24 
H O USE & GARDEN 
RECLAIMING 
THE OLD 
APARTMENT 
What $800 and 
Three Weeks’ Work 
Accomplished 
HENRY BLACKMAN SELL 
Good taste works like magic. It found 
the bedroom commonplace and made of 
it a delightful little spot. It took down 
the stock fixtures, repapered the walls 
with a Morris design, laid rag rugs on 
the floor, hung valanced taffeta curtains 
at the window and covered an old white 
iron bedstead with a box to match 
I T was a som¬ 
ber and dis¬ 
couraging pros¬ 
pect that greeted 
our eyes on the 
dull gray after¬ 
noon when we 
first looked at the 
apartment. The 
long hall was dim 
and blank. The 
neutral walls of 
the old-fashioned 
front and back 
parlors were 
framed in de¬ 
pressing outlines 
of imitation red 
mahogany. The 
bedroom, with its 
drab outlook and 
queer three - cor¬ 
nered wardrobe, 
held little deco¬ 
rative promise. 
At the far end of 
the hall was a 
dining room, dim, 
brown and forbid¬ 
ding. Around its 
four walls ran the 
broken, protruding line of a plate-rack. 
This seemingly “impossible” apartment 
was to be the home of an interior architect, 
and into the hands of his designing staff he 
gave the decorative scheme and its work¬ 
ing out. With all speed and much amusing 
secrecy they set about their task of showing 
what can be done with gloomy prospects 
and architectural yesteryears when a truth¬ 
ful and vigorous application of the gospel 
of the dignity of decorative simplicity is 
brought to bear upon them. 
Another Three Weeks 
Some three weeks later we were invited 
to see the transformed room, and what a 
change! We hardly knew the place. 
The partitions between the old front and 
back parlors had been torn out, making way 
for one large, comfortable living-room, the 
old dining-room had been abandoned as a 
“dining-room” and then had been refur- 
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Why have a separate room to eat in? One never spends more than two hours of the day eat¬ 
ing-. the rest of the time the room is idle. That is how the occupant argued. And he con¬ 
verted the bay window of the living-room into a dining alcove. The woodwork was painted 
seji green and simple silk curtains hung at the windows. A little set of painted furniture fit¬ 
ted perfectly into the space. The war on the stock fixtures, of course, was pursued relentlessly 
nished and redecorated as a guest bedroom, 
while the group of circular windows at the 
front of the new living-room had been cozi- 
ly fitted as a dining corner. Everywhere 
the “combination light” fixtures had been 
removed, and great was the improvement. 
And color! It was hard to realize, and 
harder still to describe, the color changes. 
The long hall which had seemed so dim 
and uninviting now gave a cordial welcome 
with its light gray walls, enameled wood¬ 
work and two long, linen wall prints of 
Pompeiian red, deep green and black, hung 
as tapestry panels near the entrance door. 
Passing from the hall we entered the 
living-room. The sun was shining in 
through its many windows and the color 
impression was, at first glimpse, that of a 
heavily bowered garden on a bright June 
morning. It was a veritable triumph. 
Delicate, closely patterned, leaf green 
and cream and deep ivory touched walls 
gave the happy 
tone key; light 
sej i green enam- 
e 1 e d woodwork 
and slender lav¬ 
ender painted 
pieces heightened 
and clarified the 
exquisite charm 
of the.walls; the 
soft gray of the 
carpet caught a 
faint tint from 
the surrounding 
hues, while the 
deep shades and 
shadows of the 
golden silk vel- 
vet - covered 
lounge and filmy 
draperies fell as 
mellow notes of 
bass across the 
subtle compo¬ 
sition, blending 
and harmonizing 
the different tonal 
elements. 
Four groups of 
furniture made 
up this room, each 
complete in its own right, each occupying 
a full wall space, each carrying the unified 
scheme of color to its own side of the room, 
and yet each essentially a contributory part 
of the whole plan. Single chairs served to 
join the groups one to the other in three 
instances, while the bookcase performed 
that purpose in the fourth. In this way not 
only the furniture, but the color and detail 
of the room were given equal and orderly 
distribution and the unfortunate “one¬ 
sidedness” of the usual large room was 
avoided without sacrificing comfort. 
Why Have a Dining-Room? 
At night the room is perfectly lighted by 
three standard lamps and one low-hanging 
fixture over the dining group, giving soft 
and even light exactly where it is most 
needed for utility and effectiveness. 
The most unusual of these groups is the 
dining corner by the windows. A few 
