38 
House & Garden 
IN THE IRIS GARDEN 
of MRS. HOMER SAGE 
SHREWSBURY, MASS 
Photographs by Northend 
The owner has a passion for iris; indeed, 
her country place is called “Iristhorpe.” 
The entire garden color scheme is a 
carefully selected collection of this great 
floral family. In one corner the garden 
background is a pergola with iris in beds 
before it 
Where iris grows 
in a clump it is 
as though a 
cloud of unbe¬ 
lievable loveli¬ 
ness had settled 
on the ground 
Close - cropped 
grass walks wind 
between the beds 
and mark the 
garden axes. The 
termination here 
is a garden seat 
THE RETURN of the OLD-FASHIONED CORNICE 
A Victorian 
W HAT a commentary on the fickleness of 
Dame Taste! Only a few years back 
everything associated with the Victorian Era 
was held up to ridicule. Today the use of 
many Victorian accessories is being revived. 
All of which proves two points: 
First: that styles in decoration change as 
radically, although not as rapidly, as styles in 
clothes, and that it behooves the modern woman 
to keep her home in up-to-the-minute taste. 
Second: that what is good in the past gen¬ 
erally survives; the worthless is forgotten, the 
good returns into favor. 
A case in point is the wooden window cornice 
of our grandmothers’ day. Its revival today is 
more than a fad. There is justification for the 
cornice; it had a reasonable use which caused 
it to survive the vagaries of prejudice. 
Certain types of formal rooms, which require 
formal curtaining, are spoiled by a predomin¬ 
ance of the valance. Everyone has ruffles! 
Everyone has had box-pleated or gathered or 
French-heading valances. From them it was 
an easy step to the plain shaped valance, the 
valance stretched over a board. And from the 
shaped valance the logical development was the 
wooden cornice which is pictured here. The 
window trim in this room was covered by the 
over-drapes, and the top of the curtains re¬ 
quired a completing touch. A'valance would 
Accessory that is Appearing in the I 
The gilded wooden cornice, used in place 
of the valance, is again being found in 
formal rooms. Lee Porter, decorator 
idem House 
have been possible, but a wooden cornice proved 
much smarter. 
These wooden cornices afford a nice oppor¬ 
tunity for color interest. They can be painted 
the same tone as the body color of the hangings 
and striped or decorated with some contrasting 
shade. Thus a dark green could carry a gold 
striping. Or again, the wood might be finished 
the natural shade of the predominant furniture 
of the room. The cornice shown here is gilded 
and repeats the gilt of some of the furniture. 
Caution must be exercised in the use of the 
wooden cornice. It does not fit harmoniously 
into all rooms, and it should not be used in a 
room where it would dominate and tend to 
make the ceiling heavy. We must keep the 
sky of the room fairly clear lest our interior 
become “stuffy.” For stuffiness was what 
brought Victorianism into disrepute. 
Here is an answer to those who, with justice, 
oppose the radical changes in the past decade. 
We cannot throw away old-style furniture with 
the same ease we throw away an old-style hat. 
Moreover, it may have many noble and inspir¬ 
ing associations for us. Because of its de¬ 
liberate scorn for the furnishings of a previous 
generation which it but lately was acclaiming, 
decoration has gotten a bad name. Take the 
good from the previous and the past, and a 
satisfying continuity will be preserved. 
