Why is it that, almost without exception, the rooms that are carried out consistently in a distinct style are in large houses? It is just as 
easy to furnish a room in the home of moderate size with the same consistency 
What the Period Styles Really Are 
SUGGESTIONS FOR THE USE OF THE PERIOD STYLES IN MODERN HOMES SO THAT 
THE RESULT WILL BE CONSISTENT AND HARMONIOUS RATHER THAN MERE AFFECTATION 
by Lucy Abbot Throop 
[Modern usage of furniture and fittings for the interiors of American homes would seem to indicate that we have but two available and distinct 
styles — “Colonial” and Craftsman or so-called “Mission.” .For a long time 
bring about a revulsion of feeling and their almost complete abandonment, 
realty sincere appreciation of the best that has been done in the past will r 
article of Miss Throop’s series, the preceding subjects being as follows: 
France, From the. Regency Through the Empire; December — England, Tin 
Period. — Editor.] 
T HIS is my Louis XVI drawing-room,” said a lady in 
proudly displaying her house. 
“What makes you think so?” asked her well informed friend. 
To guard against the possibility of such biting humor one 
must be ever on the alert in furnishing a period room 1 .. It is not 
a bow-knot and a rococo curve or two that will turn a modern 
room, fresh from the builder's hands, into a Louis XV draw¬ 
ing-room. 
To make the decoration of a room truly successful one must 
begin with the architect, for he knows the correct proportions 
of the different styles and appreciates their importance. He 
the historic period styles were so ignoi mtly and tastelessly employed as to 
There are signs that the pendulum is swinging back again now, and that a 
eveal new possibilities for beauty in the homes of to-day. This is the final 
October, 1910— France, Through the Time of Louis XIV ; November .— 
rough the Reign of Queen Anne; January, 1911— England, the Georgian 
will plan the rooms so that they may complete his work when 
decorated and form a beautiful and convincing whole. This 
will give the restfulness and beauty that absolute appropriate¬ 
ness always lends. Someone has aptly said that “Proportion 
is the good-breeding of architecture,” and it is a duty that one 
owes to one’s self and one’s architect, not to ruin his good work 
by unsuitable decoration. It is also a duty one owes to the 
decorator to have the background correct for what you wish 
him to do. If one has to take a house that others have planned, 
one may have to give up some cherished ideas and choose a style 
more suitable under the circumstances. For instance, the rooms 
(82) 
