34 
House <fb° Garden 
In “ Locke 
Ledge,” the 
W estchester 
home of Ar¬ 
thur Hudson 
Marks, a spa¬ 
cious music 
room has been 
provided for 
the pipe organ. 
Courtesy of the 
Skinner Organ 
Company 
An interior cannot be too simple when the instrument is a pipe 
organ. Here the console and stone work over the pipes are Gothic 
in feeling. Courtesy of the Estey Organ Company 
If possible let the piano stand near a window as nothing makes a 
more charming background for player or singer than rich colorful 
hangings or picturesque windows 
ful in tone, fit into the panels and provide 
the only other spots of color in the room. 
This room because of the dignity of its 
appointments, its warm coloring and gen¬ 
eral air of restfulness seems to me the ideal 
setting for music. There is nothing austere 
about its simplicity. It is a room warmly 
alive, dignified and beautiful, with nothing 
in it to distract attention from the main 
object. Two groups of people can listen 
comfortably to the musician and there is 
plenty of space for additional chairs should 
the occasion require. In this case the rug is 
taken up for many people in a room help to 
absorb the sound. 
As a general rule the fewer hangings and 
sound deadening rugs in a room of this sort 
the better. Windows swathed in draperies 
have no place in a music room, where there 
must be an abundance of air, and then only 
such hangings as are necessary to frame the 
window and temper the light. Taffeta orsatin 
is preferable to the heavy damasks and ve¬ 
lours, and only one set of thin silk or gauze 
glass curtains should be used. A bare floor 
except in the case of a large gathering of 
people is apt to be rather forlorn, but beware 
of too many rugs. One good-sized rug is 
better than several small ones and the piano 
should always stand on the bare floor. 
I think it is wise to avoid strong color. 
Green, gray, mauve, blue, dull gold, brown 
and deep wine color are all excellent in the 
music room. Almost as effective as paneling 
are rough plaster walls tinted a gray or 
putty tone. Here mulberry or blue-green 
silk hangings would provide an interesting 
contrast without being too glaring in color. 
A very lovely music room in Santa Barbara, 
separated from the main house by a colon¬ 
nade of trees, has plaster walls, grayish-green 
in tone, and wide leaded windows of amber 
colored glass. There were no hangings of 
any kind. The chairs extremely simple in 
design, of dark walnut, were upholstered in 
gray-green damask almost the same shade 
as the walls. A long sofa had a covering of 
green and taupe striped satin and the large 
rug was grayish taupe in tone. Silhouetted 
against the window was a walnut grand 
piano with its top open and a gilded harp 
