soft greens of the old English ware; the faded blue of Chinese 
porcelain; the gleam of a mirror; the reflection of polished silver; 
the delightful vistas across hall and library; the dignified mantel, 
and, framed by the west windows, a broad sweep of green turf 
bordered by closely clipped hedges and the fruit garden just be¬ 
yond, make a picture that cannot but linger in the memory with 
abiding charm. 
These rooms that are in summer cool, home-like and comfort¬ 
able, are necessarily more cozy and rich in their winter dress. 
Where Venetian blinds are relied on to keep out the glare and pro¬ 
tect from the heat without the sacrifice of one breath of air, winter 
hangings are used of soft cream filet net,with silken overhangings 
that harmonize with the colors of the rooms: dull blue for the 
living-room, deep, dull reds for the library and dining-room, and 
a rich, dark green for the hall. Where the fiber rugs of cream 
and grey with markings of dull blues and greens form the sum¬ 
the first-floor rooms. 
There is the rose 
room for the pass¬ 
ing guest, with the 
rose motif repeated 
in the walls and in 
the hangings and 
the rose color of the 
r u g s. There are 
rooms with blue 
notes in the scheme 
instead of rose. The 
faintest of pale 
greens, like the in¬ 
ner lining of a lily's 
leaf, is the little 
A house built to its setting: the broad lines of the roof not unlike those of the hills hereabouts 
mer floor cover¬ 
ings, Persian 
rugs, rich in de¬ 
sign and soft in 
color, blend with 
and form a part 
of the charm of 
each room. 
Where rich vel¬ 
vet, dull leather 
and soft velours 
form warm back¬ 
grounds for win¬ 
ter use covers of 
cream linen, pat¬ 
terned or striped 
in ecru, soft to 
feel and cool to 
touch, spell com¬ 
fort in the sum¬ 
mer days. 
The seven bed¬ 
rooms on the sec- 
ond floor, all 
opening into a 
central, spacious 
hall, are as well 
designed as are 
A pergola divides the west lawn from the rose garden 
and leads down to the drive 
The built-in book shelves are enclosed in leaded glass 
doors, like those that frame the porch 
girl’s boudoir, and everywhere there are 
broad windows that look out on charm¬ 
ing views and admit the maximum 
amount of light and air. 
Perfectly appointed baths, marble- 
lined showers, commodious closets, dain¬ 
ty furniture of white enamel, willow, 
and fine brass, and in all and through all, 
daintiness, sweetness and that freshness 
that means the acme of living comfort and is the ambition of every 
housewife to obtain, would seem to indicate that, after the build¬ 
ers had finished and left their monument of stone and wood and 
plaster and glass, an equally artistic touch has been necessary to 
accomplish the transformation of the house into what it unques¬ 
tionably is — a home. 
Xot the least of the charms of Coniston are the gardens. They 
seem also to have been planned, like the house, for a permanent 
home. Here are few of the ephemeral flowers that wither in a 
day. On the other hand, the larger proportion of.the plantings 
are of broad-leaved evergreens, with some of the conifers, and a 
goodly sprinkling of the deciduous shrubs. The grey and white 
of the house and out-buildings make a wonderfully effective back¬ 
ground for the pines and cedars and evergreens with broad leaves 
that surround it. There are groups of pittosporum, eleaster and 
abelia that grow at the base of the terrace; there are masses of 
spiraea Thunbergii that lighten with their delicate loveliness the 
heavier-leaved groups. There are plantings of lagerstroemias and 
neriums and altheas that make the summer gay. There are tall 
oaks that tower above the entrance of the driveway and here and 
there about the house give needed shade and screen without be¬ 
ing close enough to shut out the air. There are delightful cor¬ 
ners where viburnums, gardenias, spiraeas, syringas and ligus- 
trums stand shoulder to shoulder and make cool oases of shadow. 
To the south there is a charming view of a shrubbery border 
that bounds the rose-garden and looks on the terrace with 
its grey stone vases that hold unclipped laurels. In this group 
(Continued on page 391) 
360 
