An excellent arrangement creating a proper center of interest is to place a very long and somewhat massive davenport before the fire, and directly behind 
a table, equally long, about seven feet, and ample enough to hold a lamp on either end and plenty of books and magazines 
The Essentials for Making a Living-Room Livable 
THE PROPER LOCATION IN THE HOUSE—ITS CENTERS OF INTEREST—THE 
NECESSITY FOR GOOD LIGHTING ARRANGEMENTS—METHODS FOR ADAPT¬ 
ING OLD PERIODS TO MODERN USE—PAINTED AND WILLOW FURNITURE 
Mary McBurney 
Photographs by the Author and Amee A. Jones 
T HE real significance of the living-room and drawing-room 
is so often misinterpreted by being carried to the utmost 
extreme that it is interesting, and even necessary, to lay stress on 
the true individuality of each. The drawing-room is usually ac¬ 
cepted as a formal, somewhat uncomfortable place to be used for 
entertaining, and to be avoided at genial, intimate moments. It 
seems to lack an atmosphere of warmth and comfort and to stand 
coldly aloof from everyday life. I have seen houses where people 
retreat to the bedrooms or the nursery rather than try to make 
themselves at home in the drawing-room, and it is easy to under¬ 
stand their doing so when one feels the cold and cheerless atmos¬ 
phere ; curtains are drawn, the hearth—where no fire ever burns— 
is bare or concealed by some ornament; and in summer, dreary, 
white Holland covers deform the furniture. It should, of course, 
be a formal, dignified room, well carried out in a period style if 
possible, especially when there is another room, a library or morn¬ 
ing room for general day use; but it need not lack either in com¬ 
fort or charm because of its formality; in fact, great emphasis 
should be laid on the choice of comfortable furniture and a real 
fire on its dignified hearth! And also, most important, the sun 
should be allowed to enter through its not too much curtained 
windows, while a great stimulus to livableness are growing plants- 
79 
