May., 
19 20 
3S 
LIVING COMFORTABLY OUT OF DOORS 
This Can Be Attained By Selecting from the Gamut of Wicker, Reed, Rattan, Painted and Iron 
Furniture and the Varieties of Crisp, Cool Hanging Fabrics 
AGNES FOSTER WRIGHT 
come. 
Wicker or reed is 
generally the foun¬ 
dation for all porch 
furnishing. There is 
now on the market a 
variety of willow, 
reed and rattan fur¬ 
niture, w h i c h we 
group under the 
name of wicker. 
Each variety has its 
good points. 
The closely woven 
reed has a more 
dressy appearance, 
and many colors can be combined in its 
painting. 
The stick-willow is heavy, does not squeak 
and, as it does not chip, withstands wear. This 
stick-willow or Swiss reed, as it is sometimes 
called, is made up into unusual and charming 
shapes and is excellent for rough, semi-outdoor 
use. 
Regulation willow is inexpensive and comes 
in a great variety of stock sizes, shapes and 
colorings. There is always a large importation 
of Canton cane furniture, with black motifs, 
which has a certain Oriental charm in it, both 
in shape and texture. From the Philippines 
there is imported this same style cane. It is 
exceedingly light and combined with Japanese 
I)ottery jardinieres and 
Cream walls, Italian 
chairs and a lounging 
chair in black, Venetian 
red and cogee help cre¬ 
ate the atmosphere of 
this porch. Agnes Foster 
Wrtghl, decorator 
lamp bases, it makes a 
good furniture for 
femall porches. It 
requires no seat or 
back cushions as it 
has a lot of give to 
it. Of course, a few 
incidental pillows 
help the effect and 
comfort as well. 
French cane gar¬ 
den furniture is in¬ 
teresting in that the 
reeds are enameled 
with the color baked 
on before it is made 
up. The effect of the 
weaving is very 
charmkig, and there 
is a certain sparkle 
to the colors. The 
[prettiest combination 
is a dark marine 
blue and strong daf¬ 
fodil yellow. 
Wicker is com¬ 
paratively inexpen¬ 
sive, light, easy to 
move aI)out, and can 
be redone at no great 
expense. I do not 
think wicker should 
ever be used without 
either staining or 
enameling. We might 
just ;is well have our 
furniture'in the raw 
wood stage. It looks 
unfinished and 
cheap. Also it shows 
the dirt and does not 
T he real adventure of an Interior Deco¬ 
rator’s life is when she picks up a porch 
to do. As in spring a young man’s fancy 
turns to thoughts of love, so does every dec¬ 
orator’s turn to thoughts of porches. It may 
be a wide open porch, for dancing and teas and 
big family socials, or it may be a tiny break¬ 
fast porch for two, where the breakfast table 
is turned into a card table for two of an eve¬ 
ning. The sedate realm of indoor winter vel¬ 
vets, damasks and heavy carpeting is left be¬ 
hind and the porch, with all its limitless pos¬ 
sibilities, comes into one’s hands. 
A porch should look as though it had been 
done with a flip of the hand and a snap of 
the fingers, so light and fresh and crisp should 
it be. Of course, it couldn’t possibly be done 
that way, nothing 
worth while is, but 
all the bothers and 
worries and “me¬ 
chanics of the job” 
should be hidden. 
I find that chil¬ 
dren give one quite 
an inspiration for 
porches, not only 
their light, fresh 
breeziness, their 
shiny eyes, their rosy 
cheeks and sunshiny 
hair, but their dress¬ 
es suggest coverings 
and curtains and 
trimmings. Keep the 
image of a child in 
the background of 
your mind, and a 
f resh, comfortable 
pleasant porch is 
sure to be the out¬ 
Rattan has been used 
successfully on the ter¬ 
race of this country 
house, where it harmon¬ 
izes both with the garden 
and the house. Cross & 
Cross, architects 
Uarting 
