The House and Its Furnishings 
\ 
the designers and 
cabinet-makers have 
“gone to school to 
the artists” and this 
is true of the present- 
d a y designer and 
cabinet-maker more 
than ever before. A 
room which is archi¬ 
tecturally had is, of 
course, more difficult 
to furnish than one 
which even when 
empty gives perfect 
satisfaction in form, 
lighting and archi¬ 
tectural detail. 
A room lacking in 
architectural finish 
may often he greatly 
improved by the ad¬ 
dition of a cornice¬ 
moulding, which may 
be of either plaster 
or wood. Such a 
moulding, in good 
reproduction of the 
best ancient orna¬ 
ment, may he bought 
in light-weight wood. 
A wood moulding, as 
well as the plaster, is 
treated like the ceil¬ 
ing, the side-wall be¬ 
ing papered up to its 
lower edge. 
An excellent ex¬ 
ample of the decora¬ 
tive value of such a 
moulding is shown in 
the President’s pri¬ 
vate office in the 
White House. 1 his 
cornice is of plaster, and is an important part of the 
architectural detail of the room. 
There is no wall treatment so satisfactory for the 
decoration of a house of medium cost as ordinary 
wall-paper, and no greater stride toward perfection 
has been made in any part of house decoration than is 
shown in wall-paper. Domestic papers may be had 
from thirty-hve cents to one dollar a roll, in designs 
and textures most artistic. Imported papers run 
in price as high as ^5.00 and $6.00 a roll, and higher, 
but some are shown in wonderful colorings at the 
intermediate price of from ^i.oo to ^2.50, giving 
background to a room which makes the assem¬ 
bling of the furniture a delight. 
1 he fashion of using fabrics on a wall is expensive 
and not wholly satisfactory from a standpoint of 
service, except where expensive fabrics are used 
and when they are handled by experts. Panelling 
walls with wood is charming in many houses of 
unpretentious proportions hut is also expensive. 
Japanese grass-cloth, hookcloth and similar textiles 
are attractive in many places, hut for all-around, 
everyday use, the excellent wall-papers the market 
affords are most desirable. 
There is a preparation made in soft, useful tints 
which may be applied over wall-paper, or to the 
plain, plastered walls. In a house with walls too new 
to paper, or in a room where an insupportahly ugly 
wall-paper must remain, this preparation often offers 
relief. 
169 
