156 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
March, 1915 
In planning, have a space reserved for the sideboard, into which 
it fits. Do not let it protrude into the room. Such fitments as 
a china closet, if one must have one, should be built in. 
The foremost essential for cheeriness is exposure. If possible, 
have the dining-room 
windows face south 
or east, for the morn¬ 
ing sun at breakfast 
helps in starting the 
day well. If the ex¬ 
posure must be west, 
we will find much joy 
in watching the sun¬ 
set as we dine in the 
summer. 
A group of win¬ 
dows is always pre¬ 
ferable to scattered 
ones. They lend 
themselves better to 
decoration with hang¬ 
ings and plants, and 
besides, we get from 
a group of windows 
a broad, generous 
outlook. On the op¬ 
posite side should be 
the fireplace, so that 
when the sun deserts 
us at our meals we 
can make use of his understudy. The day of the basement dining¬ 
room has passed, let us hope. To those of us not brought up in 
New York the idea certainly made a most unpleasant impression 
at first experience. The pyramidal walnut suites of our mothers’ 
day, set as they were in a dark-toned basement dining-room, must 
have made eating a dismal horror. But in many city homes the 
dining-room is sunless, albeit it is above stairs. In this case a 
light, gay-flowered paper will prove charming, adding the life 
and brightness that is lacking. In the country, light, paneled 
walls or plain papers are best. 
The floor of the 
dining-room may 
either be stained 
and waxed or 
painted. In the 
center, leaving a 
border of about 
three feet, spread 
a n Oriental o r 
plain rug. Orien¬ 
tal rugs are the 
most accommo¬ 
dating things in 
the world; they 
tone in with 
every sort of fur¬ 
niture, decoration 
and hanging. 
Never use a pat¬ 
terned carpet in 
a dining - room, 
especially one 
with a scattered 
pattern. The 
floor should be 
kept unobtrusive. 
Walls may be treated in any number of ways, but must be kept 
lighter in tone than the floor. Paneled walls of oak or cypress 
are beautiful, but in using these woods one is limited in one’s 
choice of furniture. One successful treatment is to panel the 
wall in large spaces 
in creamy white or 
soft gray. Should 
wood paneling prove 
too expensive, strips 
of moulding fastened 
on the plaster and the 
whole covered with 
several coats of paint 
make a distinguished 
and at the same time 
an expensive wall. 
Either buff striped 
paper or plain Elton- 
bury paper in a warm 
tan makes an excel¬ 
lent background for 
mahogany furniture. 
The ceiling must be 
toned in with the side 
wall, but never a dead 
white. Beamed ceil¬ 
ings are almost al¬ 
ways too heavy and 
out of proportion in 
a small dining-room. 
It takes a very large dining-room to carry off a beamed ceiling 
and have it achieve any distinction. Delicate plaster designing 
may be used with success on the ceiling of a rather pretentious 
dining-room, but a simple, classic cornice is much better than a 
heavy, over-elaborated type. All these things are simply a mat¬ 
ter of proportion. 
“To break bread” presumes a certain intimacy, and it is as her 
dining-room is cheery or cheerless, as her meals are carefully 
chosen and served, meagre or overponderous, that we judge a 
hostess. She stands or falls with her dining-room. 
The Colonial 
dining-room is a 
gracious style, 
and for m any 
homes this has 
proved the most 
successful, espe¬ 
cially as we are 
rather rich in 
heritage of old 
mahogany. Sim¬ 
plicity must be 
the key - note: 
whit e, paneled 
walls, with per¬ 
haps an old fam¬ 
ily portrait over 
the fireplace; and 
simple side fix¬ 
tures of Sheffield 
plate silver, make 
a good beginning. 
A wonderfully 
decorative and 
(Continued on 
page 193) 
A Jacobean room consistent throughout. This shows, in addition, the proper arrangement of furniture 
assuring a sense of light and space in the room 
Even Japanese style of decorations can be adapted, as here; although the furnishings, decorations and hangings 
should carry the Japanese spirit to the last degree without making the room look stilted and exotic 
