32 
House & Garden 
things. If you find it difficult 
to reconcile your apparant ex¬ 
travagance with your house¬ 
hold budget, remember that the 
initial expense in furnishing a 
house should be allotted or pro¬ 
rated over at least live years 
to come. Or if you are so 
placed financially that each 
year must take care of itself, 
and your buying of furniture 
is spread over five successive 
years, then decide which pieces 
are essential to your comfort 
and pleasure and buy them 
first. 
In the event of your not em¬ 
ploying a decorator to make up 
an approximate estimate of 
costs and work, it is well to 
draw up a systematic scheme 
yourself. Each room should 
be given a separate sheet of 
paper, with all the necessary 
notations, and each should be 
tilled out with details and ex¬ 
tensions showing costs. Ex¬ 
amples of such estimates are 
found at the end of the article. 
The wall costs are generally 
covered by the building con¬ 
tract up to the final plastering 
or, in some cases, the painting and paneling is 
included. Have what you really want in wall 
finish, as that is an expense which will be 
lasting and give the essential tone of elegance 
to the room. The main living rooms should 
be painted or paneled and the bedrooms can 
be papered or painted or, if economy must be 
considered, finished temporarily with water 
paint. 
For the living room the best finish is either 
wood or canvas and molding paneling, painted 
with an antique glaze finish. The painted wall 
seems to afford a richer background for fur¬ 
niture than the average papered wall. Some 
architectural specifications call for rough cast 
interior walls. I feel that these very rough, 
Balance in the fireplace 
groups gives this living 
room an air of restful 
dignity—the two winged 
chairs and the two wall 
bookshelves above small 
commodes. Miss Gheen, 
Inc., decorators 
Hevvitt 
Toile de Jouy in brown, 
rose and plum on a cream 
gr o u n d furnished the 
colors for this room. 
The furniture ranges 
from Louis XV to the 
Directoire. John Morri¬ 
son Curtis, decorator 
“gobby” walls are being overdone; save in 
houses of the Italian style they do not suit the 
character of the furniture generally used. 
A library should be paneled entirely in wood 
and stained or waxed, with the bookshelves 
recessed. A fine bit of wood carving over the 
mantel adds distinction. A portrait or panel 
of old tooled leather gives the same rich effect. 
These may not be included in the approximate 
estimate, but should surely be in the back of 
our mind, when planning. 
A dining room affords a little more freedom 
in its wall treatment. Fine old paper in 
panels, or painted glazed walls with a bit of 
marbleizing on the trim gives it an air of dis¬ 
tinction. One is apt to tire of decorated walls 
sooner, but if one’s purse allows, it is more 
interesting to do the unusual thing and, later, 
change. 
The restraint with which this library is 
furnished accords with its background 
of rough walls and simple cornice. Such 
a background serves to enhance the 
value of the pieces used. Miss Gheen, 
Inc., decorators 
