September, 1916 
25 
You may not believe it, but these two photographs were taken from the same spot. The secret? The partition was torn out and the corner 
cabinet abolished. Likewise the fixtures and the harem grill. Then a paper of closely patterned leaf green and cream was put on the 
walls, a soft grey carpet laid, some furniture painted in lavender, and a golden velvet upholstered, davenport and lounge chair set in 
years ago no house or apartment was felt 
too small to have its separate room for din¬ 
ing, but today the best thought of modern 
architectural and furniture design is turned 
to eradicating this erroneous notion. Of 
course, where there are a large number of 
persons in the family, or when one enter¬ 
tains formally and much, a dining-room is 
a great convenience, but for the average, 
modest home a dining-room is a waste of 
space, a decorative loss and a deal of un¬ 
necessary work. In the group shown one 
can gain a fair idea of the new type of din¬ 
ing furniture designed to use in the living- 
room. It is light but practical. 
The Reclaimed Bedroom 
Economically, this new and better plan 
saves the cost of a large table and several 
chairs; practically, it saves the housework 
of “another” room; socially, the intimate, 
en famille spirit is at once a compliment and 
a warming welcome to the bidden guest; 
decoratively, it gives the living-room added 
beauty with its attractive pieces. All that 
seems to stand between this spiritual and 
material improvement of the modest home 
and its universal adoption is a certain 
squeemishness about “setting the table be¬ 
fore the guests” and the spectre, “Tradi¬ 
tion.” All these things considered, the “rea¬ 
sons” for a separate dining-room seem 
hardly worth their price. 
Turning from the verdure and gold-toned 
living-room to the 
brighter bedroom, 
one is first at¬ 
tracted to its clean 
order. The walls 
are 'hung with a 
blocked paper of 
orchid pink and 
cream and faintly 
stippled leaf of 
gold and set in 
pleasant contrast 
by the lavender 
rugs upon the dark 
stained floor. The 
framing woodwork 
and all the fitments—excepting only the 
simple brown rubbed mahogany lamp 
stand—are light, almost white, ivory enamel. 
Natural linen with a wide, effective, self- 
toned stripe is used for the curtains, the 
bed and the bureau cover. 
The drapery and the bed cover are of 
especial interest, for they are typical of a 
new order in interior decoration. 
Slowly—all too slowly for the greater 
beauty of the small house and modest 
apartment—the ornate “lace” curtain is 
giving way to marquisette, scrim and tiny 
patterned net, while these in turn are giv¬ 
ing way to “draw curtains” of graceful ma¬ 
terial and thoughtful design. In this bed¬ 
room is an excellent example of this new 
drapery. Combined with the ordinary Eng¬ 
lish “roller shade,” they afford all the pri¬ 
vacy of the “lace” curtain, while—aside 
from the hygienic advantage of more light 
and air—they give the room a distinguished 
atmosphere of quiet strength without se¬ 
verity of either line or color. 
Further contributing to this desirable 
decorative quality is the unique bed cover 
of linen. Envelopes of shaped linen com¬ 
pletely cover the head and foot of the com¬ 
mon iron bed, and a tailored spread covers 
the bed and pillows. 
These covers are a striking example of 
what can be accomplished with slips. Often 
a householder is not in a position to change 
the furniture; then he has the saving alter¬ 
It was the regulation “ railway ” apartment, but the removal of the partition gave some 
relief and made the living-room livably large. The disposition of the furniture on this 
plan is worth studying for its economy of space 
native of covering it and radically altering 
its whole appearance. 
Point for point, the whole apartment is a 
splendid affirmation of Owen Jones’ classic 
proposition, “Construction shall be orna¬ 
mented, but ornament shall not be extrane- 
ously constructed.” 
The Point About Papers 
Throughout all the rooms there is a stud¬ 
ied and widely applicable balance between 
the patterned surface and its complement, 
plain surface. The walls in all the rooms 
being hung with papers of intricate and 
worthy design, all the fitments and deco¬ 
rative objects are simple in line design and 
refreshing in their lack of meretricious 
decoration. But two well-chosen pictures 
are used in the apartment, and these carry 
on the color plan, the rugs are without fig¬ 
ure, the tables and mantels are not littered 
with meaningless bric-a-brac, and the re¬ 
ward for this fine restraint is—an apart¬ 
ment restful to the eye and home-like; an 
apartment in which each decorative ele¬ 
ment, from the least to the greatest, is shown 
without artistic loss by unfortunate crowd¬ 
ing and contrast in the most effective way. 
Perhaps the most remarkable part of the 
transformation of this old apartment was 
the money spent upon it. It represents the 
outlay of $800. Anyone can spend $800, 
but it takes a large capital of good taste, 
selection and careful buying to spend 
$800 so effectively. 
Amusing as these 
“before and after” 
illustrations may 
be, they show more 
clearly than words 
can tell the value 
of knowing how to 
spend money on 
decorations. With 
such examples, 
there is every in¬ 
centive for the 
householder 
to learn this gentle 
and pleasant art. 
