The House and Its Furnishings 
By MARY HODGES 
T O attain something like picturesqueness in 
house decoration, one has to be neither very 
rich, very much at leisure, nor very familiar 
with the art of decoration. The market affords such 
a variety of good things that it narrows down, after 
all, to merely a question of selection. 
Every day the class which has no individuality is 
becoming smaller, and the latitude of choice offered 
individual taste is becoming wider, so that anything 
more than mere suggestion seems unnecessary. i his 
wide range of selection is sometimes confusing hut 
with ordinary taste and ludgment, and with the 
attractive designs to he had to-day in crafts furniture, 
in Colonial mahogany, as well as the seventeenth 
and eighteenth century reproductions, there is no 
reason why a house may not be furnished at a 
moderate expense which will give real satisfaction. 
However, even if each element of furnishing be 
beautiful or tolerable in itself their concourse may 
be fortuitous; their ensemble inharmonious. An 
effort to give unity of design and impression is the 
first principle of a harmonious whole,—such unity is 
the elementary requirement of art. The furnishing 
of a room should he designed as a whole; from floor 
to ceiling every object should stand in relation to 
other objects and every individual effect whether of 
form or color, should he subordinate to the general 
result. 
; Simplicity in furnishing has been heretofore one 
of the exclusive privileges of the wealthy. This 
quality, which is to he desired above all others, has 
been found only in the most expensive models. To 
the person of moderate means, this evidence of design 
in the furnishing of their rooms is possible only when 
THE president’s PRIVATE OFFICE AT THE WHITE HOUSE 
l68 
