52 
HOUSE & GARDEN 
THE SMAI. L 
DINING-ROOM AND ITS 
COSTEN FITZ-GIBBON 
FURNISHING 
More and more readers each day are discovering that by asking House & Garden they can solve their 
decorating and furnishing problems at a minimum of time and trouble. That is why, for your convenience, 
■we direct you to the Information Service, House & Garden, 445 Fourth Avenue, New York City 
A SMALL dining¬ 
room is both a 
snare and a gold¬ 
en chance. It is a snare 
because it affords 
ample scope to com¬ 
mit decorative atroci¬ 
ties. It is a golden 
chance because ingenu¬ 
ity may make of it a 
charming and dignified 
place quite fulfilling all 
practical requirements 
and destroying the 
painful and hampering 
sense of straitly cir¬ 
cumscribed area. 
If the possessor of 
a small dining-room, be 
it in an apartment 
house or in a small 
dwelling, tries to copy 
the appointments of a 
large dining-room in 
every minute particu¬ 
lar, he will be con¬ 
fronted with the per¬ 
plexing task of at¬ 
tempting to make two 
or more bodies occupy 
the same space at one 
and the same time. 
If, on the other hand, 
he casts aside all pre¬ 
conceived “correct” no¬ 
tions about the equip¬ 
ment of dining-rooms, 
especially large dining¬ 
rooms, he may happen 
to remember, he will 
find the obstacle of 
limited size proving a 
stimulus to constructive ingenuity and likewise 
turning into a golden chance to display such 
originality as can come only from a conquered 
difficulty,—no easy task, but a fascinating one. 
Colors that Contract and Enlarge 
In making ready the background for the fur¬ 
nishing, that is to say, in preparing the floor, 
walls and ceiling, remember that light tones and 
receding colors will add to the apparent dimen¬ 
sions of the room and give it the full 
benefit of every inch of its size. Dark 
tones and advancing colors will have ex¬ 
actly the opposite effect, so avoid them. 
Neutral colors have a tendency to help 
rather than diminish apparent size. 
If there is a cold, north light and the 
walls need warming up, a srnall room 
will stand a very light buff, although yel¬ 
low is of advancing quality, without 
losing size. Remember, also, that the 
visual effect of patterns or figures is to 
diminish apparent area, so if you wish 
to make the most of the room’s size keep 
patterns off the walls and floor. The 
skeptical may have a most convincing 
demonstration of the truth of this prin¬ 
ciple by taking a little room with plain 
walls and plain rug, putting in it a pat¬ 
terned rug and holding a few breadths of 
large figured cretonne paper against the 
wall. The striking difference in apparent 
size will leave no doubt in his mind. For 
this reason it is desirable to have either 
painted walls or a perfectly plain paper 
or else a paper with a minute self-toned 
figure and nothing stronger than a plain 
one-toned rug or carpet on the floor. 
Sharp or violent contrasts, as well as 
patterns, lessen apparent size. Therefore, 
avoid all violent contrasts between floor 
and walls or between walls and hangings 
even contrasts that might be quite admis¬ 
sible or positively desirable in a larger 
room, and keep to soft, quiet effects, pre¬ 
ferably of a harmony by analogy rather 
than a harmony by contrast. There are 
plenty such without falling into any dan¬ 
ger of monotony. Vigorous coloring in 
D. Knickerbacker Boyd, Architect 
The rule of having only the necessary furniture is applied in this dining-room. Consoles 
take the place of serving tables, and the sideboard is let into a space provided for iA 
Grey white walls make the room appear larger and also make a fitting background for 
the mahogany furniture. Additional coloris found in the rug, curtains and painting 
a very small room is just as unpleasant as a loud, 
roaring voice under the same conditions. 
From the foregoing observations the reader 
will see why it is also necessary to avoid figured 
hangings and let all their interest come from the 
color which will furnish variety enough for inter¬ 
est without producing strident contrast. For ex¬ 
ample, with plain putty grey walls short window 
hangings of thin apricot or pale yellow silk, or 
silk of a luminous gray hyacinthine blue, will 
Peabody, Wilson & Brown, Architects 
A small room of striking individuality whose primi¬ 
tive atmosphere is retained in furniture and paper 
give quiet, harmonious 
and interesting con¬ 
trasts that will not 
make the room appear 
smaller. Imagination 
can easily picture, on 
the other hand, the ef¬ 
fect of using large fig¬ 
ured printed linen or 
chintz window hang¬ 
ings or hangings of a 
plain emerald green or 
strong red in a small 
room. These are ex¬ 
treme examples, of 
course, but they serve 
to illustrate the work¬ 
ing of the principle. 
While sharp contrasts 
between walls and 
hangings are to be es¬ 
chewed, and likewise 
figures and stripes, be¬ 
cause the object is to 
create space and keep 
the walls as far away 
as possible, contrast be¬ 
tween light walls and 
movable furniture need 
not be dreaded because 
the walls act as a foil 
for the furniture 
which, if judiciously 
chosen, will laelp to ac¬ 
centuate whatever ap¬ 
pearance of space has 
already been achieved. 
But that is another 
story, not to be told now. 
One more “don’t”: 
Don’t have a chande¬ 
lier or any other vari¬ 
ety of lighting fixture dropping out of the mid¬ 
dle of the ceiling. It breaks up the space and 
makes the room lose size. Side brackets will 
give all the light necessary in a small room and, 
along with the usual lights on the table, the 
effect will be more agreeable. 
The Necessary Furniture 
The next step is the choice of furniture, and 
the smaller the dining-room the more must sound 
common sense and considerations of strict 
utility guide the process without reference 
to the dictates of convention. The bare 
and absolute essentials that cannot be dis¬ 
pensed with are a dining-table, chairs and 
some sort of table or stand for serving. 
Even in the smallest apartment, the din¬ 
ing-room will hold these comfortably, and 
most smalt dining-rooms will hold con¬ 
siderably more. Whether choosing these 
few articles or additional pieces, there are 
several principles which it is worth while- 
to remember and apply. 
Whatever is chosen, over and above the 
barest essentials just named, should be 
chosen primarily with a view to thorough 
utility and nothing ought to be included 
in the equipment that is not susceptible 
of being completely devoted to a practical 
purpose. One of the least desirable pieces 
of furniture in any dining-room, and the 
best to eliminate from the small dining¬ 
room, is the china or glass cupboard or 
cabinet so often seen. 
In furnishing a room of limited dimen¬ 
sions one has an excellent opportunity to 
exercise the process of elimination men¬ 
tally in the planning stage. A small din¬ 
ing-room crowded with furniture that 
some conventional-minded person thought 
“correct,” is both ugly and uncomfortable, 
and makes one feel as though they were 
eating in a furniture shop. One impor¬ 
tant object is to keep the room as empty 
as may be, so that it will seem at least 
commodious if not spacious. Conse¬ 
quently it is best to have only a few use¬ 
ful pieces of dignified appearance. Inci- 
(Continued on page 74) 
