles all the way from chairs to lamps are now made in willow that 
it is possible to furnish a whole room with it and such treatment 
is often highly satisfactory. 
Another variety of woven ware that comes from China, made 
of rattan, is known as “Canton” furniture and consists mostly of 
chairs and settees. The “hour-glass” or “mandarin” chairs of 
this ware are of exceptionally pleasing shape and can be satis¬ 
factorily used in almost any place, whether indoors or out, as they 
harmonize readily with pretty much any aggregation of furni¬ 
ture. They can be found at nearly every shop that deals in East¬ 
ern wares, as well as in some other places, and range in price 
from $5.00 to $7.50. according to size. Occasionally they may be 
picked up, if you watch your opportunity, for as little as $3.50. 
The claims of 
cane-seated and 
can e-b a c k e d 
chairs and set¬ 
tees should not 
be overlooked. 
They can often 
be found with 
wooden frames 
of Spanish or 
French pattern, 
“n e u t r a 1 pat¬ 
terns” one might 
call them inas- 
m u c h as they „ 
can generally he 
put with other 
types of furni¬ 
ture with good 
effect. They are 
more expensive 
than the willow 
or rattan ware 1 he simplicity in craftsmen furniture is excellent 
and varv in price in rooms with unfinished woodwork 
The dining-room of the house at the top of the opposite page. The 
Georgian china closet is an anachronism with this table, yet harmonizes 
1 his bedroom is a good example of various furniture used well in com¬ 
bination. The simple repeat design ties the room into a unified whole 
A type of nondescript furniture valuable for small rooms is the cane- 
backed and seated chair of dark, shiny finish 
according to the material and elaboration of the work on the 
frames. 
Next we must take note of “wooden” furniture, that is to say, 
Windsor chairs and settees with their charming backs and arms 
of slender spindles, humbler chairs, too, and tables of less pre¬ 
tence but with g'ood, bold lines, the product of Colonial carpenter 
shops. Cupboards and chests may also be found, some of which 
lend themselves admirably to painted decoration after the manner 
of Biedemeyer, the Bavarian peasants or their Colonial decorators 
who adorned them with quaint, stiff little baskets of fruits and 
sprays of flowers done either in black or in vivid colors. Many 
of these forms possess a distinctive robust comeliness of their 
own, while some of the Windsor family have a certain patrician 
grace that entitles them to special consideration. Then, too, there 
are the old ladder-back, applewood chairs with rush-bottomed 
seats and heavily turned legs and rungs or stretchers. Other 
rush-bottomed species, likewise, including the American “Empire” 
things, are to be counted in the enumeration. 
By several makers all this old “wooden” furniture is now being 
carefully reproduced in hickory and other hard woods from re¬ 
liable models and may he secured either unpainted, so that the 
purchaser can have it decorated to suit his fancy, or painted black, 
(Continued on page 236) 
