October, 1915 
13 
put to the right use. Suitability is the funda¬ 
mental law of decoration. Just as good writing 
is the art of using the right word in the right 
place, so good decoration is the art of using the 
right furniture and the right hangings in the 
right place. If your heart is set on painted furni¬ 
ture, you must first have a clearly preconceived 
plan for its use. And at that point you will be¬ 
come aware of its two classes: the finer work and 
the crude peasant work. The surroundings suit¬ 
able for one will not be satisfactory for the 
other. 
In judging what is suitable I have found these 
rules well to follow: to make my selection depend 
first on the use to which the furniture is to be 
put, that is, the sort of room in which it is to be 
placed; to select it so that it will express in some 
way the personality of the person who is to dwell 
in that room, and finally to make it conform to 
the traditional uses to which its originators put 
it, so far as those uses can be adapted to modern 
life and practice. 
There is something distinctly rural, distinctly 
personal and distinctly informal about the furni- 
turne of a peasantry and a farming class. Its 
origins prove this. Their furniture was 
an intimate furniture. It was the bed 
they slept in, the table at which they 
ate, the cupboard in which was kept 
the little store of china and silver, and 
the chest where were locked away the few 
family treasures that could be carried ofif 
at a moment’s notice in the case of danger. 
It is logical then to say that in adapting 
peasant furniture to modern use it must 
be given an intimate environment. Thus a 
boudoir or a bedroom done in painted 
furniture is perfectly suitable for a town 
house because both those rooms have an 
intimate environment. When one crosses 
the threshold of such rooms into the other 
parts of the house its suitability is utterly 
gone, for the original environment of this 
furniture was rural and informal, and 
the city house is of necessity urban and 
formal. To do what we might call the 
public parts of a city house with painted 
furniture would be unsuitable, whereas 
to do the public parts of a country house, 
which are fundamentally informal, would 
be in keeping with the original environ¬ 
on this console cabinet include, beside carving 
and painted decorations, heavy ormolu work. To be properly 
placed it would require a richly decorated room 
Courtesy of E. H. and G. G. Aschennann 
Another type of the modern movement is represented by furniture painted with¬ 
out decorations. Their lines are a revival of an old style 
ment. In the same way, to do the break¬ 
fast room of a city house with peasant 
furniture is both interesting and suitable 
because a breakfast room is an intimate 
place, but can you imagine a city dining¬ 
room in painted peasant furniture? Can 
you imagine a formal dinner party in such 
surroundings ? 
First visualize the use, then recall the 
tradition. That’s the secret of decoration. 
Personality is quite another matter. It 
differs in every case, and the owner, more 
than the decorator, is responsible for its 
effective expression. 
I have also said that painted furniture 
introduces a vigorous color note into an 
interior, gives it interest and enlivening 
contrast. Here again we must seek out 
the traditional uses. How much furni¬ 
ture did peasants have and against what 
background was it placed ? How can 
we adapt their practices to modern 
use ? 
For a matter of fact peasants and farm¬ 
ers usually have very little furniture and 
the walls are either whitewashed or wood 
left in its natural state. Each piece is a prize piece. There 
is no cluttering, because the peasant cannot afford enough 
furniture to clutter with. We can apply this same rule in 
the arrangement of painted furniture in our modern homes. 
There should never be too much of it. If you have a room 
with much furniture, then only a few pieces of painted ware 
can be introduced, and these should either harmonize or con¬ 
trast in color with the other furniture. Thus, if a room is 
furnished in mahogany, and one wants to introduce two or 
more pieces of painted furniture, a suitable color for that 
furniture would be a neutral green, repeating in its decorations 
the mahogany color, and, offsetting this, some blue. This 
would produce both contrast and harmony. 
A room furnished throughout with peasant furniture de¬ 
mands either a neutral background to act as foil, or one that 
absolutely blends with the colors in the furniture. You cannot 
make two points of ultra attraction in one room; you cannot 
combine an ultra orange wall paper and ultra blue furniture. 
That combination might serve for a club or a restaurant where 
an extraordinary effect is desired, but it will not do for 
domestic purposes. For who wants to live twenty-four hours 
An original in fine condition. Its lacquer 
finish bears evidence that it was the 
work of Continental makers 
