FOUR CORNERS 
the ROOM 
House & Garden 
THE 
o f 
Their Possibilities Both With and 
Without Furniture 
AGNES FOSTER WRIGHT 
The Two Rules 
But if you must fill your 
corners, remember these 
two rules: 
Corners can be devel¬ 
oped by (1) architectural 
treatment, (2) mobiliary 
furniture. 
The first provides many 
interesting possibilities 
both in the treatment of 
C ORNERS have always been the bane of 
our existence. 
As children we found them hateful; as 
grown-ups we don’t know what to do with them. 
At a tender age they were the position of dis¬ 
grace. Corners were left bare in those days, as 
if expecting naughty children. 
Today the fashion seems to have changed. 
Perhaps under the Montessori method there 
aren’t any more naughty children. Perhaps— 
well, anyhow, there are a lot of delightful, 
charming and resourceful women who posi¬ 
tively work themselves into hysterics over the 
corners of their rooms. 
Now corners have a 
great deal of restful archi¬ 
tectural grace, if left un¬ 
molested. Shadows and 
cross-shadows and the play 
of sunlight are variable 
and elusive in a corner. 
Shadows made by artificial 
light are even more inte 
esting. To the contem¬ 
plative mind empty cor¬ 
ners are satisfying. To 
the decorating mind empty 
corners add depth and 
richness to a room. Unless 
you have just the right 
piece for the particular cor¬ 
ner, let it go undecorated. 
The bedroom corner 
may provide space 
for a window seat 
close by the dressing 
table — a window 
seat that affords al¬ 
most the same lux¬ 
ury as a chaise 
longue 
A quarter - circle 
console in a corner 
of the hall adds dis¬ 
tinction. W ro ught 
iron antiqued with 
dull colors 
If a seat is built 
over a radiator on 
one side of the 
room, give the same 
treatment to the 
other side 
the wall itself and in the disposition of built-in 
architectural furniture. 
If a room is pretentious, two flat pilasters 
set into the wall in each corner give an archi¬ 
tectural finish and elegance. They may be 
painted the color of the woodwork and a deeper 
tone rubbed into the grooves. If the woodwork 
is to be antiqued, the pilasters may carry two 
or more tones or even colors, if closely keyed. 
Instead of marble, wood or plaster, pilasters of 
wall paper may be applied, a treatment most 
successful when the walls have paper panels 
of a strictly architectural character. 
Corner Mirrors 
Mirrors on both adjacent walls of a corner 
serve the purposes of reflecting light and sil¬ 
houetting furniture. For instance, a semi-up¬ 
holstered chair whose side lines and back are 
equally graceful may be placed against one of 
the corner mirrors silhouetting the back and 
reflecting the side. The mirror may be divided 
into oblongs and at each intersection, in place 
of the customary rosette, use a large flat plaque 
of silver metal with a quaint design engraved 
on it. Such a design could be found in drawer 
pull patterns. Oblong, diamond-shaped or oval 
mirrors can be inserted above the wainscot as 
a panel or as a picture in a panel. By the use 
of mirrors, many dark corners are enlivened 
and more light thrown into the rest of the room. 
While there is restfulness in the shadows a cor¬ 
ner gives, there are times when a mirrored re¬ 
flecting corner most certainly saves the room 
from being.drab and gray. In the recognition 
of these times and the degree to which their 
demands may be met lies the art. 
