' The Editor, Margaret Greenleaf, wishes to extend a personal invitation to all readers of House and Garden to send to the 
Correspondence Department, inquiries on any matter pertaining to house finishing and furnishing. Careful considera¬ 
tion is given each inquiry, the letter and answer being published in due time as matters of interest to other readers. 
Where an early reply is desired if a stamp and self-addressed envelope are enclosed, the answer will be sent. No 
charge whatever is made for any advice. 
A NUMBER of the letters which have reached 
us recently voice a difficulty which is evi¬ 
dently not unusual with the woman who is 
fitting up her rooms. In response to these letters, 
our talk this month will deal with the selection and 
disposal of the small decorative things of the home. 
We offer some excerpts from two of these letters 
which will serve to explain themselves. 
“What are the little touches,” one correspondent 
asks, “which give charm and individuality to a room .? 
It is so difficult for the inexperienced one to decide 
what is needed.” 
To quote from another letter at greater length: 
“My house is finished and while everyone says it is 
good, as there are no jarring colors and no incon¬ 
gruous pieces of furniture (thanks to House and 
Garden), we none of us feel that it is home. In 
some strange way it lacks expression. In our living- 
room we have the usual amount of chairs, small 
tables, curtains, rugs, bookcases and books, stat¬ 
uettes and vases on the mantel and a rubber plant on 
a stand in the window. This describes in a way 
the effect of all of the rooms. They look ready to 
be lived in but that is all. Perhaps this is vague 
but I am hoping you can see our trouble and help 
us.” 
William Morris’s creed, “To have nothing in the 
house which you do not know to he useful and be¬ 
lieve to be beautiful,” is an excellent guide for those 
who can follow it understandingly, but there are 
others to whom the question of deciding upon what 
really is beautiful, is difficult. 
The character of the room, the uses for which it 
has been designed as well as its architectural detail, 
go far toward determining the small things that 
should be used in its decoration. It is much better 
to err on the side of too little in the way of decorative 
small things than to have one piece too much. 
The Japanese idea of a single rare vase holding a 
few perfect blossoms is becoming recognized as good 
decoration. We have not, however, reached the 
point of emulating this in its entirety, but we are 
growing more fastidious in our selection of vases and 
other ornaments as well as in the arrangement of 
these. A single choice piece should be featured in a 
way that will give it its full value. 
To generalize: candelabra, candlesticks, quaint 
boxes, or a collection of small ivory carvings, good 
pieces of bronze, bits of old brocade utilized as table 
covers, light screens and hook covers, any and all are 
attractive and decorative features of a room and 
where the proper form and color is selected for these, 
they supply the “little touches” which render it 
livable and inviting. Lamp shades are important 
factors in such decoration. They are quite as effec¬ 
tive and beautiful if of home manufacture, but they 
must be suited to the room in which they are used. 
Large wire frames may be purchased for thirty 
cents and covered with liberty silk or any thin silk 
of coloring appropriate to the room. This must be 
put on laid in close folds and finished with a double 
one inch frill at the top and bottom or a narrow gold 
galloon may be substituted. The folds must be 
drawn tautly over the frame. These shades could 
be used on lamps in rooms of more or less formal 
character where door hangings are of velvet or silk 
and the upholstery of brocade or similar fabric. In 
other words, such shades would not be suitable in 
rooms where mission furniture is used and the rough 
arras cloth and the stenciled linen draperies prevail. 
Thin Dresden silk, showing tiny bunches of deli¬ 
cately colored flowers on a white ground, also makes 
effective shades in rooms where the Lrench idea is 
prominent in the decoration, or the shades made from 
deep ivory vellum which show dainty Empire and 
Colonial designs worked out in water-colors, are 
charming and may be introduced safely in rooms 
simple in decoration or where the period idea is car¬ 
ried out in rich furnishings. 
In selecting the lamp and lamp shade for a living- 
room or library where the decorating and furnishing 
shows simple color combinations and plain lines, a 
lamp of dull old brass or bronze or unglazed pottery (of 
soft blue, green or rich yellow brown color) is a good 
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