86 
House & Garden 
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A. ^lunbi'l & 
Established 1852 
REPRODUCTIONS TEXTILES 
TAPESTRIES 
ANTIQUES DECORATIONS 
PETIl POINTS 
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MacBRIDE 
THE. HOUSE of THREE GABLES 
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FURNITURE 
INTERIOR DECORATIONS 
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Paved Floors and Galleries 
(Continued from page 41) 
principle is commonly enunciated with tive treatment, but where the pattern be- 
some emphasis that a floor should be comes a conspicuous feature, the floor 
a heavier or deeper tone than the walls becomes essentially a decoration in itself 
in order to create an impression of pre- *and should be used only in places where 
ponderant weight and thereby fulfill the 
visual requirement of balance. This dic¬ 
tum does not necessarily hold in the case 
of a paved floor, for the paved floor is so 
convincingly heavier than the walls that 
a different treatment is perfectly per¬ 
missible with the floor lighter in color 
than the walls. In the next place, a 
paved floor allows far greater latitude 
than does a carpeted floor in the choice 
of covering and hanging fabrics to be 
used along with it. This liberty of 
choice applies in the particulars of 
color, texture and the quantity of ma¬ 
terial that it becomes possible to use. 
A room containing numerous cover and 
hanging fabrics of strong color and deep 
texture, such as old Spanish or Italian 
velvets or Flemish tapestries, might 
easily prove insufferably stuffy when 
there is a carpet on the floor; with a 
paved floor the effect is altogether dif¬ 
ferent. The radical difference in tex¬ 
tures between the floor and the fabrics 
makes possible, and even invites, a depth 
and richness in the latter that would, at 
the least, turn out to be difficult things 
to manage with full-bodied fabrics un¬ 
der foot as well. 
Last of all, a paved floor appreciably 
contributes to a sense of space in rooms 
and likewise tends to emphasise the con¬ 
tours and colors of the movable appoint¬ 
ments and may be regarded as a very 
efficacious foil in this respect. Before 
passing on to the next phase of the sub¬ 
ject, it is well to note that paved floors 
may be laid to suit almost any architec¬ 
tural type and also that they may range 
in character from the utmost simplicity 
to the greatest elaboration. Their pos¬ 
sibilities run the entire gamut from 
stately formality to a very domestic and 
intimate informality, so that one need 
never fear a failure of interesting or ap¬ 
propriate treatment. 
Stone Floors 
Of stone floors, the most urbane, per¬ 
haps, consist of marble carefully dressed 
and either of a single color or of several 
contrasting hues. Such a floor may 
well answer the requirements of the 
most sumptuous salon and fully accord 
with the elegant Italian precedent, a 
source of inspiration for which our rev¬ 
erence is rapidly growing. A thoroughly 
effective floor of this type appears in one 
of the illustrations where a vista shows 
a hallway paved with black and white 
tiles laid in checker-board fashion. Of 
the formal sorts of stone floors, mosaics 
invite tire greatest elaboration of decora- 
there will be little or no furniture or. in 
fact, any other feature, to distract atten¬ 
tion from it or mar the continuity of its 
effect. The opposite extreme of divers¬ 
ity is the floor paved with stones of ran¬ 
dom shapes and sizes laid random-wise, 
only the upper surface of the stones be¬ 
ing dressed to make the floor level. A 
floor of this description, with the stones 
not too snugly dressed and fitted, yields 
an agreeably diversified pattern of joints 
and may also supply a further diversity 
of moderate color gradation without 
creating any dissonance with furnishing 
schemes. In an entrance hall, a gallery 
or a living room of an informally de¬ 
signed country house a floor of this 
character may prove a not inconsiderable 
element of virile charm. 
TUe Flooring 
To an even greater degree than stone 
floors, tile floors are susceptible of in¬ 
terpretations quite varied enough to suit 
the most diverse tastes and purposes. A 
wide play of gradations in color, tex¬ 
ture and shape, and a further possibility 
of regulating effects by the treatment of 
the joints, render them an amenable and 
elastic flooring medium. Large red 
quarry tiles offer one of the simplest and 
most agreeable types of floor. Another 
highly acceptable type of floor, laid with 
small octagon tiles, appears in one of 
the illustrations. Decorative medallions 
of the same colored tiles, set at intervals, 
as shown in the cut, may readily be in¬ 
troduced if inclination prompts. Still 
another variety of floor, laid with small 
biscuit-colored quarries, is seen in the 
room opening into the black and white 
tiled hall. And so one might go on in¬ 
definitely noting sundry styles of floor 
tiling. Enough instances, however, have 
been enumerated, along with the illus¬ 
trations, to prove the entire adaptability 
of tiles to whatever demand may be 
made of them. 
The mention of cement flooring not 
unnaturally provokes a hostile attitude 
until one feels assured that the surface 
of such a floor need not necessarily pres¬ 
ent any harsh and uninviting aspect. As 
a matter of fact, a cement floor may be 
thoroughly agreeable either from the 
treatment accorded its surface or from 
the concomitant use of tiles. If a plain 
cement floor is properly treated and 
cared for, it may be made to take on an 
inviting color and surface not unlike 
the effect of fine old leather. If one so 
desires, tile inserts may be incorporated 
(Continued on page 88) 
\ 
Ordinary red brick laid in wide bond will make a substantial and 
decorative floor for the enclosed porch. Charles Witling, architect 
