October, 1918 
11 
THE DINING ROOM of DEFINITE COST 
Seven Schemes oj Decoration Designed to Conform to the Depths of Various Pockets—The Importance 
of Suitable Furnishings 
NANCY ASHTON 
) 
T HE success of the brilliant Diana’s din¬ 
ner parties was, we feel sure, not entirely 
due to her fascinating personality. Meredith 
makes much of, her ability to collect exactly 
the right people and to provide them with the 
most delectable food and the most scintillating 
talk, but surely she must have absolutely un¬ 
derstood the art of creating an adequate set¬ 
ting for herself and them. 
And it is with settings that we wish par¬ 
ticularly to deal. Since the dining room more 
than any other room in the house is simply a 
background for people, oft¬ 
en for a variety of person¬ 
alities, simplicity should be 
the first requisite. Sim¬ 
plicity and dignity are es¬ 
sential, with none of the 
overcrowded litter of silver 
and glass of former years; 
and I suppose that in no 
other room in the house can 
the color be so effective. It 
must be tried in the candle¬ 
light, as well as the light of 
day, with particular regard 
to its adequacy, as a back¬ 
ground for the hostess. 
The Importance of 
Lighting 
We cannot .lay too much 
stress upon the importance 
of lighting. As a matter of 
fact, the light should be 
concentrated on the table, 
and candles—shaded or not, 
as you please—used. Suffi¬ 
cient light at the sides of 
the room, to facilitate the 
service, may be had with 
shaded electric fixtures. We 
are still suffering from a 
fiendish invention known as 
a center drop-light, which 
blazes away in a relentless 
fashion directly over many 
an otherwise perfectly ap¬ 
pointed dinner table. Some¬ 
times it has a huge, many- 
colored glass shade with 
fringe, or it may be a pre¬ 
tentious silk one; but al¬ 
ways the light is so ar¬ 
ranged as to shine directly 
into the eyes of the un¬ 
fortunate diners. Hence our boredom. 
A most distinguished room, faultless in this 
respect, has simply paneled gray walls with a 
warm blue lacquered ceiling, which exquisite 
coloring is repeated in the moldings and in 
the taffeta curtains edged with plum colored 
fringe. This restful combination is carried 
out in the furniture, which is unusually well 
painted with an antiqued gray background 
and decorations in plum color and blue. The 
tops of the dining table, the two small, grace¬ 
ful consoles, as well as the buffet, are painted 
in plum color. And another unusual touch 
is the chair covering, which is specially woven 
basket weave fabric in blue and plum. Al¬ 
together, this room illustrates the possibilities 
of dignity and repose attainable by the use of a 
quiet background and harmonious decorations. 
Here is the list of furniture for this rcom: 
Oval shaped extension table, 5' 10" x SO" 
closed—extra leaves . $180.00 
2 arm chairs, $50 each, 40" high. 100.00 
6 side chairs, $40 each, 40" high. 240.00 
2 console tables, $85 each, 48" x 19". 170.00 
1 buffet, S' 6" x 20". .. 160.00 
Simply paneled gray walls, blue lacquered ceiling, antiqued gray painted 
furniture with plum and blue decorations, gray Wilton carpet —$850 
Set complete . $850.00 
2 pairs blue taffeta cur¬ 
tains edged with 
plum colored fringe. $200.00 
Gray Wilton carpet at 
$5.50 per yard. 
A Less Formal Room 
For a less formal room, 
it is interesting to use a 
decorative wall paper, par¬ 
ticularly one of the repro¬ 
ductions of the old Colonial 
scenic ones. These come in 
any number of excellent de¬ 
signs. There is one par¬ 
ticularly good one, which 
we are illustrating, which 
is a warm cream color with 
quaint scenes in blue green, 
delicate blue and wood 
tones. With a 30" paneling 
as well as the woodwork 
painted the same rich cream 
color as the background of 
the paper, and a green self- 
striped toile at the win¬ 
dows, we have a pleasant 
setting for our simple fur¬ 
niture. 
This may be as simple as 
you please, and as inexpen¬ 
sive. A good sized gate-leg 
table comes in a dull finish 
mahogany, which would be 
appropriate, and with it 
one might use Windsor 
chairs with particularly tall 
backed arm chairs, which 
give a quaint touch. These, 
together with a simple serv¬ 
ing table, are all that is re¬ 
quired. If one preferred the 
