52 
House 6 ° Garden 
A black floor and. an oval rag rug form the foundation for this kitchen. The walls are ivory 
and the woodwork old flat blue. Ecru gingham curtains with hems and Dutch valances of 
chintz or calico hang at the windows 
OUAINT KITCHEN COLOR 
The Kitchen Becomes a Pleasant Place to 
TVork in When It Is Bn livened with Color 
S C H E M E S 
T HE earliest recollection of the universal 
kitchen brings to mind sad walls and 
dingy woodwork, flaring gas jets, cross- 
barred muslin, cut sash length at chilly and 
unfriendly windows, wooden doors shut 
tightly at cupboards fairly bulging with 
little boxes, cans, bags and jars, and with 
every other hidden shelf or cranny crammed 
likewise with things, rarely used from one 
Thanksgiving Day until the next. 
Small wonder that the ultra-modern reac¬ 
tion against such a kitchen has resulted in 
an efficiency almost as alarming as it is 
blissful: everything may be operated bv 
magic in the barest minimum of time. Dove¬ 
tailing is the byword, from utensils to duties. 
Hours of labor are saved against a back¬ 
ground white and bare and spacious, even 
if it is not quite as friendly and informal as 
one would wish. But this is the final step 
beyond invention, and toward beauty, that 
every artistically-minded woman must take 
for herself. 
To realize my utmost dream of what a 
kitchen should be, I would achieve modern 
ETHEL DAVIS SEAL 
A quaint valance of cretonne below the shelf 
over the service door is a feature of this kitchen 
in a German cottage 
efficiency to the «th degree, but I would 
surely camouflage it with quaintness and 
color. I should hate to be overpowered by a 
quintessence of mechanism every time I 
went kitchen adventuring, producing de¬ 
lectable salads and fluffv-topped miracle 
pies, when with the barest increase in trou¬ 
ble, I could feed my soul on pots of hyacinth 
at my casement, neighboring the fresh 
golden loaves of bread cooling in a row. 
I should prefer to consider, with never- 
failing delight, the posies I had painted on 
my table, the while I adjusted my electric 
meat grinder, rather than to give my undi¬ 
vided attention to the sharply efficient 
blades and the nutritious mounds of meat 
heaping in a bowl. I should rejoice in my 
contrivances and mechanisms, but my back¬ 
ground must not be any more bare than is 
required by the god Sanitas, and certainly 
as far from the appearance of a hospital as 
I am clever enough to coax my kitchen 
to go. 
There is no reason why a kitchen should 
not be considered as eligible for decoration 
