The Editor will gladly answer queries pertaining to individual problems of interior decoration and furnishing. When an immediate reply is 
desired, please enclose a sdf-addressed stamped envelope 
Inside the House 
EVERAL inquiries regarding mirrors 
as decorative features for the 
living-rooms of the house have been re¬ 
ceived by this department, so that it 
seems well to give a general reply cover¬ 
ing these. 
Decoratively speaking, the mirror can 
always find a place where it will add to 
the beauty of the room. This statement, 
however, refers wholly to the mirror 
itself, but as it must have some setting, 
the frame is found to be the stumbling 
block to its successful introduction as a 
There are several types of three-panel Colonial 
mirrors, harmonizing well with nearly every 
style of interior other than Craftsman or Mis¬ 
sion 
decoration. The frame of the mirror 
must be in harmony with the room, in 
some degree at least. For instance, a 
mirror framed in dull gold, in the beauti¬ 
ful acanthus leaf design with the crossed 
torches at the top, is so distinctly French 
that it would not look well in a Craftsman 
room, nor would a plain dark wood¬ 
framed mirror, suited to a room of the 
latter type, be possible in a room of 
French period decoration. This, how¬ 
ever, is so obvious a truth that it seems 
scarcely necessary to point it, except 
that unfortunately we sometimes find 
over-mirrors on mantels made ready to 
put in place, in which mistakes as 
flagrant as these appear. 
As the mirror is a very usual decora¬ 
tion and completion of the mantel we 
will consider the style suitable to this 
first. There is for such a place an ac¬ 
cepted type of Colonial panel mirror 
which may be adapted to many styles of 
rooms in which the period idea is not 
necessarily dominant. Indeed, in most 
rooms, unless they be distinctly on Mis¬ 
sion or Craftsman lines, such a mirror 
can adjust itself agreeably, particularly 
when the woodwork is of mahogany or 
has been given an ivory enamel finish 
Excellent reproductions of pure Colonial 
designs may be purchased at very reason¬ 
able rates, and in fitting a room one can 
do no better than put money into a 
mirror of this kind; the cost is much less 
than a good picture and the decorative 
effect often equal to the latter. Also in 
some rooms the oval mirror can be effec¬ 
tively used over the mantel. This is 
especially suited to reception or drawing 
rooms and, if flanked by sconces on either 
side, provides a complete and dignified 
over-mantel treatment. 
It is much wiser to avoid the over¬ 
mantel mirror which is a part of the 
mantel, as this nearly always gives a 
commonplace effect. Excellent mantels 
can be purchased without the mirror, 
and by adding a very nominal sum to 
the amount saved on the cost of this 
mantel such a mirror as described above 
may be bought. Also there are many 
beautiful and quaint reproductions of 
the Queen Anne, the Chippendale, and 
the Empire designs which can be fitted 
into any room that will carry successfully 
a piece of Colonial or French furniture. 
In placing a mirror other than over 
the mantel the vista it will reflect should 
be considered. By a judicious arrange¬ 
ment in this, the apparent size of the 
room may be much increased. 
Where the woodwork is dark and 
One of the later types of old mirrors, is used 
here; it serves to heighten the effect'iof the 
old candlestick prisms 
(120) 
