April, 1917 
35 
sofas, all the many diliferent sorts of 
tables, chairs and the like which may 
either be set against the wall or 
brought out in the room. 
In the same manner groups are to 
be classed as “wall groups” and “floor 
groups.” A good example of the 
former would be a long table with 
high-backed chairs at each end; or a 
long chest above which is hung a large 
picture of decorative character or a 
Chinese screen. A “floor group” might 
consist of a long sofa facing the fire¬ 
place, backed by a table of the same 
length with a bench or form. This 
sort of grouping naturally admits of 
more latitude of arrangement. 
Group Formation 
Ordinarily the larger and more im¬ 
portant pieces of furniture will be¬ 
come the natural centers about which 
subsidiary pieces will be grouped. If 
the larger things are well arranged, 
the smaller things, the mobiliary satel¬ 
lites one might almost call them, wdll 
of themselves fall into fitting posi¬ 
tions. The composition of each group 
must in itself be restrained, coherent 
and logical. In forming these groups 
it is exceedingly important to divest 
one’s self of preconceived notions 
that a certain object or a certain kind 
of object of necessity must enter into 
the composition of a room, or occupy 
a certain place in a room. One must 
take up the task with a clear, unbiased 
mind, being guided only by the imme¬ 
diate circumstances, unless one is pre¬ 
pared to put aside everything original 
or distinctive and to consent to plod 
along in a groove of sand-papered con¬ 
ventionality. An obsession in favor of 
a convention has spoiled more than one 
dining-room by insistently putting the 
dining table in the middle, regardless 
of the shape and general 
condition of the room, 
without realizing that 
the physical center is not 
necessarily the center so 
far as convenience and 
interest are concerned. 
One of the illustrations 
shows an English dining¬ 
room w hose owners 
candidly recognized con¬ 
ditions imposed by the 
architecture and made a 
thoroughly satisfactory 
grouping of the dining 
table and its attendant 
chairs in a bow window 
opening on a delightful 
garden. They had an 
admirable chance to spoil 
the whole effect by doing 
the conventional thing 
and putting the table in 
the middle of the room. 
It is easy to deduce the 
plainly implied principle 
that a furniture group 
should be not merely a 
focal point of visual in¬ 
terest, but a focal point 
of practical utility and 
convenience as well. No 
matter how fine the fur¬ 
niture, there is no use in 
displaying its charms un- 
lY Above is shown an irregular shaped living- 
room in which it is impossible to arrange the 
furniture on the architectural axes. In the dia¬ 
gram there has been created artificial axes 
and the furniture is arranged on them effective¬ 
ly. A — bookcase, B — chair, G — chest, D — table. 
E — sofa. 
F — console. H—tea stand, 
J — piano. K—piano bench 
I — settee. 
Y Or again, the furniture can be grouped off 
axis, in fact, no attempt made either to create 
or observe an axis. The result is much better 
and infinitely preferable 
Finally, the room itself as it is arranged without an axis. In the bow window 
is a dining corner. The rest of the room serves for living-purposes 
less its system of grouping contem¬ 
plates comfort and utility first of all. 
Comfort and utility must be the 
ultimate tests of the value of the 
grouping. Furniture that cannot be 
conveniently used on account of its 
placing or furniture that obstructs 
progress through a room is ill grouped. 
No decorative canon is valid if it is 
not based on utility—the fundamental 
purpose of all furniture. 
In starting out to arrange the furni¬ 
ture of a room and determine the 
location of the groups of which the 
composition is to consist, the first step 
is to make a careful survey of the 
architectural conditions which are to 
supply the background. At this point 
it will be a great aid to clear planning, 
as well as a saving of exiierimental 
effort, to make an accurate floor plan 
of the room, or better still a set of 
duplicate blue prints of the plan, indi¬ 
cating the position and measurements 
to scale of all door, window and fire¬ 
place openings, the projection of the 
chimney jambs and the position of all 
lighting fixtures and attachments. On 
this may be made several trial dia¬ 
grams, working out the various group¬ 
ing possibilities and deciding which 
best meets the requirements. This 
furniture diagram will be of value in 
indicating the architectural axes of the 
room, whether it is ultimately decided 
to arrange the groups on axis, in a 
more or less symmetrical composition, 
or off axis from the room. 
Placing the Large Pieces 
The next step after completing the 
survey of architectural features is to 
decide upon the logical placing of the 
larger and more important pieces of 
furniture, the nuclei of the group that 
will be completed later. And in this 
process we naturally dis¬ 
pose of the “wall furni¬ 
ture” first. In so doing, 
the character of the 
pieces themselves will, to 
a certain extent, deter¬ 
mine their placement. 
For example, a long 16th 
Century Italian table will 
naturally have the long¬ 
est unbroken wall space 
assigned to it. In most 
conditions, it would be a 
bad mistake to set such 
a piece in the space be¬ 
tween doors or windows 
where it would barely fit 
it, leaving no room for 
chairs or other flanking 
objects. Such a piece de¬ 
mands sufficient space in 
which to dominate its 
own group. Moreover, 
the treatment of the wall 
space above it must be 
accommodated to the ex¬ 
isting conditions. 
In this matter of the 
relation between wall 
adornment and furniture 
grouping it may be ob¬ 
served that oftentimes a 
certain place has to be 
assigned to a certain 
{Continued on page 90) 
