H ouse and Garden 
1 he lighting hxtures ol a house are of extraordinary 
importance. They, in fact, go far toward the making 
or marring of the general effect. Where permanent 
residence is contemplated the utmost generosity in 
expenditure for lighting h.xtures is desirable. Stock 
hxtures are often good, and are constantly being 
improved, but where it is possible to have the hxtures 
specially designed, or at least made especially for the 
room in which they are placed, the difference is 
apparent and justihed. 
Side lights give much the most effective form of 
illumination and are “becoming,” but the danger 
in placing lighting hxtures on the side walls of a 
room lies m the fact that the direct light in the eyes 
may be unpleasant. In rooms of medium height 
ceiling, where the hxtures are relatively located, this 
may occur. 
In wiring a house for electricity, outlets in the base¬ 
boards should he arranged, making possible an 
effective lighting by means of standards or lamps. 
Where the character of the room permits, if a 
chandelier is used the best results may be attained 
by so designing the hxture that the arms turn down, 
rather than up; the light from such a hxture is not 
only greater, hut casts fewer shadocVs and is conse¬ 
quently more effective. 
Where possible, let the lighting hxtures be hand¬ 
some, no detail of the room is more important to the 
IS quite important. All trimming 
hardware should be most carefully 
selected. With the architectural 
finish of a room satisfactory; 
the light fixtures and hard¬ 
ware used, suitable and artis¬ 
tic, it is very difficult to spoil it 
with the furniture. That it can be 
done, however, is evidenced by the 
fortuitous assembling of pieces of 
furniture of different meaning as 
in the old Colonial hall shown here, 
— a hall which is the main entrance 
of a famous country-seat, hut 
which is conspicuously out of har¬ 
mony. Architecturally speaking, 
it is an excellent example of an 
early Colonial hall, and if, instead 
of an indiscriminate assembling of 
Colonial mahogany, Georgian 
walnut, and wicker furniture, it had 
been treated simply and sparingly 
(for bulky pieces are not only ugly, 
but inconvenient,in a narrow hall), 
with the davenport, pier table and 
glass shown on the next page, 
with an added chair or two, the 
effectwould have been restful aswell 
as artistic. The lighting hxtures 
AN OLD COLONIAL HALL AND STAIRWAY in this hall are also incongruous. 
A MODERNIZED COLONIAL HALLWAY 
general result. The hardware used in a room is a 
detail of decoration which, though apparently minor. 
170 
